Winter Layers

Mount Tahoma in Washington State is one of the tallest peaks in the lower 48 states of the US. With such a high prominence, this perennially snow-capped volcano dwarfs everything around it. Only when climbing upon it does one get to appreciate the layers of mountain ranges that stretch in every direction. Especially in the winter, when all these ranges get a white sheen of snow.

This was from one such winter trip to the National Park. A snowshoe up a popular slope of Mount Rainier yielded this stellar view of the multiple layers of ranges dominated by the snow-covered summit of Mount St Helens in the distant background.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Thanks for following my posts so far.

Mount Rainier National Park
WA USA

On the rocks

Browsing through the archives, my eye spotted this interesting composition. This particular scene was a sunset in the rugged Olympic coastline in Washington state. What drew my eye was how nature (represented by the tree) managed to survive the unrelenting vagaries of weather that this region experiences, especially during the winter rains. The tree also acts as a kind of focal point, drawing attention away from the harshness of the rest of the scene.

Olympic National Park
WA USA

Winter Blues

Even though this image looks like an late season adventure, this was actually taken early in the season last year. In Nov and Dec 2023, early winter storms dumped plenty of snow in the Cascades, but there was never a sustained subzero temperature to freeze the water. I was fortunate to visit during one of the gaps in the winter storms and capture the icy blue hues of a Cascade winter.

Find this image and more in my 2025 calendar available at this link.

Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA

Diamond in the sky

2024 as a year will be remembered for multiple things. However, one reason for which I will remember this year is witnessing my second totality during the total eclipse in April. After having experienced my first totality back in the 2017 eclipse, I was hooked. This time around, I got to share that experience with both my partner and with a few of my friends.

For the longest period of time, I wasn't even sure if I would be able to travel for the eclipse since my knee wasn't fully healed. Neither was I confident about the weather, which can play spoilsport in April in most of the country. Thankfully, with a few last minute changes, my partner and I were able to catch this years eclipse.

While photography was not as stellar as the one in 2017 due to a thin layer of high altitude clouds, the experience of being in the zone of totality was still unmatched. Here is one of the many photos I took that day, with this one capturing the moment the sun emerged from behind the moon. It features a very bright Baily's beads, with the effect being called a diamond ring of the eclipse. See this large in my 2025 calendar, available for purchase at this link, This is likely the last day to purchase it in order to get it in time for Christmas.

Indianapolis
IN, USA

Ode to Nature

While I did not get the opportunity to shoot the larches in fall, I did have the opportunity to travel to Iceland and capture its breathtaking natural scenery. Driving around its vast windswept plains with nothing to provide a sense of scale, it becomes easy to misjudge the size of mountains or the distance to a particular place. In addition, the lack of a focal point in the composition becomes a serious hindrance to capture a captivating image.

Thankfully, Iceland has plenty of churches dotted around the island, with many situated outside of the villages and communities they serve. Like this one in the Snaefellsnes peninsula in western Iceland. See this large in my 2025 calendar, available for purchase at this link.

Olafsvik
Iceland

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Framed by Gold

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The showstealer for fall in the PNW northwest is undoubtedly the golden larches. That is probably why I try to squeeze one trip every calendar year. This year was the only exception. Between travel, work, and recovery from a knee surgery, backpacking to the higher slopes of the Cascades during the one weekend of peak color was just out of the question.

Thankfully I had plenty of archival content from prior years that I could utilize for my 2025 calendar, which I feel would be incomplete without a landscape featuring larches. This specific photo caught my eye due to the elegant framing provided by the backlit larches, which, in my opinion, is one of the best ways to capture fall foliage. See this large in my 2025 calendar, available for purchase at this link.

Okanogan National Forest
WA USA

Trail in the sky

Great Basin National Park had always evaded me so far. Despite having lived in its neighboring state for over 8 years, I never managed to visit this little gem of a park tucked away amidst one of the multitude of mountain ranges marching north to south in Nevada. That is, until now.

My primary goal in the visit to my 59th of the 63 US National Parks was to catch the incredibly dark night skies. After having braved a tiring 5hr drive from Las Vegas, I managed to snag a campsite at the sought after campground near Wheeler Peak. Located at 9900ft (3015m), the high altitude campground features thin air and low air pollution, reducing atmospheric distortion and enables some of the finest astrophotography possible.

Here is one right from the campground I was parked at. See this in large in my 2025 calendar, available for purchase at this link.

Great Basin National Park
NV USA

Sunrise mists

Yellowstone was one of the few National Parks I got to visit this year. Having been bedridden for the first half while recovering from a surgery, this trip proved to be a welcome respite to explore the outdoors. This National Park's geothermal features set amidst a dramatic backdrop of vast lakes, snow-capped peaks and bountiful wildlife make it a treat for photographers and nature explorers.

And during this trip, I felt grateful to also take my parents to this unique destination. They thoroughly enjoyed all that the park had to offer, and were even game to accompany me to capture memorable sunrises like this.

See this in large in my 2025 calendar, available for purchase at this link

Yellowstone National Park
WY USA

Icelandic Greenery

From the vast windswept meadows, to the beautiful moss-covered rocks, and the towering mountains, greenery is everywhere in Iceland. But it is only in Iceland that you can see greenery even in the night. When the charged particles from solar wind impacts the earths magnetosphere, the skies above Iceland, being so close to the North pole, lights up in a brilliant display of greens, purples, reds and blues. And during a strong storm, one can even glimpse the rare occurrence of the dance of the aurora, when the bands of the aurora scintillate and change shape by the second.

This was captured during one such brilliant shows above the glacier of Fjallsjokull in Vatnajökull National Park in southern Iceland. See this in large in my 2025 calendar available, for purchase at this link.

Vatnajökull National Park
Iceland

Heart of Flame

Seeing this volcano explode from up close, especially through a telephoto lens at night, really brings the action close to you. First comes the bright showers reaching for the sky before arching down. And just before they hit the ground, the pressure wave from the explosion reaches you. And as it passes by, you also get to watch the burning embers of rock roll down the steep slopes of the volcano.

This was one of the brightest captures from that night of shooting the volcano, and the energy from the explosion is still seared in my mind. See this large in my 2025 calendar available at this link.

Volcan Fuego
Guatemala