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Cellpic Sunday – Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake National Park

Oregon’s iconic Crater Lake National Park in Oregon is a destination we’ve had on our list for many years. The day we arrived in the area, we started up the mountain in light to moderate rain. Of course, part way up the drive to the lake, the rain turned to snow. Late September isn’t always the best time to visit the park, at least if you expect to see the lake. We parked the car, walked across the field of pines in the image above, and looked down into the abyss. Of course, the lake itself was completely obliterated by fog and snow mist. The lake is still on our list to actually see.

I was in a hurry to see the lake and I started ahead of our group, cell phone in hand, ready to capture the image. In a split second, my feet slid out from under me, the cell phone in my hand went airborne, and a moment later, I was laying on my back in the snow. Fortunately, there were no injuries to anything except my pride, and once my traveling companions saw that I was only embarrassed, I began to hear the story of my flight of fancy into the cold Oregon air, my cell phone leading the way upward.

About the photo: The image was captured with my S20U from the edge of the parking lot. As there was very little color in the image, I decided to do a complete black-and-white conversion. I used Luminar Neo to tweak the noise adjustment and added some contrast and exposure to make the image high-key. I then shipped it off to Silver-Efex 3 for a complete black-and-white conversion. To emphasize the cold of the day, I added a blue tint and used one of the frames available in the program. Now that I’ve already sent out my holiday cards for this year, I realize I missed an opportunity to have my own winter scene on the cards I sent out. Maybe I’ll remember to do that next year. If you click on the image above, you can pixel peep in 2K HD and see the exposure metadata if you are curious.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

54 comments

  2. Oh I am glad that you didn’t have any injuries! I recently slipped on the rocks at a beach in an attempt to sit down there, as everybody else there seemed to be very comfortably seated 😂! Thankfully, nothing more than a slight embarassment for me too😉.
    The black and white pic is giving me shivers, imagining the cold there! I wonder how it looks at other times of the year!

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  10. Your pic of Crater Lake demonstrates why it is iconic, John. Slipping on ice and snow is no laughing matter, although I cracked a smile in solidarity when I read this (been there done that, rinse-repeat). Glad nothing happened to the phone or your back! I can’t count how many times we drove oh-so-close to the lake but were never able to stop. Here is my post this week–most captures are with the cell, the moose–all Lumix 🙂 https://secondwindleisure.com/2023/01/22/sunday-stills-snowy-sounds-of-silence/

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  14. We were fortunate enough to get beautiful views of the lake, but your snowy shot is beautiful in its own way 🙂 I like the slightly blue tone you’ve given it, that works well for a snow scene.

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  29. That is a beautiful picture, John. I’m glad you didn’t stumble into the abyss. We visited it years ago in the summer, and it was so cold at night while we camped, I made the dog get into my sleeping bag with me.

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