Two Photos, Two Trips, Four and a Half Years Later

In March, 2005 I travelled to Seattle to visit my friend David. I had recently been laid off, and had some time on my hands - so it was a rather lengthy trip (9 days, if I recall correctly). Towards the middle of the vacation, David took me to Oregon to meet his friends Mike and Connie, who had moved to Cannon Beach a few years earlier. I think we were there for two nights, and at least one of the days I spent on the beach and the surrounding environs taking photographs.

Fast forward to this past weekend. Sister Hali was a-visiting, and we rolled out of bed early (6 am) to do a bit of photography, old abandoned buildings at Pilgrim State, dahlias and ospreys at Bayard Cutting Arboreteum. Much of the rest of the afternoon was spent recovering from the heat (me) and working on photos in Lightroom (Hali). It was a lot of fun, and very educational to sit behind Hali and watch her work.

So, you are wondering what one thing has to do with another, and what about a weird coincidence? Bear with me, please.

During a prior visit, Hali's use of Lightroom convinced me to finally abandon Aperture, and over the past few months since my trip out west, I've be importing all of my photos into Lightroom and taking a fresh look at them. Not only is it a pleasant way to relive some lovely vacation memories, but it's an opportunity to improve my photo-processing skills.

Last night, after spending hours trying to finish a beading project, and then ripping out 2 hours worth of work, I abandoned the jewelry and started to work in Lightroom. I pretty much started at random, with images from the aforementioned 2005 Oregon trip.

I played with this one:

and this one

And was feeling pretty pleased with myself, since most of the Cannon Beach pics were pretty blech - nice, but not too interesting. I got them up on Flickr, and then the phone rang. It was MDF Valerie. She had gotten back from her own Pacific Northwest vacation, and had finished going through her photos. She was sending me a ZIP file, and wanted my opinion.

I had thought she said that she was not going to Cannon Beach, so I was quite surprised to see this:

Of course Valerie took plenty of pictures of the iconic Haystack Rock, but I had the surprise of my life when I saw this image:

Which is practically identical to the picture I took, four and a half years ago:

The similarity is more pronounced when you look at the two shots side by side - identical, except that Valerie was there in August, and about 5 feet closer to the edge of the cliff.

I probably would never have noticed the similarity of these two pictures had I not been just going through that exact album.

How strange!

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Intimidation, Scottish Style

For those of you who don't follow rugby - a bit of background:

Before each match, the New Zealand Blacks rugby team performs a version of the Maori haka, or war dance. It's intended to intimidate the opposing team.

Now watch and enjoy!

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