Steve Cole | Steve Cole Photography

Spring weather in the Pacific Northwest will often hand you lemons so you’d better learn how to make lemonade. I was making plans to climb Mount St Helens this weekend but the forecasts ensured that it would be a miserable experience. I decided to work with the grey skies and take a look at the status of wildflowers at Washington Park in Anacortes. I had heard that the flowers were pretty nice last weekend so I was hoping for the best.

Washington Park is a city owned park just beyond the main ferry terminal for accessing the San Juan islands. It’s a mini-peninsula of sorts and is a forested park surrounded by rocky shoreline and the water. It’s climate is a bit unique so many of the trees along the shoreline environment exhibit much of the wind swept alterations of trees in the alpine environment or places like Monterey in California.

Upon arriving late in the afternoon, the rainy, gray skies were giving way to sunshine. I parked at the park’s entrance and began the 3 mile clockwise loop around the park. Sadly, my hopes were dashed as this year’s bloom (or just my timing) was not up to the level of my first visit two years ago. I stopped at all of my spots but large blooms were absent. Winds were the strongest I’ve experienced so the photography was really difficult. To stop the motion of the flowers, I had to boost the ISO up to 800 and that really exposes the age of my trusty Pentax DSLR. The noise and grain is fairly noticeable in a few of the images..

As I approached the halfway point of the loop, the colors of sunset began to really show:

My last stop was a spot which can have a large bloom of Shooting Stars (not this year). Sunset was in it’s last throws above the horizon. The orange hues were reflecting off of the clouds quite nicely:

In the end, it wasn’t what I was hoping for but still a great time.

Spring is here

Apr 25

For me, the official end to winter comes with the closing of the Mount Baker Ski Area at the last weekend of April. Of course, finishing winter with fresh powder and no lift lines is somewhat cruel but it’s also a fine way to end a season. The month of May could shape up to be very busy for me since I have a number of photography ideas to pursue. It all (hopefully) starts next weekend!

Creekin’

Apr 20

Hot off my photography seminar, I revisited Ruth Creek for some afternoon exploring. The brilliant afternoon sunshine didn’t make photography that great but I wanted to try out some of what I learned as well as look for suitable locations to return to under more optimal conditions.

Once again, I found a fascinating stretch of creek upstream from the Goat Mountain trailhead. The vegetation hasn’t leafed out yet so I’ll have to return when it does!

On my way home, I stopped off at one of my favorite places near Nooksack Falls to check out conditions. I noticed the runoff levels had increased which made things nicer to photograph. I took these shots earlier this winter but those photos had some distracting elements which I remembered to eliminate this time:

Gerlach Nature Photography Seminar

Apr 19

Magazine subscriptions typically come with “targeted” unsolicited mailings and a subscription to Outdoor Photographer is no exception. A couple months back I received a mailer for a one day nature photography workshop put on by John and Barbara Gerlach. It promised to cover a wide range of topics with respect to nature photography. I wasn’t sure how much I would get out of it since it appeared to be geared towards beginning photographers but, at a cost of $90, I thought it would be worth the financial risk.

John and Barbara bring about 25 years of professional experience to the table which includes publishing credits in National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer, Birder’s World, and two books published by Focal Press (links at the end). In addition to publishing, they have released a couple of DVDs and also host field based photo workshops across the globe. Their photography seems to effortly flow back and forth between wildlife and nature / landscape.

It could very well be the “Midwest values” but both are about as friendly and personable as one can be. John provided the majority of the speaking and did so in a loud, clear voice with many amusing stories thrown in to reinforce points he was trying to make. A copy of their seminar description can be found on their website but the main topics covered were camera & lenses, photo sharpness using “back button” focusing, proper exposure, flash-fill photography, macro work, and composition tips.

All along, John’s talk was supplemented with many fine images from their body of work. In order to help you focus more on what they are talking about, John & Barbara provide each attendee a 40 page handout which contains the important points that are brought up during the seminar. In addition to that, attendees are encouraged to bring audio recorders to record the seminar for replay and review. I found this last point particularly nice.

So- the question is: was it worth it?

The answer is yes! I was most interested in the discussion of exposure and white balance and I immediately began using John’s suggestions and tips the very next day. One very simple change was switching from just the brightness histogram to using the RGB histogram. As John explains it, you can have an image that isn’t blown out overall but could have important portions blown out in one of the color channels. The adage of “expose to the right” still applies but is done just up to the point that *any* of the RGB channels butts up against the right side of the histogram. Not only to you ensure your photo isn’t overexposed, you also ensure that important aspects such as the fall colors aren’t overexposed as well.

Another key point that is often overlooked is that using “auto” modes on cameras such as aperture priority or shutter priority make the viewfinder vulnerable to light bleed. The moment you pull away from the camera to actually take your photo, additional light (which wasn’t accounted for during metering) can infiltrate through the viewfinder. The solution? Cover the viewfinder just prior to taking your picture *or* use the Manual mode. I also enjoyed his description of tilt-shift lenses and how they work using a series of photos.

Any negatives about the workshop?

Yes- but not so much about John and Barbara and their teachings. I somewhat expected a setting where attendees could sit at a table to take notes but the venue wasn’t set up for this. If you’re going to take notes, be prepared with a clipboard and perhaps a small book light because sometimes the room was fairly dark. John and Barbara both utilized a PA and wireless microphones which definitely helped the quality of my audio recording. Unfortunately, the wireless provided (I assume) by the venue had an electrical short of some sort so it was fairly temperamental during the initial session. After that, John switched microphones with Barbara and it was much better.

Anyways, I enjoyed the time I spent at the seminar and have already incorporated a few simple things into my photography. I definitely would recommend the seminar!. They also had some books available for purchase at the seminar. Those who attend the seminar will recognize many of the photos in the books from their presentation:

Digital Landscape Photography
Digital Nature Photography: The Art and the Science

April Powder

Apr 06

15″ of fresh snow and bluebird conditions in April at Mount Baker are hard to pass up. Here are some more shots from around the ski area. This time around I was more focused on small intimate scenes rather than grand views:

On my way home, I stopped off at an unsigned trail which enters some beautiful old growth. I couldn’t explore all of it but it had some interesting sights:

Journey in black and white

Mar 28

I didn’t intend to do this but I ended up converting all of my photos taken during my visit to the Mount Baker Ski Area to black and white. The weather on this day was a bit weird- sunshine but with a constant thin, high layer of clouds. This really threw off any semblance of color so converting to black and white just made sense.

Sunrise? Sometimes

Mar 22

Good weather during the week convinced me to head up to Mount Baker’s Heliotrope Ridge for sunrise. The morning’s have also brought fog in the valleys so I thought I might be able to parlay that into an additional photo opportunity at the spot I found last weekend. Sunrise was about 7am so I worked the clock backwards- in place an hour before sunrise…an hour for the hike in…2 1/2 hours for the drive up…..2am wakeup. Ugh….

Just 2 days prior, I saw a backcountry ski report from this area which said that the road was drivable to within a 0.25 mile of the summer trailhead. That would cut down on my hike in which was a nice bonus. I left just a bit before 3am and headed out. By about 5am I was getting close to the end of the drivable portion of the Glacier Creek Road. Constant snow began to appear on the road about 1.5 miles before the end. I passed about 3 parked cars and wondered if I should keep driving. The snow was rutted due to tires but I was beginning to get nervous. Not only did I still have to make it uphill and to someplace safe to park, I also was going to have to come DOWNHILL before the sun had any chance to soften up the snow.

I made it to the 0.25 mile mark before the summer trailhead and found a place to park. Up the road, some headlamps danced like fireflies as some climbers were prepping their gear. In a few minutes, I had my gear ready and headed up the road. My destination was the Mount Baker Vista, a nice viewpoint at the end of the road. The mile or so went fairly quickly and so I settled in with my gear and waited for first light. In the mean time, I kept an eye out on a party of climbers heading up Grouse Ridge on their way to the summit.

The clear skies that I started under now had some clouds here and there which built up some anticipation. The official sunrise came and went but the wonderful colors I was hoping to witness never came. Needless to say, this was a disappointment. With morning in full effect, I packed up and headed back to my truck. I proceeded to head up to the Mount Baker Ski Area for some turns but settled for a catnap instead. The high winds just didn’t seem as inviting as a nap in the sun.

I decided to call it a day and headed home. Along the way, I still felt like getting some pictures so I stopped off near Nooksack Falls to explore another short stretch of an unnamed creek I’ve avoided until now. Turns out that there were some nice surprises to be found!…

Lastly, this trip was my first chance to see the work that’s being done to realign a 1/4 mile section of the Mount Baker Highway near the Church Mountain Road. I recognize the need to move the road away from the Nooksack River but I have to admit that I was saddened to see a particular stretch of the forest along the eastbound lane of the highway that had been logged. It looks like it’s being used as a staging area but it was a really nice stretch of forest.

I stopped here about 2 years ago and poked around. The forest floor was moss covered and Twinflower was everywhere. My visit was in spring and so things hadn’t leafed out yet. I vowed to return at some point during the summer months but never did. Now it’s been significantly altered. The sad price of progress..

Road 37

Mar 14

Truthfully, not much of an update. Winter decided to return this week so snow levels returned close to their normal levels. Exploring Forest Service Road 37 (the road to the Skyline Divide trailhead) has been on my list for a while and I finally got around to it yesterday. Honestly, I was surprised at the general lack of interesting spots along this road. Maybe it’s because it’s still the dead of winter and the vegetation hasn’t leafed out yet. The first few miles have a wonderful moss-covered forest floor and I was tempted a few times to stop and look for compositions since there was some sunlight filtering through the canopy.

I wanted to check out as much as I could so I pressed on. I ended up taking a few photos along the Nooksack in one particular location since I initially saw some fog/low clouds further up valley:

One thing I’m very excited about was finding a wonderful spot to photograph the valley from. Two years ago, I remember spotting a particular avalanche track that was ablaze in brilliant yellow from the big leaf maples located in the valley floor. I saw this from the Wells Creek Road but did not have a good vantage to take advantage of it. I wondered if Road 37 would offer a better vantage and it does!

It requires a very short hike but the entire valley drops away from you and Church Mountain stands prominently across the valley. I’m excited to shoot this location in the fall and other times during this coming summer since it will also offer opportunities to shoot above any valley fog. Except for a few iPhone photos and a GPS positional fix, I don’t have any photos to share just yet.

I began to run out of time but I continued up the road to see how far I could get before hitting snow. That turned out to be the crossing of Dead Horse Creek where the snow on the road turned continuous. Someone else’s tire tracks continued up the road but I thought better of following them any further. I did get out and briefly explore Dead Horse Creek upstream of the road but didn’t find any good opportunities on this stretch.

Sulphide sunset

Mar 08

Two weeks ago, I spied some photos from a backcountry trip report from Boulder Ridge on Mount Baker which had the most amazing runnels I had ever seen. Life forced me to change my plans last weekend so I tried my luck this weekend. This winter’s non-winter made this hike a late fall hike instead of a deeply committing winter expedition. Under sunny skies, I headed out along the trail and made steady progress through the forest. The trail was virtually snow-free until the very end (hard to take in since normally there would be SEVERAL feet of snow at this location).

The last visitor’s were most likely the party of backcountry skiers from 2 weeks ago. The trail finally disappeared under the snowpack towards the end and I became weary of continuing. The previous tracks in the snow were faded and hard to follow so. Without the confidence that I could navigate back safely in the dark, I decided to turn around while there was ample light. The decision was disheartening since I know I was only a couple hundred yards from open terrain but it was the right decision.

I still had enough time to make it back to the trailhead and the road which had a nice vantage of Mount Shuksan’s Sulphide Glacier face as well as views of Mount Bacon and Blum. Without further ado, here’s lemonaide from lemons..

Portfolio Reviews

Mar 03

Are you a good photographer? How do you know?

Sure, we all have friends & family that never fail to provide adulation and praise for the photos we take but how accurate is that praise? In order to keep progressing and develop (no pun intended) as a photographer, this is a question we need to ask ourselves. But how are we to answer this question?

The internet provides one way for eliciting opinions about our photography. Photo sharing sites like Flickr, Smugmug, and Zenfolio offer the ability to post our photos for the world to comment but those comments are of praise, not critique. There are a number of photo related discussion boards on which you can participate but still boil down to digital pats on the back. Sites such as Naturescapes.net and NPN are slight exceptions to the rule since some well known photographers such as Guy Tal and Marc Adamus participate and offer constructive feedback.

There is a fundamental flaw with relying on critiques offered up in this manner. Simply put, the critique is provided on an image by image basis. Yes- you may take something away that will help you in the long run from a user’s feedback but often the comments are something like, “..I’d prefer a bit more detail in the shadows…” Does this really advance your photography? I’d argue not that much.

I’ve talked about what doesn’t work so well so what should you do? My recommendation is the portfolio review where you submit a set number of images to someone offering this type of review and then they provide you back a critique about your images (what works, what doesn’t, etc). I have been shooting with an SLR for close to 2 years now and so I’ve been interested in using this type of service to get a handle on my photography and identify any deficiencies that I may not have been aware of.

Who you choose to provide your review may be just as important as making the decision to pursue one. You should choose someone whose photography closely matches your type of photography. For example, someone who shoots portraits should seek out someone who also specializes in portraits since they best understand the subtleties of that field of photography. My love lies with landscapes and nature photography, and the Pacific Northwest is well represented with a large number of landscape and nature photographers. After some looking around, I decided to use the portfolio review service offered by Jon Cornforth, who is based out of the Seattle area. Jon has been shooting professionally for over 9 years and has been published many times (most recently gracing the covers of Backpacker Magazine, Alaska Airlines’ in-flight magazine, and Outdoor Photographer).

Why did I choose Jon? Well, for starters, I’ve followed him on Twitter and his blog for a while so I was familiar with his work and noticed some similarities. Second, I had the opportunity to meet him a few weeks ago when he gave a presentation to the Seattle area SmugMug user group. Jon came across as a very approachable and down to earth person with a genuine interest in helping others with their photography. After a brief exchange, we went through with the portfolio review. The service that Jon offers consists of a review of 20 photos followed up with a phone call to discuss his findings and answer any questions that you may have. Jon’s service currently runs $175 which may be a bit steep to some. I do believe, however, that you must invest and make a commitment to yourself if you are to grow and succeed.

Choosing my 20 photographs was a tough process. After I made my selections, I renamed the photos randomly to eliminate any bias (either personal or chronologic). Once that step was done, I also created “contact sheets” for my photos which included all the basic information about the photos such as aperture, shutter speed, etc. Shortly after receiving my CD of information, Jon contacted me and performed his image review. Once complete, Jon sent me an email which contained his overall impression of my submission. In addition to that, he sent an additional email for each photo that I submitted. These emails contained his impression and remarks, a copy of the original photo for reference, and finally a re-worked or cropped version of the original photo if that was appropriate.

The following day, Jon followed up with a phone call where we could discuss his review. During our call, we discussed the goals for my photography, color casts, and composition. During our conversation about color casts, Jon brought up Charles Cramer, another landscape photographer who’s known for his printing workshops but also takes phenomenal photographs. BTW, thank you Jon for the referral! His photography is awe-inspiring and I would definitely encourage everyone else to visit his website!

As we continued our conversation, Jon browsed through the images on my website and made a point of highlighting photos that he felt were examples of my better work. I did appreciate this since a portfolio review shouldn’t just be about what’s wrong; it should also show you what & when you’re doing things right. Our half hour call ended forty minutes after it started with some final words of encouragement and well wishes.

A portfolio review has given me a lot to think about. I’ll admit that some of Jon’s assessment was hard to hear but this honest feedback is what I wanted and needed. More importantly, Jon was able to identify some traits common to many of my photos that I’ll have to correct if I want to take my photography forward. This is major insight that I would NEVER get simply by posting my photos to forums on the internet. I would strongly encourage anyone who is serious about their photography to seek out a portfolio review. Your photography will benefit greatly.

Previous 1 … 14 15 16 17 18 … 23 Next Scroll to top

Steve Cole Photography

Pacific Northwest Landscape / Nature Photography

Posts by: Steve Cole

Washington Park Wildflowers