CRAIG VOLPE PHOTOGRAPHY

Personal Work: Steens

Steens Mountain High-Altitude Running Camp is a training camp for high-school students taking place for 2 weeks each summer in the Steens Mountains of Southeast Oregon. Summer 2005 I was very fortunate to be invited to take photos of the camp's 30th year. I already had great memories of the camp from when I attended as a high-school student. Again I came away from the experience, this time as a photographer, with amazing memories, new friends, and a reminder of the conveniences of “flat-land America”. I remember how challenging the camp was as a teenager, and this latest trip proved to bring a whole new set of challenges with all the gear I carried around. Just like the first time I did the Steens “Big Day,” I had doubts about being able to finish. Just like all the other campers, I somehow survived it yet again. The feeling of achieving a goal you thought impossible is a great and rewarding one. This experience helped me realize I can achieve things I didn’t think possible before. I hope I can find similar photography work in the future. One of these days I will have to photograph Steens again, just with a lighter lens and waterproof camera-case :)

Campers do the jitterbug at 5am on the start of the "Big Day".
   
  
Streams are but just one of the many terrains campers must traverse during Steens Mountain Running Camp's 'Big Day'.
     
  
   
A camper runs across a cattle guard on his way back to camp
   
Campers must make their own path during the Cross Canyon race
     
  
Team members reach for the bus, which represents the finish of the Cross Canyon race.
   
Team members sing on their way back to camp after the Cross Canyon race.
   
     
  
   
  
The camp's utility shed is illuminated by campfire late one night at Steens Mountain Running Camp. Many stars can be seen from the camp due to it's high elevation and absence of light pollution in the area.