summer

Spring Storms

The month of April often draws thunderstorms and sudden squalls to western Washington, drenching the landscape and drawing away in a very short time. The primary driver is the rise temperatures in the western Washington as the days become longer. Regardless of the reason, the onset of this weather pattern paints the skies with dramatic clouds and lighting that lend themselves well to photography.

Out in the Palouse region, I caught the tail end of a spring thunderstorm. This composition juxtaposing windmills on a rolling green landscape against the dark ominous background worked very well with the angled lighting of the late afternoon.

Palouse
WA USA

Summer in Rainier

Summer hiking in Mount Rainier can take one from lush old-growth lowland forests to subalpine wildflower meadows and to the high alpine reaches strewn with old volcanic debris. It is one of the few places in the world where you can experience the varied ecology of all the three life zones within just a few miles. No wonder crowds of tourists throng the Park in the summer.

It was for this reason that the Park instituted a reservation system to control the visitation numbers, and ensure that the fragile ecology is preserved for a long time to come.

Reservations open up 3 months in advance. Make sure to snag one to capture the beauty of summer in Mount Rainier. Read more about it here.

Mount Rainier National Park
WA USA

Summer Greens

I use the long slow winter days to pour over archives to see if I found anything interesting. While going through thousands of photos I had shot in the Palouse region over the past few years, I found these four classic pastoral landscapes. Often, these would be of rusting shacks or vibrant red barns set against a lush farmland framed by a deep blue sky. It took a while to find these locations and find matching compositions, but these four worked.

Palouse
WA USA

Basking in the waves

When I hiked to this remote beach in the Virgin Islands, I wasn't expecting much. Barely a couple of hundred yards long, this small beach sandwiched between the a tropical forest and the gentle waves wasn't much to look at. But being a mile away from the nearest road meant that I had the place to myself for a while.

Walking on the soft white sand while listening to the soothing sound of the waves, and basking on under the warm sunlight instantly made me forget about my worries and just enjoy a grand vista of puffy white clouds and azure blue waters. Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away.

Virgin Islands National Park
USVI

Irish Sun

On a late afternoon drive on the windy roads and rolling landscapes of Ireland, I spied this beautiful pastoral scene out of the corner of my eye. Swinging the car around on that narrow road while driving a manual wasn't particularly easy, but after two days of grey skies and gloomy weather, I was ready for a break in the sun.

Sometimes chance encounters offer great rewards.

Cork
Ireland

Summerland

Europe is a remarkable continent, where a 100km is a long distance and a 100 years is a short time, where kingdoms and civilizations have crafted a diverse set of cultures and communities, where haute couture in tourist hotspots stand shoulder to shoulder with quaint bucolic villages and picturesque countrysides, and where sensible urban design and vast expansive greenery are juxtaposed on one seamless landmass. Every trip to this continent rich in history and culture makes me giddy with joy in seeking out the hidden gems away from the tourist traps.

And I can't wait to go back again this summer, to seek out more of what this continent has to offer. Just like this peaceful meadow I found while exploring the Black Forest region of southern Germany.

Schwarzwald

Germany

Dreaming Glory

Very many years ago, when I was still exploring the various parks in the Bay Area, I chanced upon one called the Purisima Creek Open Space Preserve, a vast reserve of young growth redwoods and large-leaved oaks, of gurgling creeks and moss-covered forests.

There was one particular trail that started off from the top of the ridge (part of the peninsular mountains) and descends into the valleys below as it it made its way towards the rugged Pacific coast. As the trail plunges through the summer-time fog, the dry world above it transforms into a photogenic wonderland of dreamy suffuse lighting.

I lucked out on getting good lighting, resulting in this dreaming glory where the morning light played hide-and-seek with the vegetation and the fog to create a very memorable scene

Purisima Creek Open Space Preserve
CA USA