The Columbia River Gorge is one of the most beautiful parts of the country I have ever visited.

Earlier this month, I made my way out to the Columbia River Gorge just outside of Portland, Oregon. I had spent a few hours here and there in the Gorge while traveling for workshops. But this trip is exclusively for the Waterfalls and Wildflowers in and around the Gorge.

Will it be a success? You’ll have to watch and find out 🙂

As I have done in the past, I will share all of my footsteps from the journey. You will see:

► My Google Earth locations for the places I photographed.
► My success and failures with various locations.
► My favorite pieces from the trip.
► Secrets to make your trip to the Columbia River Gorge successful!

Shimoda Bag

My favorite Bag for Hiking and traveling is the Shimoda Explore V2.  I have the largest and smallest.  I prefer the big one because I carry a lot.  But, it gets weighted down pretty fast!

Shimoda website

Circular Polarizers

I have reduced my filters down to four.

1.  CPL 
2. 3 Stop CPL
3.  6 Stop CPL
4. 10 Stop CPL

I prefer the regular, 3, and 6-stop, but the 10-stop is handy for broad daylight images.  I like the combination of CPL/ND filters.  They can be found on Polar Pro or Breakthrough Photography.  

I have one of each.  My largest lens has an 82mm diameter.  So I buy all filters in the 82mm size.  I then buy step-up rings for my smaller lenses.  Ie.  if the lens is 77mm, I buy a 77-82mm step-up ring so I can put the larger filters on the smaller lens.

I have tried every ND filter out there, from Lee to Vu to Kase, square, and screw-on.  I prefer a screw-on.  But that is a personal preference.

Pola Pro Filters   •   Breakthrough Photography Filters