Owing to a freakishly wet late spring, it was only near the very end of June that the Spokane River became safe enough to take on. I don’t swim with a life jacket or a wetsuit. But I do swim with a camera, a fuchsia cap– to alert boarders and kayakers and rafters– plus earplugs and goggles of course, so I can see what I’m getting myself into.

The least that can be said for the results is they are thirty medicinal images for the grayer days ahead, that will help keep seasonal affective disorder at bay. The cobbles and boulders radiating in these photographs are dominantly the rocks delivered by the catastrophic ice age floods of the late Pleistocene that brought in splendid pieces of Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia. Among my favorites are Cosmos, The Brightness of Being, and Whence it Came, the latter of which frames the opening for this on-line gallery.

Part of the experiment this summer was to attempt photographs that capture the elements in the surrounding environment–the water, the rocks, the sky, and the riparian landscape. You’ll see the results of that in photos like All in, Dances in Orange, and even Crawfish Cinema, where the figures on the wave screen are from the light entering from the sky, trees and buff hillside in the distance.

Parenthood was inspired by one of my daughter’s poems which begins with a line about my teaching her to swim. The location of the photo has added meaning for me because it’s near where I spread my allotment of my father’s ashes two years ago. So, yes, there’s a lot going on there beneath the surface.

It bears repeating that all this work, and previous efforts from the river, come with my deep appreciation for all of those who’ve worked and continue to work to restore and protect this precious resource in our midst. Special thanks this year to the late Mike Taylor, a venerable engineer and community leader who was heading up the city’s wastewater treatment improvements at the time of his passing. I was honored to count him among my friends.

Each of these photos is available on metal starting at $1 per square inch, (e.g. $256 for a 16×16 print ready for wall mounting) with a 30% discount on additional prints through December 1, 2020. For sale inquiries, please call (509) 838-4580, or email me at tjccamas@comcast.net.