Sunrises are perhaps the hardest and most unpredictable to photograph, and certainly the one decision where the tradeoffs are extremely hard to ascertain. Whenever I try to plan ahead for a sunrise shoot, I keep exploring different contingencies and evaluate how conditions can go wrong. But once I commit, I prefer not to turn back on that decision.
The only choice after that lays in the location and composition to shoot. And this represents another challenge if you have scouted the area before. Such was the case with trying to capture sunrise in the vicinity of the San Juan islands. Thankfully, this lighthouse formed the perfect foreground for the scene. Two of the innumerable bald eagles in the area settled atop the lighthouse, much to my delight, to be the icing on the cake that was this sunrise.
San Juan Islands
WA USA
Summitting Success
I was struggling on my uphill ascent on the brilliantly white slopes of Mt Rainier. Even in early spring, it felt like on a hot and sultry midsummers day. But the views goaded me on: with each minute of climbing, the surround landscape opened up more and more. As I scouted for compositions, I noticed one hiker gazing at the vast cloudscape in front of him.
I will never get to find out what caused this hiker to power pose and gaze at the vast snowscape on the sunny slopes of Mount Rainier, but I believe that he was perhaps celebrating a triumph of having climbed up so far to enjoy this grand panorama. Who knows what other demons he he has been dealing with!
Mount Rainier National Park
WA USA
Lapping the Sunset
The strange thing about the sunset is that, as a photographer, I actually don't want the sun to set. I want it to stay right on the horizon - not below it, not above it - just right on it. And yet, everyday the sunset laps us, signalling the end of the day. The passing of the sunset reminds us that time is ephemeral, and as much as I don't want the sun to set, it does, and we have to make sure we make the best of every single sunset, and every single moment.
Netarts
OR USA
The High Seat of the Connemara
From high atop the Connemara, the vast Irish landscape opened up. Bays and inlets dotted with quaint villages and rustic farmhouses punctuated rolling landscape of heather and bog which were turning orange in this late autumn day. Just an hour earlier, I had driven through those picturesque villages past whitewashed cottages and grazing lands divided up by moss-covered stone walls still dripping the morning dew. After stopping at a cafe drawn in by the strong scent of Earl Grey and the sweet aromas of scones, I decided to tackle one of the highest spot on the land around, hoping to see the lay of the land.
The cheerful volunteer at the visitor center prodded me on to climb up the nearby hill, and promised me, after seeing my camera, that it will be worth carrying it up. With caffeine in my veins and the curiosity to seek a new vista on my minds, I started my ascent. And in a few short minutes, the vast landscape opened up, helped by the complete lack of trees anywhere. A muddy path winding through rolling grassy hills soon turned into a steep ascent on a rocky mountain trail, but I pushed on, with views getting better with every step. Eventually, I summited the high seat of the Connemara which presented a panoramic view of the vast lands lit up by the soft light of an autumnal day.
Such were the wonderful memories of my short trip to Ireland, where I got to savor a sampling of the rich Gaelic culture and traditions, and enjoy the vast landscape that inspired Yeats and Joyce
Connemara National Park
County Galway, Ireland
The Three Faces of Badlands
Badlands might seem like a non-descript National Park marked in the middle of the map of the US. But enter it, and you are in a wonderland of strange formations with layers of yellow, brown and green and vast carpets of wildflowers punctuated by shiprock structures where wildlife roams. If anything, this place was the opposite of badlands.
I only had time for one night there and I could never get enough of the innumerable trails winding through the colorful canyons. I do hope I can return back once again and witness the march of the puffy white clouds across this strange and vast landscape in the middle of the country.
Badlands National Park
SD, USA
The Lone Monument
The landscape around me was a grand spectacle, towering red sandstone cliffs with a little dusting of snow rising from the dry desert landscape. Yet what the photo doesn't capture the communal culture of rural Morocco. Apart from the Bedouin herders, the villages and towns surrounded by a palm fringed desert are perhaps the only places of respite in the harsh landscape. And in these oases, you can find solace in the airy riads with a glass of ice-cold mint tea, and meet the community in the farmers markets that attract crowds for miles.
But the vast desert doesn't really give that away.
Dades Gorge
Morocco
The Irish Dance
Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glencar
In pools above the rushes that
Scarce could bathe a star
- W.B Yeats
Happy St Patricks Day folks
Ring of Kerry
County Kerry, Ireland
The Kyrgyz Outlands
The vast outlands of Kyrgyztan look like no man's land, where vast summer meadows stretch to the horizon, demarcated by rugged snow-capped peaks in every direction. This tiny landlocked country at the confluence of 158 mountain ranges, has many such vast high altitude regions that ought to be devoid of human
life, and yet it thrives here. Every few miles on the freshly paved tarmac, one can encounter a tiny nomadic village in the summer, replete with a few yurts, dozens of heads of cattle, the free-spirited Kyrgyz horses, and a beaten up pickup or two.
These nomadic herders move with the season, leading their cattle to their favored grazing grounds across the vast hinterlands of this Central Asian nation, seemingly oblivious of the natural beauty of this timeless landscape and slice of humanity that the photographer in my finds endearing. It is this juxtaposition of the fragile human life against the harshness of the outlands that draws me to come back again to this beautiful country.
Chatyr Kol
Naryn Province, Kyrgyzstan
Highway to the Danger Zone
I was revving up the engine of the tiny Hyundai up the inner edge of a sharp hair-pin bend, struggling to time the gear change just right so that I wouldn't lose momentum and stall on the steep ascent. This was my first solo road trip in a foriegn country with chaotic traffic in a car with manual transmission (aka a stick shift), and this location which looked intimidating from the air, was a place where I was pushed to the limits of my driving skills.
I had spotted this sinuous segment of tarmac years ago while scouting Google Earth for strange places on the planet. I had parked this location in my mind, not giving it a second thought until I was planning a trip to the very location, the Dades Gorge. The drive up to it had been fairly smooth, and apart from dealing with the unpredictable traffic, with pedestrians and animals using the road as their personal highway, wasn't too challenging.
But once the vertical walls of the canyon closed in, leaving no room for the road to straddle the fast flowing river, it was forced to climb up the red sandstone to higher grounds. And that was where I found myself on that fateful day. Thankfully, I pulled through, praying that my path downhill wouldn't be so nerve wracking.
When I did reach the top, I turned back to capture the scale of this deep scar on the earths surface, with the tiny remnant of human civilization winding through it.
Dades Gorge
Morocco
An Ode to my parents
The blooms of Skagit Valley, are still a major attraction in the spring. Every year, thousands make their way to the wet and muddy fields of the various flower gardens to admire rows and rows of neatly planted tulips and daffodils.
It may be trite and banal, but I do visit it every year. But my last visit was a special one, as I got to take my parents to this beautiful location. Ever since they first saw photos of this array of flowers, they had expressed their desire to come here. And in the spring of 2019, I got to satisfy one of their many dreams. It is not easy, for they live on the other side of this planet, but in doing so, I felt more elated that I could have ever felt in simply taking photographs of this oft-visited destination in the Pacific Northwest.
To my parents, I thank you for all you have done to make me who I am, and for setting me on a amazing journey. I hope I get to meet many more of your dreams.
Skagit Valley
WA USA