Weather patterns seem to rule our lives. Yet another week of wildfire smoke dropped on us in what seemed like a random pattern. Over the course of a day air quality would move from good to unhealthy and back. We did manage an afternoon of relatively smoke-free weather.
So of course we headed up to the river. Now normally we’d be on the stream mid-morning and home by three or four oclock. This week it was an afternoon and evening trip. We packed for dinner and headed to the Crooked.
Early in the week there are usually fewer people, but it is August, so we were happy to find our favorite site completely empty.
We put out the chairs along the stream’s edge and settled in for the day. Tip and I worked on getting rigged for fishing, while JQ pulled out her camera gear.
After the heat of the day passes, there is typically good fishing and this day we had a nice caddis fly hatch. I worked a stretch of stream within eyesight of our camp and was busy casting to hungry redband rainbows.
Evening hours present a quality of light photographers call “golden hour”. The closer the sun gets to the horizon the warmer the light qualty. It also creates shadows that enhance the subjects and landscape. We also discovered that bird activity picked up in the evening.
Air quality didn’t improve the remainder of the week so it was good to get that break. We are looking at car trips to do some photo/video shoots which allow limited exposure to the nasty air. Hints of fall weather are in the forecast so we’re hopeful for some better days ahead.