The Rocky Road to Sunset

View fullsize

The weather progressively worsened through the day. What started out as a clear sky in the morning became cloudier and cloudier, and by the late afternoon, the sun had all but disappeared behind an overcast sky. I had very little hopes when I made my way through the dense coastal rain-forest. But when I came out of the clearing, what I saw made me realize that something special was going to happen that evening. But first, I had a hurdle of driftwood to clamber over before I got to the beach.

The first good fortune was the window in the clouds where the dipping sun was just starting to peek through and casting yellow light all around. Next was the low tide, which had left behind a long smooth reflective beach. And the final piece of good luck were the beautiful tide-pools that had formed in the small depressions reflecting the rugged sea-stacks juxtaposed against the cloudy sky.

And at sunset, they all came together: the sea stacks against the red sky, the reflection in the tide-pool, and the sun-star formed by the setting sun; and it made for a special sunset that I will not forget.

Olympic National Park
WA USA

Morning in the Jailoo

I woke up before the alarm finished ringing, layered up, and stepped outside into the cold dawn. The whole sky had opened up, a welcome contrast to the cold and damp evening the day before. The peaks nearby, with a fresh dusting of snow from the prior night's downpour, started to glow in the early morning light. And while it may sound like perfect condition for sunrise photography, freezing winds swept across the vast alpine pasture, and until the sun came through, it was a miserable experience.

Nevertheless, it was special, for what lay in front of me were the vast summer pastures (jailoos) at 3000m (10000ft) around the high alpine lake called the Songkol in Kyrgyzstan. And ringing this 270 sq-km (100 sq-mi) lake were mountains rising another 1500ft, making for an landscape like no other. This is terrain where the horses run free and cattle have a field day. And the only way to get here is on a beat-up dirt road, and the only place to stay is in the traditional yurts set up by the nomadic herders.

I had a field day photographing the awe-inspiring location, and this is one of the morning scenes where the cattle lazily graze in the backdrop of snow-capped peaks.

Songkol
Kyrgyzstan

Island in the Sky

View fullsize

I stood on the edge of tall sandstone mesa, peering down onto the undulating valley below. In front of me, the White Rim canyon cut a jagged scar on the dry plateau, while, in the distance, towering mesas rose a few thousand feet above the landscape. The evening light caught it all, adding red rimlight and dark shadows to the sharp features of this geological marvel. I was watching history in the various strata, dating back 320 million years ago, each with its own unique distinguishable feature.

To witness the immensity of the American Southwest landscape from this tower in the sky is perhaps one of the most awe-inspiring experiences. There are very few other places in this country that can inspire the same sense of grandeur one gets here: the vista from the Grand Canyon, the graceful U-shaped canyons at Glacier National Park, the never-ending tundra landscape of Denali. And that is what makes this place so memorable.

This is a panorama that captures about one-half of the spectacular vista from Green River Overlook in Canyonlands National Park, a lookout best visited at sunset. Coupled with a telephoto lens, I was able to capture intimate details of this rugged National Park

Canyonlands National Park
UT USA

The White Frost

I remember first setting sights on the Ahwahnee hotel, ahem, the 'Majestic Yosemite Hotel' on my second visit to this beautiful park. I stood in awe at the huge vaulted ceilings in the main dining area, at the towering chandeliers lighting the lounge, and the large native stones that were crafted beautifully into the walls. I listened in peace to the crackling sounds of the warm fireplace and the soothing music emanating from the grand piano while I took a breather from the cold outdoors in the cozy interior. This was my first winter experience in Yosemite, a memory that would bring me back to the Ahwahnee every visit just to rekindle those old feelings.

On one such winter outing, I chanced upon the park just as it was experiencing a heavy snowfall. The crowds were away, leaving behind a very quite and serene surrounding. The normally bluebird skies with Yosemite falls in the background was replaced with a moody grey sky pouring down wet snow. This was the white Christmas I experienced once, at the heart of Yosemite National Park. I made a few attempts at capturing this snowfall before I got drowned in the snow, and this was one attempt at photographing the White Frost.

Thank you Yosemite, for etching such wonderful memories.

Yosemite National Park
CA USA

Sunrise of the Ancients

The morning star hung low in the sky against a twilight backdrop, its orange and yellow hues slowly blending to an etheral blue. The sandstone pillars rose against this background like dark pillars, its silhouettes forming otherworldly shapes against this beautiful dawn.

I was transfixed by this scene, the sunrise of the ancients, that was playing out in front of me during the cold dawn of Monument Valley. With every passing minute, the light kept changing: the deep blacks transforming to a pale blue, the dark sandstone buttes becoming vibrant red, the muddy foreground taking on the desert yellows. I waited until the sun crested the horizon and the pillars, spreading light and warmth to the cold dark landscape all around me.

This is one such composition from that unique region of the desert southwest, a sunrise that is forever etched in my mind.

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
AZ USA

Sunrise from Above

I stood by the edge of the trail, peering down onto the valley below and the seemingly endless mountain ranges beyond. I stared at the deep canyons and mountain peaks mired in a lightening fog, while clouds of all shapes and sizes were colored in pastel hues hinting of a glorious sunrise ahead. Despite the freezing winds, a sleepy tenor and a fatigued body, I was feeling elated.

I was atop a mountain peak near Rifugio Lagazuoi, in the heart of the Italian Dolomites at sunrise. I had been trekking up and down, and through and around these jagged peaks for the last few days, and today was my last one here. I still have vivid memories of the dramatic topography that I had witnessed over the last 72hrs, coupled with very delicious local cuisine. Whether it was the beautiful scenery I had witnessed, or just the joy of traveling there, looking back at those images brings the wanderlust back.

Here's to hoping I get to see more of such beautiful places, and witness sunrises like the one from the heart of the mountains.

Rifugio Lagazuoi
Cortina, Italy

Sands of Time

It was a crowded jaded experience. I hardly imagined I would be able to capture the otherworldliness of the beautiful slot canyon. And yet, as the guide cleared the area, chanted some hymns and poured sand down the smooth sandstone ledge, it felt as though the sands of time had transported me back millenia. Back when the only masters of this desolate place were the wind and water which carved every curve and striation on the smooth walls.

My brain tried to juxtapose the ancient origins with the modern tourist clamor of the Upper Antelope slot canyons without much success. The mass of humanity on a hot summer day, replete with the smells wafting throughout and with the sounds bouncing and echoing all around, was overwhelming. And yet I knew that with the next thunderstorm, the natural forces of erosion would be masters again, carving this and many other beautiful canyons scattered through the desert southwest of the US

Antelope Canyon
AZ USA

Hills of Colors

Words cannot describe the diversity of hues that were spread around in front of me. Across the valley, vibrant green hillslopes with fresh spring grass gave way to blue skies, while in the valley in front of me, erosion had stripped away the topsoil, revealing beautiful bands of reds, yellows, pinks and whites the likes of which I had only observed in Badlands.

This was Painted Hills, a unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument that is spread across the dry eastern half of Oregon. Photos don't do this very unique corner of the state justice. It deserves the drive out there.

This is one image taken from an overlook of the principal attraction at Painted Hills

Painted Hills
OR USA

Last light on the Wild West

The John Wayne country: a vast expanse of red sandstone monuments erupting from the undulating desert wasteland. It may seem like a forlorn place seemingly in the middle of nowhere, yet the iconic buttes shaped over millennia by wind and water erosion are some of the most photogenic structures of the multitudes in the desert southwest.

My sojourn into this desert plateau took me around the varied valleys with each turn bringing up a new view. As the sun started to sink towards the horizon, these buttes took on even more color, the iconic red that personifies this country. This was my attempt at capturing these massive monoliths catching the last light of the sun.

Monument Valley Tribal Monument
AZ USA

Through the Green Jungle

View fullsize

I got off the bus and stared at the trail-head - a wooded damp trail threading into the forests; a low layer of fog and rain mired my visibility further. A convenient multilingual sign gave a helpful description of the significance of the pilgrimage, but nothing about the 16km to cover today, nor the terrain I had to go through, or what I would experience. But perhaps that was best left unsaid, as it allowed me to fully be surprised by every single turn of the trail, but every foggy vista, by every pass I submitted, by every creek and cascade I passed by, and by every temple I stood in awe of.

This was the nature of the Kumano Kodo trek, one of the most sacred pilgrimages in the Kii Peninsula in the Honshu island of Japan. I had decided to come here to escape the crowds of the Golden Week, where every resident of Japan seemed to be traveling everywhere. And I was glad I did, for I found peace and solace in quite misty forests of the trek.

This shot was taken at one such place halfway through the first day, where the mist became part of the wonderful verdant greenery that made this trek ever so special.

Nakahechicho
Wakayama Japan