My Hometown: Triangle Lake, Oregon

Triangle Lake, Oregon

Pictured here is Triangle Lake's public dock. Triangle Lake is named after its geometrical shape, and is just under a half square mile in area. The lake is located along Highway 36 in Lane County, and is a popular attraction for locals and tourists alike in the summer. While the town itself is tiny with not much more than a country store and a 1A school to offer, Triangle Lake is familiar to many Oregonians for being one of just two natural lakes in the state.

Troy Foglio is a timber faller and machine operator for Heron Timber based out of Sheridan, Oregon. He graduated from Triangle Lake High School in 2018, and is pictured here in the Hadsall Creek forest just a few miles above the lake. Logging is an important industry which sustains a large portion of the Triangle Lake community.

Triangle Lake Middle School track athlete Dakota McConnell (left) receives participation awards from coaches Maria Dumford (middle) and Karey Eastburn (right) at the Spring Sports Awards ceremony on Tuesday, May 21.

Photo Story Ideas

I have a couple of ideas for my photo story assignment- the first one is the one I really want to do but it is going to be difficult to be in the right places at the right times because of my school and work schedule.

1.) I would love to document the process of timber harvest- possibly some photos of a tree planting crew, someone cutting trees, setting chokers, loading a log truck, wood being processed in a mill, etc. Logging is important in my family, my dad is a forester, and I am engaged to a logger. I've always been surrounded by it and I think it would be perfect for this project. If I could go to work with my fiance I could get photos of timber falling, there is a clear cut on my family's property with young trees growing that I could photograph to show them in a young stage, and I know I could find connections through my dad to photograph log trucks and a mill. The challenge would be timing- I work all day on Saturdays and Sundays, and go to school during the week. However, I could probably accomplish most of these photo shoots by going after school, and there are a couple of days in the next two weeks where I won't be having class after noon. This is what I am going to try to do but if it wont work, I do have another idea.

2.) I work at Thistledown Farm and Market in Junction City, and most of our crops are grown out on the farm. I could probably take some photos of produce growing out in the fields and watch it ripen, then get some pictures of harvest and photograph it once it is brought into the store. This would be slightly easier on my schedule since some of these photos would be ones I could get before or after work when I'm already there, and I am sure my boss would be OK it.

I will try for the first option, but if it doesn't work out, I like my backup plan as well.

My Neighborhood/My Hometown Ideas

For next week's photo assignment, I plan to photograph Triangle Lake, Oregon- the community where I went to school. This isn't the town where I lived, but I was really involved in sports and extra curricular activities while going to school there and it's where I think of when I think of my hometown. I'm going out there after class on Monday to scope out the venue for my wedding, so I'll take some photos while I am there.

For my environmental portrait I think I will photograph my friend Bri Simington who works in the office and as a counselor at Triangle Lake High School. The school itself and Triangle Lake are the two landmarks in this town (it's a really tiny place). I'd like my landmark photo to be of the lake, possibly a shot from the public dock, or I could drive up above it and get a shot from up on the hill. For the activity... I'm not sure yet. I will talk to some people I know and see if anything special is happening on Monday- this will probably be my biggest challenge because now that sports are done at the school, honestly not much is going on.

Sports Photos: Jr High Track Meet

Jr High Track and Field

 Students from Triangle Lake Charter School and Monroe Middle School battle through the rain for the top three spots in the boys' 1500 meter race. 

Mitch Dumford sprints to build up momentum before attempting the high jump.

Between high jumps, Mitch Dumford takes advice from his father on the sidelines.

Action/Sports Photos

For my sports photo assignment, I have photos from my younger brother's track meet. There is a chance I might take photos at a friend's college track meet in Eugene this Saturday- I will use whichever ones end up being the best.

I actually have a lot of experience shooting action photos thanks to four years on the yearbook team in high school, but I would say the most difficult thing when shooting outdoor sports is the background. You have to think ahead about where you will be standing and what in the background could draw attention away from your intended subject. Also, at track meets everything goes by really fast and you only get a few seconds to snap the perfect action shot; it isn't like basketball or football where everyone is running back and fourth over the course of an hour or two.

For my non-action shot, I want to use a photo of some athletes before or after an event- talking with one another or with a coach. A good close-up would be a photo of a single athlete running or jumping, cropped closely enough to where nothing else is there to distract from them. For a medium shot, I'd like to get multiple people running a race and competing against one another, and for an overall I could get a shot that includes some of the track itself, infield, and sidelines with people watching to get a really good feel for the overall scene.

Free Choice Shoot: Portraits

 Emily Hopfer

For my free choice photoshoot, I took graduate portraits for Emily Hopfer. Emily is graduating this year from Oregon State University with her bachelor's degree in Agricultural Science; she works at Roseburg Forest Products as a digital marketing coordinator.

For this photoshoot, I met Emily at McKercher County Park in Brownsville. It was a beautiful day for a shoot and perfect weather to go wading in the Calapooia River. As Emily walked in the shallow water she said to me laughingly, "This is a perfect analogy for my college career- wading upstream and trying not to fall down." The close-up photo below features the tassel to Emily's graduation cap, atop a handful of mud which represents her degree in agriculture and her interest in soil. 

Lynsey Addario

I think Lynsey Addario is a fantastic photojournalist, and I admire not just her talent, but all that she put in to become what she is. She was looked down upon at first for being inexperienced and for being a woman. This would be reason for a lot of people to back down or settle for something else, but she didn't, and it got her to where she always dreamed she would get.

The lessons I can learn from Lynsey Addario are that dedication, refusal to give up, and confidence will pay off. Once you face an uncomfortable situation and choose to work through it, it makes you better and more equipped to take on the future.

Lynsey made some crazy sacrifices for her career that I don't think I could make. She left her family and only sees them once or twice a year, and every time she seems to have a chance at love, her career takes priority because not only is she trying to make a name for herself, but she is drawn to the experience.

My favorite Lynsey Addario quote comes from the beginning of her photojournalism career, after she visits a Sebastiao Salgado gallery: "I knew then that I wanted to tell people's stories through photos; to do justice to their humanity, as Salgado had done; to provoke the kind of empathy for the subjects that I was feeling in that moment" (Pg 29).

The photo above is one of my favorite ones that Lynsey Addario has captured. It just provokes so much emotion for me, and I think its a fantastic example of the goal stated in my favorite quote: she is truly portraying her subjects' humanity.

Feature Event: LBCC Health and Safety Day

Booths lined up all around the courtyard at the LBCC Health and Safety Fair on Wednesday, 

May 1. Over thirty agencies and programs participated, providing information, resources, and boasting swag for anyone who took the time to stop by and see what they were all about.

Walker W. fills out an entry form for AAA's roadside assistance kit drawing.

LBCC's own horticulture program provided samples of various micro greens; featured here are Daikon Radish starts at different stages of growth.