Browsing through the archives, my eye spotted this interesting composition. This particular scene was a sunset in the rugged Olympic coastline in Washington state. What drew my eye was how nature (represented by the tree) managed to survive the unrelenting vagaries of weather that this region experiences, especially during the winter rains. The tree also acts as a kind of focal point, drawing attention away from the harshness of the rest of the scene.
Olympic National Park
WA USA
Even though this image looks like an late season adventure, this was actually taken early in the season last year. In Nov and Dec 2023, early winter storms dumped plenty of snow in the Cascades, but there was never a sustained subzero temperature to freeze the water. I was fortunate to visit during one of the gaps in the winter storms and capture the icy blue hues of a Cascade winter.
Find this image and more in my 2025 calendar available at this link.
Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA
2024 as a year will be remembered for multiple things. However, one reason for which I will remember this year is witnessing my second totality during the total eclipse in April. After having experienced my first totality back in the 2017 eclipse, I was hooked. This time around, I got to share that experience with both my partner and with a few of my friends.
For the longest period of time, I wasn't even sure if I would be able to travel for the eclipse since my knee wasn't fully healed. Neither was I confident about the weather, which can play spoilsport in April in most of the country. Thankfully, with a few last minute changes, my partner and I were able to catch this years eclipse.
While photography was not as stellar as the one in 2017 due to a thin layer of high altitude clouds, the experience of being in the zone of totality was still unmatched. Here is one of the many photos I took that day, with this one capturing the moment the sun emerged from behind the moon. It features a very bright Baily's beads, with the effect being called a diamond ring of the eclipse. See this large in my 2025 calendar, available for purchase at this link, This is likely the last day to purchase it in order to get it in time for Christmas.
Indianapolis
IN, USA
Great Basin National Park had always evaded me so far. Despite having lived in its neighboring state for over 8 years, I never managed to visit this little gem of a park tucked away amidst one of the multitude of mountain ranges marching north to south in Nevada. That is, until now.
My primary goal in the visit to my 59th of the 63 US National Parks was to catch the incredibly dark night skies. After having braved a tiring 5hr drive from Las Vegas, I managed to snag a campsite at the sought after campground near Wheeler Peak. Located at 9900ft (3015m), the high altitude campground features thin air and low air pollution, reducing atmospheric distortion and enables some of the finest astrophotography possible.
Here is one right from the campground I was parked at. See this in large in my 2025 calendar, available for purchase at this link.
Great Basin National Park
NV USA
Yellowstone was one of the few National Parks I got to visit this year. Having been bedridden for the first half while recovering from a surgery, this trip proved to be a welcome respite to explore the outdoors. This National Park's geothermal features set amidst a dramatic backdrop of vast lakes, snow-capped peaks and bountiful wildlife make it a treat for photographers and nature explorers.
And during this trip, I felt grateful to also take my parents to this unique destination. They thoroughly enjoyed all that the park had to offer, and were even game to accompany me to capture memorable sunrises like this.
See this in large in my 2025 calendar, available for purchase at this link
Yellowstone National Park
WY USA
Looking back at this scene brings sharp memories of the freezing conditions I endured to catch sunrise atop this windswept knoll. I still remember fiddling with my camera with cold numb hands, shivering despite wearing multiple layers, feeling nauseated from the lack of sleep the prior night, and most importantly, of being disappointed after the predicted sunrise did not pan out.
Sometimes these are part and parcel of the experience of the photographer. Even after putting the best effort into getting everything right, it is impossible to predict factors that lie beyond the photographer's control. I have faced many such disappointments, but persevere and shoot despite that.
And on this day, I was glad I continued shooting even after the sunrise didn't pan out, because I allowed me to enjoy the peaceful winter solitude for just a little bit longer.
Mount Tahoma State Forest
WA USA
Its the time of the year that I start working on the photography calendar. I have had plenty of adventures this year yielding many keepers, despite the fact that I was bedridden for about half the year. That said, I had to revisit the archives to get a bit of variety.
That opened up the choices quite a bit more, and I had to make many difficult decisions to keep some and discard others. This was one of those that I had to discard from the 2025 calendar. I still like the image for what it captures: a slice of the fall in the mountains in the North Cascades. Clumps of short blueberry add vibrant reds and oranges to the subalpine meadows in this fragile landscape dominated by glaciated mountain peaks. It lasts but for a very short time, but it leaves an impression like no other.
North Cascades National Park
WA USA
I missed out the Larch Madness of 2024, for the reason that I was in a completely different continent at the peak of the larch season. Larch madness, so named for the precise and synchronous change of color by the Western larches, whose needles take on a amber hue as the temperatures start to dip in early October. Walking in a larch forest at this time is a surreal experience, with backlit trees exhibiting a golden hue. And since they grow in large clusters, the color is very pronounced both up close and from a distance.
This is one such larch grove at one of my favorite destinations for the larches. I happened to arrive at the right time to capture beautiful reflections at this golden lake in the eastern eaves of the Cascade range.
Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest
WA USA
Its that time of the year again when the Palouse gets a glow-up. Brown rolling hills after the winter slowly transform to a resplendent green, both from the winter and spring crops. Colorful barns and grain silos dot the undulating landscape, interrupting the flowing fields of wheat, soy and canola. Yellow crop dusters take to the air to fly sweeping loops over this wavy landscape, spraying fertilizers and pesticides. While it is no organic farming, it certainly is a productive corner of the state.
And photogenic too. The few weeks surrounding this time offer optimal conditions to capture the pastoral landscapes from the high vistas and from the dirt roads that wind through the landscape. Old renovated farmsteads and beautifully restored red barns offer subjects for the detail seekers too.
Here are a few showing the view from up above.
Palouse
WA USA
The mother of all solar storms slammed the planet on May 9th. I even briefly observed the Kp scale going down to an unheard level of Kp9. The strength of the storm was 4x of the typical that I had witness in the PNW in the past. And it wasn't just one event, it was a train of half a dozen storms that impinged the planet in that timeframe. And during the height of these impacts, the auroral displays were observed as far south as Mexico, Austria and India, and as far north as Australia.
The internet has been flooded with plenty of images of this event over the past few days. Here is my contribution to this, an example of how the faint glow in the sky was really a dazzling spectrum of colors that arced all over.
North Cascades National Park
WA USA
