When I first heard the name Lake Atitlan, it conjured up a a god from Mayan mythology, an overseer who overlooked a pristine lake in a caldera of a volcanic nation. It turned out to be partially true, as it was the name given to one of the many volcanoes that ring this glistening lake in the mountainous center of the country.
My first glimpse of the lake was during a multi-day trek that terminated on an overlook of this lake. We arrived at this viewpoint at before dawn, in the calm stillness of the night. The jeweled lights of the villages dotting the lake mirrored the star-spangled banner that was the sky. Venus shone brightly above the eastern horizon anchoring the sky, while the blazoned gold of Fuego's eruption did so for the volcanic horizon. And below it, the dark glassy blue of the lake stretched into the distance, interrupted only by the shimmering reflections of the city lights.
It was freezing at the viewpoint in the early morning, and I was only warmed by hot cocoa slipping down my throat. And despite the lake of sleep, my mind was fully engaged in taking this expansive view of Lake Atitlan.
Lake Atitlan
Guatemala
Reflections at Valhalla
This lake, out in the Cascades, is perhaps one of my most favorite lakes to visit during the summer. It offers clear reflections of the surrounding landscape, has a nearby viewpoint to get a birds eye view, and is just an easy backpack away. While the summer sees plenty of PCT hikers jostling for space on its still shores, the shoulder season is a great time to catch this alpine lake in the heart of the mountains.
Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA
A Slow Winter
The winter weather in the PNW has been a mixed bag so far. Freezing conditions with light precipitation, followed by much milder conditions and moderate precipitation. Neither are great for catching the classic winter landscapes of the PNW.
So here is one from an earlier time when the winter weather actually followed through, and thoughtfully provided a gap during a weekend to catch the powder.
Mount Rainier National Park
WA USA
Boom
It was a loud boom. The shockwave from the blast shook everyone up. Through the windows of the shack, we could see the summit of Fuego bathed in orange. It was a cone of glowing gold against a inky blackness of the night sky. Rocks were still exploding upwards, taking long arcs in the sky before the long hand of gravity pulled them back. An ominous cloud of smoke emanating from the summit was barely visible against the night sky, illuminated only by the glow of lava and embers.
The volcano erupted every 20 mins like clockwork. First arcs of lava shot up in the sky, followed by a loud boom, followed by even more eruption, and followed by fine ash landing everywhere. However, timing the capture while keeping the lens clean from ash and condensate proved to be a chore. This was one of those captures.
Acatenango
Antigua Guatemala
Wonderwall
One of the perks of being stuck at home is to go back and comb the archives for hidden gems. The improvement in editing techniques can lease new life to old images that I had discarded as 'uneditable'. Lightroom's capabilities to selectively filter regions based on luminance and color ranges have proved invaluable in this.
This was one such image, which proved difficult to edit at the time I shot it (6 years ago) due to the high dynamic range. While I did take a few bracketed exposures of this scene, and shot a few others with a graduated ND filter, the former lacked sharpness due to lack of a tripod to keep the camera steady, and the latter introduced visual artifacts that were proving challenging to remove. With the new capabilities of LR, I was able to control exposure in a much better manner, and restore the photo to what I actually experienced at the scene.
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
WA USA
A New Winter
The winter has been slow to come by in the Pacific Northwest in 2023. A warmer than usual winter meant that snow fell instead as rain, and the precipitation has been lower than expected for this time of the year (60% of normal). The last week saw the first major winter storm to hit the mountains, coating the Cascades with the light layer of fluffy snow.
I managed to make one last hike out here before the holidays hoping to catch alpenglow on a snow-covered Mt Shuksan. This was one of the compositions I made while freezing out on a mountain-top.
Happy New Year. And here is to hoping 2024 is just as colorful.
Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA
Summer Greens
I use the long slow winter days to pour over archives to see if I found anything interesting. While going through thousands of photos I had shot in the Palouse region over the past few years, I found these four classic pastoral landscapes. Often, these would be of rusting shacks or vibrant red barns set against a lush farmland framed by a deep blue sky. It took a while to find these locations and find matching compositions, but these four worked.
Palouse
WA USA
Pike Place Colors
A couple of weeks ago during one of those dazzling winter sunsets, the sky turned to a fiery spectacle. Bands of colorful clouds arced across the entire sky, turning slowly from yellows to reds to purples as the sunset progressed. While walking around the market, I found the blazing sign of Pike Place Market highlighting the fiery colors behind it. Composing this frame while minding vehicular traffic and people proved to be a challenge.
Seattle
WA USA
Blues and Reds
Seasons Greetings
A few days earlier, I posted about the difficulty of capturing sunrises since it is so hard to predict when and how the colors would hit, and whether there would be a 'burn' of significant color. This particular sunrise, featured above, had everything going for it. Until the last moment. The colors just tinged the horizon a few dozen miles away, and spread nowhere else. In this frame, I tried to make the most of the 'burn'.
Tahoma State Forest
WA USA
Astra Lumina (Star Light)
Astra Lumina was quite the experience. Pulsating lights and lasers synchronized to an acoustic soundtrack shaped and bent to different shapes to highlight different patterns, all within the confines of a beautifully manicured garden, made for an immersive experience. Photographing the show proved to be a challenge especially in the low light and constantly moving crowds.
Seattle
WA USA