While hiking, I seek out not just the panoramic vistas of endless mountains. Granted, they are a big draw, but I sometimes stop for the small dioramas that I find in nature: a tiny cascade down moss-covered rocks, an assemblage of ferns and flowering plants, a tree nursery. They help find the beauty and a semblance of organization in the chaos of nature.
While hiking in the Olympics, I came across one such scene, and stopped to admire the gentle gurgling sound of water; it was the perfect place to catch a break on a 10-mile day.
Olympic National Park
WA USA
The Long Open Road
The housebound nature of life over the last few months has created a yearning for the long open road, traversing along mountains and through valleys, over deserts and across rivers. In moments like these, I look back to memories of past travels, including this vista of the rugged red sandstone hills of Capitol Reef National Park. By juxtaposing a lone campervan speeding away from where I was, helped add a sense of scale to the vastness of the landscape all around.
Capitol Reef National Park
UT USA
Nostalgia on the Wine Route
Sunlight had yet to reach the narrow deserted alleys of Eguisheim in the early morning. But the pastel-colored timber-framed houses dating to the middle ages still glowed brightly. This early in the spring season, the houses looked bare without the baskets of petunias adding vibrancy to these inner streets. And yet, it was a pleasure to walk around and find this oft-painted location in this beautiful village along the Alsace Wine Route
Eguisheim
Alsace, France
Urban Jungle
The heart-throb of a vibrant urban jungle, which I tried to capture here, seems a far cry from the shutdown induced isolation. The bustling streets of Toronto, pulsing like arteries and veins, moving people and commerce all over the rectangular grid of the cityscape I visited a few years ago, seems a distant memory, representing a moment I may never get to revisit.
Toronto
Ontario Canada
Stretching the Stars
The pandemic does strange things to ones mind. I have spent many a dull moment cooped up indoors thinking what my past self was up to a year ago.
And this time, last year, I was up in the mountains of the French Alps, hiking a portion of the Tour du Mont Blanc, a famous hiking circuit that circumnavigates Mont Blanc on the border of France and Italy. Hiking up and down rugged mountain passes through glacial valleys and lush green meadows, and never far away from the jingle of a rustic cowbell, the trip will take a special place in my heart.
On this one rain-free night, I snuck out of the Rifugio to catch a catch a glimpse of a moonlit valley, with mellow clouds streaking above a windswept landscape of the Valley of Glaciers
Bourg St Mourice
France
Waiting for Showtime
The reflection was every bit as astounding as I had remembered it. My first visit to this location was nine years ago, a sunny evening where I rushed on the windy mountain highway to catch the last light. And my first sight of the glacier-capped Shuksan towering over the lake was sublime, and worth every bit of effort taken
This time, I ambled into the viewpoint with plenty of time to spare. While the reflection was amazing, the sublime light just wasn't there. I was, instead, rewarded with mobs of mosquitoes hanging on to every breath. I captured a few images at last light.
Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA
Starscape
If you look up at the Milky Way through the eyes of Carl Sagan, you get a feeling in your chest of something greater than yourself. And it is. But it's not supernatural.
- Richard Dawkins
Paseytan Wilderness
WA USA
Fairy Silhouettes
As I turned away from the last light of the day setting behind the profile of the North Cascades peak, I saw the crescent moon, high in the cloudless sky slowly making its way to its own twilight. A trio of conifers rose up towards the heavens, framing the graceful gradation from orange hues to the dusky twilight sky.
I tried to imagine what it would look like on camera, but I didn't have to. A quick snap with my phone revealed that this composition would work, and that eventually led to this fairy silhouette against the moon-lit night sky.
Paseytan Wilderness
WA USA
High on Light
When we found these delightful little blooms, my partner referred to these as Einstein heads, for they had a straggled appearance of Einsteins unkempt hair. Later, I discovered that these were the seedpods of the Western pasqueflower. And they are really soft as they look.
So I returned back to the spot for sunset, hoping to capture these delightful little blooms at sunset. I just wished I had cleaned my lenses prior to taking the photograph.
Paseytan Wilderness
WA USA
Hidden in the Forest
One of the hidden gems of the PNW is catching the vibrant cascades in the innumerable creeks cutting through the forested slopes of the Cascades. As the heavy winter snow starts to melt, the tiny brooks become flush with snowmelt and breathe life into the surrounding vegetation.
I noticed this creek while hiking up to a glistening lake in the Cascades. While from afar the cascades were loud, up close, I could spend time and admire the tiny rivulets coursing through the rocks, and small plants hanging on for dear life. It was a breath of fresh air in the hazy days of the pandemic.
Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA