Landscapes

Sparks of Sand

When I photograph sand dunes, I normally seek out patterns in the ripples of the dunes, especially during the golden hours. But this time, I decided to focus on the faint shadow cast by the clouds as a gust of wind whipped up the sand.

Great Sand Dunes National Park
CO USA

Alone at Sea

During a spring hike a few years ago, I was blessed with remarkable conditions over the Puget sound. I specifically sought this location in an urban park so that I could capture the beautiful silhouette of the Olympic range. A lone sailboat happened to be at the right place to frame this scene.

Seattle
WA USA

Misty Woods

Unlike the last photo which was taken on a sunny weekend, this one instead was on a cloudy day, typical of winter in the pacific Northwest. Instead of grand landscapes, I chose to focus on the ethereal fog that keeps the rainforests of the Olympic peninsula rather wet and moist.

Olympic National Park

WA USA

Rainier Scenes

Rainier Scenes

January in the Pacific Northwest is usually characterized by grey gloomy skies and precipitation that lasts for days on end. And rainy weekends were the norm. So it was a rare coincidence that January of 2022 had plenty of sunny weekends where one could spend the outdoors under clear skies.

On one such weekend, I headed up the slopes of Rainier to capture remarkable winter scenes like this one. Such days more than make up for the less than average daylight in the PNW

Mount Rainier National Park

WA USA

Fruits of Labor

The reward for a steep climb up the slopes of Mount Rainier is a panoramic vista of the snow-capped ranges all around. With most peaks topping out at 9000ft in the North and Central Cascades, this winter destination offers a great reward-effort ratio for hikers. I chose to frame this composition with two hikers enjoying a sunny respite on a cold winter day

Mount Rainier National park
WA USA

Winter Home

Who wouldn't want to snuggle up to a mountain-top cabin like this one nestled in the winter wonderland of the North Cascades? One of the perks of hitting the snow-capped slopes here so early is being witness to pristine virgin scenes in the blue morning light. The hordes came shortly thereafter, and a few hours, this area had lost its virginity.

Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA

The Pineapple Express

A strong atmospheric river has been dumping moisture (picked up from Hawaii - hence the Pineapple express) into the Pacific Northwest over the past couple of weeks. As a result, the higher elevations have picked up more than their fair share of this white powder. Rare sunny days like the one where the above image was shot provide a great window into this winter wonderland. This week, I am going to focus on such scenes from the Pacific Northwest

Olympic National Park
WA USA

Layers of Helens

Crack in the Earth
While walking through a narrow slot canyon in one of Texas's two National Parks, I came across this scene featuring a desert tree reaching up to the sky from the sheer walls of this canyon in Guadalupe Mountain National Park. I remember commenting to my travel partner that this composition reminded me of similar iconic silhouettes captured in other canyons. I tried to recreate such a composition from my memory using this tree as the foreground.

Does this work? Thoughts?

Guadalupe Mountains National Park
TX USA

Crack in the Earth

Crack in the Earth
While walking through a narrow slot canyon in one of Texas's two National Parks, I came across this scene featuring a desert tree reaching up to the sky from the sheer walls of this canyon in Guadalupe Mountain National Park. I remember commenting to my travel partner that this composition reminded me of similar iconic silhouettes captured in other canyons. I tried to recreate such a composition from my memory using this tree as the foreground.

Does this work? Thoughts?

Guadalupe Mountains National Park
TX USA