Nightscapes

Skydance

With cloud cover predicted for most of Washington on that fateful night, I was not particularly hopeful in capturing the aurora. Despite the low probability, I drove through a treacherous winter storm hitting Snoqualmie pass and hunted around the central Washington for a dark place with clear opening to the north. I finally found a dark canal bank with a possible opening. And within moments of spreading out the tripod, the aurora showed its true colors, with pillars rising so high above me that even the vertical composition couldn't capture its full height. If it were any clearer, the camera would have been saturated with the auroral glow.

After that high, I was dreading the drive back. The winter storm over Snoqualmie pass had become even more intense, with a layer of sleet and ice covering miles of the highway. Lack of any traffic meant that there was no help around if I had a spinout. If not for that heightened alert level after the aurora, I would not have made it home safely. Hopefully this occurs again before the PNW settles into its summer.

Quincy
WA USA

Say Hi to Steve

It was one for the books. Seeing the aurora borealis in action helped fill a nostalgic hole left by a trip to Iceland six years ago. And I would have almost missed it since skies all over the Pacific Northwest was cloud. And if not for my gut instinct prompting me to just sacrifice sleep to go witness this, I most certainly would have.

As luck would have it, I also managed to see STEVE for the very first time. STEVE, which stands for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, is different from a bog-standard aurora in that it is a thin ribbon of purplish-white light that forms further south of the northern lights. When I first saw this band of light dancing above me in the sky, I first mistook it for the aurora before realizing that the actual lights were showing up in the northern horizon. Here is one of the many captures of STEVE near a dark alley east of the Cascades.

Ellensburg
WA USA

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Alley in Moonlight

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Finally, in Ortigia, near the south of Sicily, we wandered through narrow alleys with ornate balconies adorned with tiny gardens. We cut through stately mansions and grand piazzas, and gobble up hot streetfood even if full from our afternoon meals. Such is a slow pace of life that we got to savor in Ortigia, a place we want to return back to sometime in the future.

Here is one such alley shining under the bright moonlight.

Ortigia
Sicily, Italy

Dolomiti in Moonlight

A whirlwind of a trip to Italy took me to 3 diverse destinations. But throughout the trip, there was one constant, a bright moon, that proved to be a focal point for various photos I took during the trip. Here in the Dolomiti, the near full moon rose to prominence over the jagged peaks at twilight.


Dolomiti
Alto Adige, Italy

Lights Out

One of the perks of living in the PNW, or so I thought, was that I would have easy access to see the northern lights. But lightshows like the one yesterday are few and far inbetween, and it is hard for the weather to cooperate as well. Thankfully, it cooperated yesterday and I snagged this. While not as impressive as my previous glimpses of the aurora in Iceland, it was a pretty sight at a place very close to home.

This scene shows the deep red pillars that appear when the intensity of the ionic storm becomes particularly strong.

Anacortes
WA USA

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2022 Landscape Photography Calendar

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With the pandemic restricting travel, I focused my photography on the amazing landscapes in the northwest corner of this diverse country. See my favorites from the varied locations in the Pacific Northwest, from rugged mountains to temperate rain-forests, including all the three National Parks of Washington, and wilderness areas that line the Cascades. Experience diverse scenes from the rugged mountains to the wild coast of the Pacific Northwest, a true treasure of diverse landscapes.

And remember, this calendar is for a good cause - all proceeds will get donated to Sierra Club Foundation. We are gifted to have such amazing public lands, and having visited 52 National Parks and many more wilderness areas, I have come to realize the vital importance of our public lands system in protecting and preserving nature, culture, wildlife, and landscapes for the future. The Sierra Club Foundation helps secure protections for public lands and waters, promote healthy ecosystems and communities, and fight for clean air and water, and build a diverse, inclusive environmental movement that reflects and represents today’s American public, and prioritizes important connections between environmental health and social justice

You can purchase this colorful 2022 calendar here. Thank you in advance for your support

Our Night Skies

Our Night Skies.jpg

Tonight, wherever you are, go outside and look at the sky. Can you see the wonders? Overhead are countless distant fires, stars upon stars in clusters and constellations, a natural darkness where the faintest colors and lights shine. For most of human history, wherever on the globe, this was the night we knew. This was the darkness in which all life evolved and which our body and spirit still crave. Art and science and religion all flowed from our experience of natural darkness and a starry night sky. This is where we came from, this is who we are.

– Paul Bogard, author of End of Night, 2019

I have been very privileged to live in places where I can access the backcountry where I can see spectacular night skies sparkling with the light of a 100 stars, and where the silence of nature is omnipresent. But ever so slowly, we are losing access to these places where we can appreciate our dark skies. With the work of the International Dark Sky Association, we are able to preserve the such dark places. But even then, there are no rules that govern the satellites that roam the sky above.

Here is one image of a perfectly good night sky polluted by the light from a satellite drifting across the arc of the Milky Way

Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
OR USA