I certainly count myself to be blessed to be living within a stone's throw of the Mighty Tahoma, even though my opinion might change when the big one finally erupts. Being this close affords me opportunities to visit the beautiful alpine terrain in different seasons. Late in the summer, I chanced upon a bountiful bloom of purple lupine flowering on the grassy slopes of Mount Rainier. The backlit flowers provided the perfect foreground to juxtapose against the colossal snow-capped slopes of Rainier.
Mount Rainier National Park
WA USA
Colors of the Northwest
Fall has properly set in the Pacific Northwest: thunderstorms with wind gusts topping 30miles per hour, temperatures dropping to freezing, and gloomy grey clouds that blanket the skies every day. But before the weather became winter-like, I had managed one last outing into the mountains on a rare fall day with bluebird skies. Vibrant colors, a consequence of the long and warm summer, covered every square inch of the steep alpine slope, and also served as wonderful hunting grounds for the sweet mountain berries.
The short but sweet fall has been my favorite season to shoot, but scenes like these won't return for another year. I am glad I got to visit it one last time before the onset of winter
Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA
A Midsummer Sunset
One of the many things I didn't realize about going to Alaska was that, as the day grows longer in the higher latitudes, so does the sunset. In midsummer, while sitting on the rocky shores of Glacier Bay National Park, I watched the sky transform slowly from the warm yellows to the vibrant orange to deep reds. This is a process that typically takes under a quarter of an hour at lower latitudes, but thanks to the angle of the sun at this higher latitude, this lasted for well over an hour. Seeing a sunset like this is a rarity in one of the cloudiest regions of the country, and hence I savored every minute of this hour-long sunset
Glacier Bay National Park
AK USA
The Beginning of Summer
While the Pacific Northwest is already in the binds of fall with cooler temperatures and shorter days, I still remember the beginning of summer as though it was yesterday. During one of the early heat waves, I made it out to this famed reflection of Mt Shuksan before it lost its coat of snow and ice later in the summer. Walking around in balmy 60 degree weather at sunrise, when it would have normally been close to freezing, was surreal
Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA
A Sunny Fall
Fall is here in the PNW, admittedly. Wandering around the neighborhood and on the hiking trails, the signs are unmistakable: the reddening leaves of the tiny blueberry shrubs, tall fireweed, and the broad leaved maples. That it is here a couple of weeks early, despite the mercury hovering around the nominal for this month. It meant that I had to prepone plans for capturing the rather short season when color changes around the Pacific Northwest.
Despite the spells of wet weather, I was able to head out during one of the sunnier days to capture the burst of colors carpeting the slopes of the North Cascades.
Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA
Waiting For Last Light
You wait in anticipation for this moment: as the sun approaches the horizon, the shadows lengthen, leaving the deep green valleys in cold darkness; the highest of the snow-capped ridges and glacier-covered peaks taken on a bright orange glow, while up above, the sky transforms from the azure blue of the day to the deep blue of dusk; clouds change from their frothy white to a deep orange as they drift effortlessly across the landscape.
As a photographer, it is not just the moment, but the actual transformation, that captures my attention, and draws me out to mountain-top vistas as the sun sets. Sometimes, I try to capture this as a timelapse, but in others, I just seek to capture a moment in time as the best possible representation of that beautiful evening.
Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA
Morning Landscapes
It was still cold when I stepped out of the tent. The soft tussock, wet from the overnight condensation, cushioned my steps as I headed towards the shore of the vast lake. The sun had been out for over an hour, a bizarre consequence of being at such high latitudes, and yet low enough in the the sky to cast long shadows that highlight the rocky treeless terrain.
It would be a while before the wind picked up, I was told, and hence I dragged my camera out to capture the reflection. I wasn't used to being above the treeline on the shore of a vast lake amidst this alpine wilderness, so I just took my time to immerse myself in the solitude of this morning, knowing fully well that I may never get to see the Alaska range highlighted on such a clear day.
Lake Clark National Park
AK USA
Our Night Skies
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
The Changing Summer
The summer has been a bizarre one in the Pacific Northwest. First the region was baked under a historic heat wave that melted snow off the summits of the North Cascades Peak, which triggered wildfires in varied regions across the west. And when the region normally suffers an unending deluge of smoke, the winds shifted direction and started cooling down. Rain showers, common during the summer, were few and far in-between. And in addition, the increase in local travel this year meant many of the easily accessible backcountry locations were far more crowded. These changes necessitated rethinking my hiking strategy, including skipping favored destinations in search of more off-beat ones.
I am glad I found a few, including this one that transported me to the Swiss alps. But with the season slowly coming to a close, I wonder what the winter, and next year, holds in store for this changing landscape.
Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA
Granitescapes
One of the many things I miss about leaving California is the Sierra Nevada: a sanctuary of granite peaks where the barren skin of towering rocky outcrops rise from lightly vegetated valleys and the lush green meadows surrounding glistening alpine lakes. The North Cascades of Washington, being a bit younger, don't offer a similar landscape, and I had to drive far to search for one. But in the end, I did find one in one corner of the Pacific northwest, and I spent days traversing high mountain passes, rocky peaks, dusty trails, and of course, refreshingly cold alpine lakes.
In the Sierras, landscapes like these are a cathedral of light, whether it be the shadows from clouds moving across the landscape, or an afternoon thunderstorm that leaves behind a beautiful golden glow on the rocky landscape. I never realized until I got here how much I had craved this dynamic light as a photographer. And I was glad i could find it here.
Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
OR USA