I Can’t Believe I’m Going Back
A text message on a Monday and by a phone call on a Wednesday, and somehow I’m suddenly bound once again for John Day, Oregon in just a few short weeks. I never thought I’d get a call to come back. In the seventeen months since I left, I doubt I’ve gone more than a few days without thinking about this little valley in the middle-of-nowhere, Oregon.
Ever since that phone call a month ago, I’ve fallen asleep to memories of particular bends in Highway 26, the houses and barns in the hills, light on the Strawberry mountains at sunset, and the slow, calm pace of life in that beautiful place.
I arrived in John Day on a beautiful January day in 2019, driving through the valley in a perfect golden hour. At the time I felt that place would be just as easy to leave in April, but after extending my contract twice, I nearly cried pulling out of the driveway in late August of that year. I never would have guessed it, but this little nothing-town dug into me and pulled at me like a magnet.
When I left, I can almost say it felt more like leaving home rather than going home.
For the first several days after I accepted the offer to return, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep because I was too excited. It’s such a relief to know I’ll be back in the mountains every day, under dark skies each night, close to beautiful streams, and surrounded by good people to top it off.
When I left in 2019, I still had about as many pins in the map that hadn’t been explored as pins for missions accomplished. It’s so exciting to know I’ll be surrounded by so many places to explore.
In just a few weeks, I’ll be living minutes away from some of the darkest skies in the contiguous US. Each year, I plan out several places to shoot the Milky Way, and when I know I’m heading somewhere for a contract, I always check locations of interesting landscapes and landmarks against dark sky maps, assessing when and where I might be able to capture captivating Milky Way photographs. Before I found out I was headed back to Oregon, I was starting to worry about Milky Way opportunities this year in the southeast, as dark skies are scarce and not necessarily easy to access. But suddenly, I’m heading back to Grant County, a place with copious amounts of dark sky and whose land is nearly two-thirds National Forest or BLM land, meaning it’s available to access by the public. I cannot overstate how excited I am but also how relieved I am for the opportunities to photograph my favorite subject: the night sky.
I can’t overstate how excited I am and how much of a dream it is to go back. I know that the place is not quite the same as it was when I left, but things always change and I can’t wait to see this place with a new perspective.
I do apologize if my words seem jumbled and my thoughts relatively sporadic, but if you could tell that I’m absolutely stoked about this next adventure, then you absolutely got the point!
I can’t wait to see this place again, and I can’t wait to show you why I love it there.