Freezing on Mount Hood with My Best Friend

My first real job — the first one nobody in my family lined up for me — was at the Regal City Center 12 in downtown Vancouver. I worked there three years. That's where I met Tim.

Tim Taaca is tall, skinny, and easy to overlook until you actually talk to him. We hit it off almost right away. There was a whole group of us from the theater who hung out constantly, but Tim and I had something more specific in common: we were both making things. Photography, video, cinematography — that was the thing we could talk about for hours.

He's one of the people I admire most, and not just because he's creative. He's goal-oriented in a way I'm not always. He decides on something and stays on it. And he actually went and did the thing — packed up for SCAD in Savannah, Georgia to study to become a director of photography.

We've been friends since around 2019 and stayed in contact the whole time he was gone. He'd come back every six months or so — spring break, the start of summer, his dad's birthday, or when winter came around.

On November 25th, 2023 he was home, and we decided we wanted to get out to Mount Hood. Take some photos, mess around. That was the whole plan. It's an hour and a half, maybe two, from Vancouver, so we drove out and started hiking.

We got lucky with the day. The way the clouds were sitting and where the sun was going down turned everything this soft blue — the whole mountain looked like cotton candy. I haven't really seen it look like that before or since.

What we did not get right was the cold. The wind did not stop the entire time we were up there, and neither of us had packed for it. That ended up being what decided how far we made it. But we stayed out as long as the sun did.

The frames I keep coming back to are the mountain itself and the ones of the lift chairs and the conveyor running up the slope — both completely blacked out against a bright sky. Chiaroscuro, if you want the word for it. Hard shape against hard light.

Tim took a few photos of me while we were up there, which are in here too. He was heading back out in a couple of days. His own work is worth a look — links are below.

These are still some of my favorite photographs I've ever taken, and it's a good memory with one of my best friends. Hard to ask for much more out of an afternoon.