Typist: Bethany
When I was young, traveling North America in the family van, if we were lucky my dad would honk the horn as we went through a tunnel. Luck was if there was not one else around; my dad was considerate enough not to freak other tunnel goers out just for the giggling pleasure of his kids. I don't remember exactly what our dogs did when the light suddenly changed in the van and my brother and I began to plead to hear a horn echo in the darkness horn. Like my traveling dogs, cat, and cockatoo, those dogs probably slept right through the shadows of tunnel fun. The excitement of passing through a tunnel instilled in me by my dad has the same effect on my current travel pets as my childhood dogs... they keep on snoozing. I do often wonder, though, what road trip tunnel going Wilhelm, Brychwyn, Huxley, Amelia, and Leo would do if they heard that "ah-oooo-gah" echoing until passing into the light at the other end. I wonder because I don't honk. Even if I am all alone for miles. Sorry, dad. It just isn't the same without you, a school bus yellow camper van, and a custom ahooga horn. But I do still so love a good tunnel...

Dogwood Photography Photo Challenge Week 9, Artistic: Shadows
"The opposite of light is dark, the absence of light is shadow. Interpret this into a masterpiece."

What it is about tunnels that is so magical? I know I have wonderful ahooga horn memories but those are unique. Other people and animals, even those who have never heard a crazy family van horn, enjoy tunnels as well. Why? This fascination with light to dark to light is what inspired "The Tunnel of Love" as well as "The Tunnel of Terror." Whatever it is about the echoing of sound, the sudden absence, and the impending presence of light that is just so frightening, fun, and beautiful at the same time, I love it. And even if I don't carry on the family honk tradition when I pass through a tunnel on a road trip, I never want to stop feeling thrilled every time I get to focus on that light at the end of the tunnel and literally get tunnel vision.

This post is a part of the Dogwood Photography 52 Week Photography Challenge. Please see more of our photo challenge posts here.

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Typist: Bethany
Cascadia has always inspired the panorama photographer in me. With my first camera, I remember carefully lining up series of photographs to stitch together into a panorama. I was lucky to have spectacular Pacific Northwest landscapes to photograph, with majestically jutting mountains and unique cloud formations making it a little easier to slide a camera across a scene. I loved shooting photos that would later recreate what was wider than even the eyes could see. Back then, panorama stitching was done with tape. Now, I can capture the head turning beauty of my surroundings with a lot less tape and a lot more technology.

Dogwood Photography Photo Challenge Week 8, Landscape: Wide Angle/Panorama
"This is a great opportunity to explore panorama stitching and create a wide sweeping landscape."

The panorama challenge this week made me nostalgic for those carefully lined up single shots I used to take, photographed on faith that they might be able to be stitched together after being developed. I even began to miss developing photos in a dark room! However, those old, film panoramas would never have been able to include dogs. Even with all the amazing technology of panorama stitching, the computer can't make my dogs hold their heads still as I pan the scene. It takes almost as many takes to get a computer stitched panorama of the dogs exploring Cascadia as I used to shoot to line up the mountains, clouds or shoreline on film. At least after several takes with the dogs, we get to move on. Remembering constantly changing rolls of film suddenly makes me a lot less nostalgic. That, and these tape free panoramas of gorgeous Cascadia.

Less tape? More fur? What do you like best about modern photography?

This post is a part of the Dogwood Photography 52 Week Photography Challenge. Please see more of our photo challenge posts here.

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Typist: Bethany
The dogs have seen all the road trip gear hauled out so many times, when the dog stuff is getting packed, they get excited. Really excited. So excited, in fact, that they seem disappointed when everything is in the car, ready to go, and we spend one more night at home. I hate packing the day before and having to wait until morning to leave too. I never sleep very well... I am just too eager to hit the road! So, are the dogs truly enthusiastic about traveling or are they just feeding off of my strong wanderlust emotions? When we arrive somewhere, anywhere, the car slows down, and I begin to delightedly look around, Wilhelm, Brychwyn, and Huxley do too. I can't wait to get out and explore! Either can the dogs. Maybe we are the luckiest foursome ever to have found others that share our exploring passion. Maybe my dogs love me so much that whatever makes me happy, makes them happy. Judging by how difficult it is to get the dogs to look away from me for a photo, I thought the latter was probably true. But after viewing the photographs I managed in this weeks Dogwood 52 photo challenge, maybe Huxley, Wilhelm, and Brychwyn just love to travel. 

Dogwood Photography Photo Challenge Week 7, Portrait: Faceless
"Tell someone's story without showing their face."

Capturing photographs of the dogs traveling exhilaration is easy. Sharing their love of travel in photos is one of the reasons we are the Cascadian Nomads! What was challenging for this weeks faceless portraits, is shooting the dogs from behind. Sure they love exploring where we are, but they are trained to turn towards me for photos. I had to be sneaky, and aware of moments that each dog was really enthralled with our wanderings. The most challenging part of all was that I am always invigorated by our journey's surroundings as well! So maybe Huxley, Wilhelm, Brychwyn and I have a passion for travel in common. Maybe because every aspect of traveling, from packing to unpacking, makes me happy, the dogs are happy about travel too. I am not sure I need to know why my dogs love to travel so much. I just care that we get to keep going places together for many years to come.

Does your dog do something just because you love it?
Do you do something just because your dog loves it?

This post is a part of the Dogwood Photography 52 Week Photography Challenge. Please see more of our photo challenge posts here.

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Typist: Bethany
Travelers can check and recheck attraction hours, research every possible route, call several times to make sure pets are allowed, and prepare for every possible touring scenario. But all travelers know that despite massive preparations, something is bound to go wrong. It has been my experience that when travel plans sour, we end up enjoying the sweetest traveling moments.

Jason and I have been taking the pets on a February road trip to the Columbia River delta for years. This year, the pet friendly motel we always stay in changed owners and was no longer as pet friendly, the craft beer festival we always attend sold out before we got our tickets, and the forecast during our trip was for days and days of huge winds and inches of rain. I wasn't going to let a lack of somewhere to stay, something to do and a risk of an entire trip of soaking wet dogs stop me from getting some much needed time away. So despite soured plans, we ended up in a fantastic hotel, with an amazing view of the stormy weather, and Jason and I enjoyed beer tasting at some craft breweries we had never been to before. It doesn't get any sweeter than that!

Dogwood Photography Photo Challenge Week 6, Artistic: Candy
"Your artistic interpretation this week should be inspired by something sweet. A great chance to play with macro photography."

This post is a part of the Dogwood Photography 52 Week Photography Challenge. Please see more of our photo challenge posts here.

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