The Picture

When I had my cousins over for Thanksgiving we got to go to the beach, seeing as most people don't have the privelige of going there often. My cousin is currently taking a digital photo class for school, and so this was the perfect oppurtunity to get some quality pics including one with me in it. I have to say, I was a natural for the camera.

This was the star photo of me, with a great backdrop.

This was another good photo, with the shadow of cousin to catch the eye.

Oregon sunsets are a photographers dream, and you can see why.

The car tracks had a neat effect on this picture. (Oregonians can drive on their beaches :-). )

got Snow? We do.

We got a good amount snow over the weekend from an Artic chill. For most people, snow is not that big deal. Of course, most people don't live in one of the top two rainiest cities in the U.S. either. So, out of pure joy, I had to snap a couple of pictures of the snow that we got, and show of the best snow of the year from Astoria, Oregon.

The snow actually stuck, which doesn't happen a lot with a warm humid climate.

When you see the snow, it sort of makes you think about what a "White Christmas" on the coast would actually look like.

Snow is definitely a nice change from the usual December rain.

4A Football Champions

My high school (Astoria High School), has recently experienced a lot of success in the athletic programs, with strong showings in almost every sport, especially this season. Last week, I had the opportunity to go watch the football team win their first state championship in 106 years. Talk about a long time. Below is a video from the game.

Astoria punctuates perfect season

Pumpkin Patch Trip - Sauve Island

This is completely old, about a month and a half, but I have just barely got around to posting these photos. Sometime in October, on a day off from school my family went up to Sauve Island in Portland. It is known for have some of the best land to grow crops with in the area. Because of this, there are numerous farms, including several large pumpkin patches. So we decided to check it out, and take up the challenge of going through a rather large maze. A couple of pics from the trip are below.

The corn maze was long, and rather muddy.

This picture doesn't even begin to describe the size of the pumpkin patch.

This was an aeriel view of the maze, the design changes each year.

Saddle Mountain Hike

Currently right now in school I am taking a class called Recreational P.E. To put in simple terms, it is not your normal P.E. class. Instead of doing regular P.E. activities, you get to things like outdoor activites. For the semester, you are required to attend 5 outings, which are activities done on the weekend. About a month back, we went on a hike up Saddle Mountain. It was a nice, sunny day and the views were awesome. Here are some poor quality pics from the trip.

The sun was shining down and it was just a great day to be outside.

You gain about 2,000 feet of elevation on the hike, but it still wasn't that bad.

The view was great, you could see all of the surrounding area, including the ocean.

This was cool rock formation that we passed by.

Eagle Project

It took me awhile, but I have finally gotten the chance to post photos from my Eagle Project. Below is a short description about what I did, followed by some photos.

The Eagle Project happened on the 30th, of August. My project consisted of four park benches, which I had placed at a school in my area, Lewis and Clark Elementary. The supplies I was able to get generously donated through local hardware stores. As you can see, the frames were made of metal, which was bent into shape with some help, by a design made by my dad and I.

This was the group photo of everyone that helped with the project minus two people, one of which was taking the picture.

The final product is shown here, with all of the benches assembled, in the ground, and concreted.

One of the benches being assembled by many helping hands.

We ran into a little trouble when we hit a sprinkler system that wasn't buried very well. It was able to be fixed though and everything turned out fine.

The first bench is shown at the beginning of the project.

Yea, there was food there.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

The new Harry Potter movie is going to be ready view this November, and they have just barely released the new trailer for it. If you haven't seen it yet, you can view it here. I'm looking foward to see how it turns out, good or bad.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Trailer

Dick Baker Invitational

This is news from way back in the spring, but because I just barely got my pictures taken off my phone, you aren't seeing this until now.

The Dick Baker Invitational is a track invite for a select few Oregon high schools at the 4A level. My school happens to be one of them. Despite being an underclassman I had the chance to go this past year and it was pretty amazing.

As you can see from the photos that I took, this high school is hooked up with cash, allowing them to buy super nice track equipment. It rivals that of bigger school's equipment. This is all because of Nike's donations. I sure wished I lived a little bit closer to Beaverton so I benefit from their generosity.

The stadium itself was probably only a few years old, let along the track and field.

The field was made of turf, and not the bad kind either. It felt good just to relax on.

Our girls team was excellent this past year, losing state by half a point due to some misfortunes. This proves it here when the girls swept the top three places in a throwing event, with top competitors in the state throwing.

The track was so nice that I couldn't stop looking at it, and had to snap a picture of it finally.

The sand pit for jumping was just as nice as the rest. Soft and very silt-like.

Olympic Training Center

While on the same trip that took me to Philmont, we stayed at my cousins for a few days in Colorado Springs. One of the things that we viewed while there was a tour of one of the U.S.'s Olympic Training Centers. The neat part was seeing where all the athletes train, especially with the Bejing Olympics coming this August. The training center focused on more indoor events, so a lot of the outdoor events train other places.

When we drove into the the parking lot this sign greeted us to state where we were.

A long sidewalk connected all of the buildings together. It also had every olympic sport portrayed with statues. You can see soccer on the right side.

This was the main training room for the wrestlers, who do two styles: Greco Roman and freestyle

There was a big pool where many of the water athletes practice such as the polo team or a lap swimmer. Unfortunately most of the big name swimmers train elsewhere, so we weren't able to glimpse Michael Phelps.

Inside the main building we could see an Olympic Hall of Fame made up of fabled Olympians from the US, like the 1980 Miracle Hockey team.

Outside you could see a statue of athletes holding up the world. It was very complex and detailed.

Here you can read "Amazing Awaits" which is the motto from the U.S. Olympic team right now.

This was a one of the gyms where the gymnists could practice. A basketball team could also use this facility, as there was a gym floor under the mats.

The weight room was huge, like it needs to be to build up an Olympian body.

Philmont LDS Mountain Trek 2008

I recently had the oppurtunity to go to the Boy Scout's Philmont Ranch in New Mexico. I have to say that it is a once in a lifetime experience. While my family stayed at the base camp training center, doing activities and being trained in the Church there, I got to go on a mountain trek and explore what the mountains there.

The experience was neat in the fact that you had a backpacking trip, along with activities to do. I tried real rock climbing for the first time as well as working in a blacksmith's forge. That only scratched the surface. We also had LDS devotionals each night, and I got to meet General Authorities like Pres. Dahlquist and Pres. Neider. If you ever get the chance go! Below are pictures from the trek.

This was picture taken on the last day. You can see the valley from here.

This was the reservoir where we held our Sunday service.

This is the rocky area where I took the first picture. You can see one of my rangers (counselors) Brock.

This is where we camped one night. It was nice for us because we didn't have to do as many bear precautions, a must with all the bears around.

I thought that this picture looked great and showed a trail we were hiking on.

Another valley picture.

When you live in Astoria its nice to see blue sky.

This is usually what our tent area looked like.

There was always a scenic valley picture and this was one of the best.

You get to see me in this picture, of the same valley.

4A State Championship Pics

When I went to the championship game, I happened to be featured in a couple of snap shots that were taken from various people, including newpapers. I was able to dig up these photos that feature me in the picture. A friend of mine told me that I was even featured on Fox 12 News, when they were giving a recap of the game. I guess that they zoomed on the area of the crowd I was in, and you could even see the cheesburger I was eating!

In this photo of Poyer batting, you can see me right of the bar. I am wearing a purple shirt to show support to the Fishermen.

In the this pic I can be seen almost center on the picture, clapping my hands while a play is being made.

This last photo shows me dead center, applauding as another big play took place.

Oregon 4A Championship Game

My high school, Astoria, recently made it to the state championship baseball game. They put up a good fight and led for most of the game, but eventually fell. A video shows the highlights of the game.

Newport wins 4A baseball title

Defect Robots

Here is a recent YouTube video that I saw called Defect Robots. It's pretty good for how long it took to make it.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I have been a big fan of the adventure-filled archaeologist named Indiana Jones. After having seen the first three movies put out, when I heard that a new movie was to be made, I was instantly excited about this news. To make the suspense even greater, I then heard news that many of the people that helped create the original films would help create this new one.

Because of this I recently saw the movie. I'd have to say that I wasn't too disappointed. The movie contained all that you can expect from a sequel. There was plenty of action, and the storyline itself wasn't too bad. For me, it was interesting to see how today's special effects helped create the film, compared to one of the older ones. I also liked I how you could see a few hidden references to past films.

Overall this was a good movie. If you haven't had the chance to see it yet, see it soon!

Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe has recently come out with this new program online called Photoshop Express. It is basically a scaled down version of Photoshop, with the ability to share photos online. So far I have been very impressed with the program. Below you can find a link to the site, as well as my own personal gallery of photos.

Photo Credit: Adobe.com

Bron James Photo Gallery