September in the PNW is truly the best time to explore the vast hinterlands of the Cascades. The temperatures are a bit cooler, the bugs are gone, fires usually die down, and the occasional storms provide for some photogenic cloudscapes. And it comes with the added bonus of delicious ripe blueberries and huckleberries waiting to be picked up. The stark changes in the hues of the landscape towards the end of the month is just icing on the cake.
I can't wait for the next year to see such mountaintop vistas once again.
You can purchase my 2024 calendar at this link.
Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA
Not your typical tundra
When I was planning the trip to Lake Clark, I was told I would be hiking through the Alaska tundra. When I imagined the tundra, I expected a mosquito-filled boggy marsh, interspersed with thick dense bush, all moist from a perennially cold summer drizzle that would never stop. But when I arrived there, the marsh I expected was still there, sans mosquitoes. Grey moody skies and cold rain were replaced by balmy weather, bluebird skies and puffy white clouds, straight out of a New England summer.
It was not your typical tundra, at least not for another three days after which a powerful thunderstorm slammed the region with torrential rain and copious water. But until then, the tundra I enjoyed out at Lake Clark National Park was sublime.
Lake Clark National Park
AK USA
Rising above the fog
More often than not, when I am heading out to shoot, I have a place and time in mind that has been carefully planned for, taking into consideration the weather, smoke, light and landscape. And that constitutes a majority of what I shoot. And then I have others that I shoot by happenstance - I just happen to be at the right place at the right time.
This morning, as I was heading back after a long night of shooting, I noticed a river valley completely enveloped in ground-level fog, reducing visibility to a few hundred feet. I ventured a bit more cautiously, hoping to get out of the thick fog. But as the sun came up, this fog started to glow with an inner fire, and I knew I had to shoot it. Around me was the everyday workings of a rural farm: barns, tractors and a few cornfields. As I scouted for locations, I came upon a little rise in the road where the fog, now below me, was spreading through woods and catching the morning light. That scene matched an image I had had in my repertoire of a classic sunrise over a foggy Napa Valley, and while not the same, made me stop to catch the light.
Whatcom County
WA USA
The Lonely Tree
A twisted ash, a ragged fir,
A silver birch with leaves astir.
Men talk of forests broad and deep
Where summer-long the shadows sleep.
Though I love forests deep and wide,
The lone tree on the bare hillside,
The brave wind-bitten lonely tree
Is rooted in the heart of me —
A twisted ash, a ragged fir,
A silver birch with leaves astir.
- Wilfred Gibson
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
ND USA
March of the Mushrooms
Having spent most of my life in places surrounded by mountains, the thought of seeing vast open spaces, or in common parlance, 'big sky country' was limited to my visits to National Parks along the eastern edge of the Rockies and the long drives across in the Great Plains. I remember my first glimpse of such a sky while hiking up to a mountain vista in Glacier National Park and looking east into the vast undulating hills of Montana. I remember seeing the land and sky stretch endlessly to the blurred horizon. The great machinations of industrial agriculture, barns, silos, harvesters and tractors were but mere dots on this landscape, where even mile long grain trains seemed like tiny caterpillars crawling across the earth.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park was another place where I got to experience this big sky country. And on that fateful day, the sky was made even more dramatic by the appearance of a chain of nascent cumulonimbus clouds stretching across the badlands and the great plains beyond. I tried to capture the light falling on the precipitation from the middle of these thunderstorm cells as they resembled mushrooms marching across the parklands.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
ND USA
A National Parks Journey - Lake Clark National Park
Alaska is one of those places where the names of the National Parks don't ever reveal what the Park is actually about, except, perhaps for Denali National Park. And even though the main attraction of that Park (the 20th National Park I had visited) is Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, the Park preserves an ecosystem and biome far more diverse than just the small area around the peak. However, unlike Denali, the Lake Clark of Lake Clark National Park is but a small piece of the large region preserved by the Park. And even though it occupies a vast swath of southwestern Alaska, it is only the 7th largest National Park.
With most of the park in the backcountry where access and logistics are challenging, I chose to go with an outfitter to explore the stunning wilderness in the heart of the Park. It is a rugged terrain where there are no hiking trails and no navigational landmarks, and where mosquitoes reign supreme. And yet, even in this harsh landscape, I found a slice of heaven in the interior where craggy mountains reflected in the shimmering surface of a turquoise lake. I found a pristine wildlife environment where Brown bears, Arctic foxes, Caribou roamed free in a roadless landscape.
Lake Clark was my 52nd National Park, and I still have 10 more remaining to visit. Will I get to them this year? Only time will tell.
Lake Clark National Park
Ancestral Homelands of the Dena'ina people
AK USA
Summer Memories
Everyone is excited about the colorful season of Fall coming up, where nature puts on a show before she finally settles down for the winter. Perhaps we can spare a moment for the balmy days of summer spent lying down on a green grass meadow watching the wispy clouds flutter away. Watching the fleeting patterns of clouds reminds me of bucolic summer days of years past, a time of carefree life and trivial experiences.
This particular area of Palouse brought back those memories, and I tried to render it as I imagined in my minds eye.
Palouse
WA USA
The Curtains Reveal
Precisely a year before this image was taken on the eve of the Fall equinox, I had climbed up Fremont peak at Mt Rainier during a cloudy afternoon. The lookout at the summit had been socked in dense fog, reducing visibility to mere yards. And when all hope seemed lost, the inversion layer dipped below, and I was witness to one glorious sunset above the clouds.
I was hoping to repeat that this year, and with the dense smoke having finally receded, I was eagerly looking forward to a return visit. However, fire damage had temporarily closed the main access road to the area, and I turned to the next best fire lookout in the Mt Rainier area.
I started the hike in high spirits despite the foggy weather, hoping that the clouds would lift up just like last year. But as sunset approached, the snowy summit of Mt Rainier barely managed to peek through the thick fog rolling over the lookout. The glimpses of the inversion layer kept teasing me, prolonging the agony in the freezing cold. And just as I was about to turn around barely 30min before sunset, the clouds lowered.
I was now dropped into an ethereal landscape with the mist still clinging onto the nearby ridges and peaks, while the summit of Mt Rainier, towering over an alpine lake, managed to catch the last bit of alpenglow.
Mt Rainier National Park
WA USA
Swirls of the night
After a long rainy day, it was a pleasant surprise to see moonlight glazing over the glaciated peaks of the French Alps. And at this remote refugio deep in the heart of the alps, I thought I had found the perfect location to capture the swirls of foggy peaks. But what I didn't expect, and grew tired of, was the incessant barking of a guard dog from a nearby farm. And for the next hour, nary did a minute pass without interruption, leaving me wondering when I was going to get bitten by a guard dog in the middle of the Alps.
Tour du Mont Blanc
France
Above the Turmoil
I stared at the everchanging cloudscape below me, sweeping over rugged peaks and covering deep valleys, pondering over the beauty of this spellbinding landscape. I cautiously stepped in front of my camera, giving in to the draw of this dynamic panorama around Mt Rainier.
Mt Rainier National Park
WA USA