High in the Sierras, there exists mythical places where the skies are red and the water is a turquoise blue, where rugged granite behemoths were carved into graceful shapes, where glistening lakes and gurgling streams wind their way down mountains, valleys and canyons. Some of these mythical places are hard to reach, while others, including this one, are just a day's hike away from civilization.
Ansel Adams Wilderness
CA USA
Through the wormhole
The glow in the night sky transcended reality: green shimmers and pink glimmers glinted and gleamed against a dark starscape. Eventually, thick bands swept their way over the mountains, across the fjord and onto the next valley deep in the Westfjords of Iceland, until one settled right atop me, albeit just for a moment.
Clear winter nights in the Pacific Northwest make me yearn for the Aurora spectacle that I had witnessed in the northern reaches of Iceland. And I hope to visit that magical display in the sky once again.
Flateyri
Westfjords, Iceland
Sunrise spectacle at Lake Tahoe
A early fall weekend found me on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Being the tail end of the travel season, the tourist crowd had all but melted away, leaving behind the place of solitude in what was once a throbbing hub of outdoor activity.
As I woke up for sunrise, my eyes spied the correct features in clouds, along with the break in the eastern horizon, thereby setting up for a very colorful sunrise. And I dashed over to Eagle falls, where I had hoped to capture the gush of the falls glowing deep red in the morning light.
The one thing I did not realize was that waterfalls don't exactly gush in fall - they dwindle to a trickle. I hence had to settle for the next best thing - capturing reflections in the small pools remaining behind. And despite that compromise, I was awestruck by the colors and the unique landscape in front of me. The transition from deep reds to orange to yellow as the whole scene lit up was a landscape photographer's delight.
Lake Tahoe
CA USA
Sunset at Bonsai Rock
Ever since I had first seen images of the Bonsai Rock in Lake Tahoe, I was taken away by the location and the context of where it was: imagine a granite boulder smoothed by eons of water erosion resting on the shore of a azure blue lake surrounded by snow-capped peaks. And then imagine tiny sprigs of life taking root on the nooks and crevices of this tiny boulder. That is the spectacle of Bonsai Rock.
At first glance from the road, it may not have been much, but as I scrambled my way on the rocky shoreline down to the water-level, the profile of the bonsai rock grew even more predominant and striking. While the scene and the setting was perfect, the sky, on the other hand, was just bland. I strapped on a Blue-and-Gold Polarizer to add some unearthly colors to this scene, resulting in this exposure above.
Surreal reflections and colorful sunsets will have to wait another day.
Sand Harbor State Park
NV USA