I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who visits my website, blog, and follows me on Twitter. I enjoy sharing my adventures and photography with you and I’m very grateful for your interest. 2010 was a great year for my photography and I’m hoping that 2011 delivers even more.
THANK YOU!
Steve
I spent a brief amount of time down in San Diego in the days leading up to Christmas. The timing of my visit coincided with the end of a very strong “pineapple express” storm system. The Palomar Mountains in northern San Diego County received over 18” of rain during the past 7 days and many areas around San Diego received 4 – 6″ of rain over the last 7 days. Not surprisingly, flash flooding as well as urban flooding ensued. I found myself down at the Fashion Valley mall which is situated parallel to the San Diego River.
Most of the year, the river is more like a modest creek but it comes an angry torrent when heavy rains visit the region. The surface streets that cross the river always flood. In fact, the roads have been redesigned much like some high mountain roads where the road surface is solid concrete so that the flood waters just flow over the road without damaging it. I’ve seen the flooding many times since I grew up in San Diego but I’ve never seen it as severe as this time.
For those who know San Diego, this photo shows a big headache for people. This pool of water is blocking the westbound lanes of Friars Road just west of the 163 freeway and just prior to one of the entrances to the Fashion Valley mall. Interestingly enough, it was relatively easy to access the area of active flooding. The parking garages adjacent to the San Diego River were open except for the bottom level which was completely flooded.
The river crested at 14 feet (about 3 feet over flood stage) just an hour or two before my visit. The water was moving pretty fast & furious. Actually, these photos are from my RETURN visit. I first showed up with only the camera in my iPhone. It was too good to pass up so I raced back to my parents house to get my point & shoot. Upon my return, I could see that the waters had slightly receded but were still running pretty good. Even better, the sun came out treating me to a double rainbow and some beautiful sunset light. No matter how much we try, mother nature always wins!…
My laptop is finally repaired so it’s time to look back at 2010 and pick out my ten favorite photos from the year. Ok, well, make that ten PLUS 2 because it’s always hard to limit it to just ten! I don’t know how many photos I’ve taken during the last 12 months but about 450 photos have found their way here onto my blog. From that, I chose about 100 photos to add to the galleries of my website. To me, that means it was a pretty good year!
Looking at the photos I’ve selected for this year in review, water seemed to be a popular subject of mine. The weather this summer wasn’t very good (as evidenced by the wildflower season at Mount Rainier National Park) so a number of my trips were confined to the streams and waterfalls in the forests. And so……the top ten in no particular order:
1.) “Nooksack Falls in Summer- North Fork Nooksack River Valley”
A definite favorite since I finally achieved a shot I had previously visualized. I had been looking for a different view of the falls and a higher, downward perspective seemed to fit the bill. The problem is that there isn’t a natural high viewpoint so I used a 6′ ladder to get this perspective.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
2.) “Wells Creek Falls – Wells Creek Valley”
I was very happy to get this shot given the conditions at the time. The falls are only a ¼ mile upstream of the road but it does require at least one ford of the creek to reach this unencumbered view of the falls. The combination of a steady rain and downspray from the falls added to the challenge of getting this shot.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
3.) “Winter’s Glow – Mount Shuksan”
After an afternoon on the slopes at the Mount Baker Ski Area, I snowshoed up to Artist Point in hopes of a nice sunset. Although I didn’t get a nice sunset for Mount Baker, I did get some great alpenglow off of Mount Shuksan. Definitely reminds me of the many photos of the rugged Alaskan mountains.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
4.) “Standouts – Mount Baker Ski Area”
Taken on another day up at the ski area, I remember looking across at Hemispheres and seeing this small grove of trees and how the sun was casting shadows off of the surrounding slopes. I used my zoom lens at 300mm to isolate the trees in the lower right corner and eliminate some other trees in the vicinity.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
5.) “Paradise River – Mount Rainier National Park”
Perhaps a stereotypical shot from the Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park but I was happy to finally get a nice photo with Pink Monkeyflower blooms. This was taken towards the end of my visit to Mazama Ridge this summer during the peak of wildflower season. I like how I was able to include the stream and the cascades in the background into this composition.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
6.) “Right Place, Right Time – Mount Rainier National Park”
By far, my most memorable outing of the year. A friend joined me on a hike into Spray Park in the NW corner of Mount Rainier National Park. The entire day had active weather and upon our arrival in Spray Park, the clouds thickened and socked us in. I had just accepted the fact that there would be no sunset when I noticed a faint patch of blue sky above us. In no more than 5 minutes, conditions changed from whiteout to clear skies at the height of sunset’s colors. Having this amazing scene all to ourselves was the icing on the cake.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
7.) “Towards the Light – Zigzag River Valley”
Taken during my May visit to the Columbia River Gorge area, I stopped at the bridge over the Zigzag River along Highway 26 on the way to Mount Hood. It was a beautiful stretch of river and the late afternoon sun was shinning through the forest. I noticed one beam of light that was beginning to shine on one boulder out in the river. This is just another example of using a telephoto zoom to isolate a portion of the landscape. This photo reminds me of something drifting helplessly in a stormy sea.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
8.) “Through the Forest – North Fork Nooksack River Valley”
I spent several weekends exploring new parts of the North Fork Nooksack River valley. This photo of Bagley Creek probably wouldn’t have happened if not for the inability to reach my primary objective this particular day. After being denied upstream travel, I decided to walk downstream and eventually came across this view. The color contrast between the rock and the green of the forest stand out for me as well as the detail in the rock formations.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
9.) “Summertime on Bagley Creek – North Fork Nooksack River Valley”
Believe it or not, this scene is only about 1/4 mile downstream of photo #8. This was shot the week before photo #8 when I first tried to access a particular location. It’s a very peaceful scene to me and I love how the creek just seems to go on to infinity.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
10.) “Day’s End – Mount Baker Wilderness”
This shot was taken from a favorite location of mine- Cougar Divide on the north side of Mount Baker. I was hopeful for a nice fall sunset this day due to active clouds throughout the day. We reached my favorite spot on the ridge right about the transition from afternoon light to the golden hour. The clouds provided some dramatic interest and the late afternoon sun accentuated the textures of the snow. I was really happy with the processing and how this photo turned out.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
Ok, here are two bonus photos!
11.) “Storm Clouds – Mount Baker Wilderness”
This photo was taken during the same session as photo #10. It can be easy to focus your attention in one direction but you should always look around! This photo wouldn’t exist without that thinking. As I looked around, I took note of the wall of clouds and how they were being reflected in the small tarn below me.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
12.) “Road No More – North Fork Skykomish River Valley”
Floods back in 2006 damaged a half-mile stretch of the Index-Galena Road in Central Cascades. Today,a new side channel of the North Fork Skykomish River flows along the old road’s alignment but portions of the road still lie within the new channel. I was intrigued by this small piece of asphalt lying in the moving water. Once again, I used my telephoto to isolate the piece of asphalt.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
I’ve been out of sight for the last couple weeks after returning home from Banff. I’m currently in the middle of some serious home rennovating and, to top things off, my laptop’s hard drive died last night. So, for the next 2 weeks or so, I’ll probably continue to be on the sidelines until the dust settles and I restore and re-install what I need onto my laptop. Until then, I hope everyone has a happy holidays!
Having returned from my first trip to Banff, I had 450 photos to wade through. It has taken me almost a week to sort through them all and select which ones to process. But that was the easy part! I’ve had a hard time coming up with the write-up part. In some ways, the Canadian Rockies have some familiarity for someone who stomps around the Cascades. There are just enough common plants and trees to identify with but plenty of new ones to throw into the mix.
It seems as though every creek you witness runs clear & cold. Actually, many rivers run the same. Those that aren’t clear are turquoise in color due to the glacial flour suspended in the water. During my time in Washington State, I’ve spent plenty of time admiring dramatic peaks such as Mount Shuksan, Mount Rainier, and Mount Baker but their scale and magnitude just isn’t the same compared to what you see in the Rockies. The amount of relief from valley floor to mountain peak is often close to 5,000 feet plus and LOOKS it.
To get to Banff, I drove by way of the Trans-Canada Hwy (Hwy 1) as well as the Hwy 5 option from Hope to Kamloops (also known as the Coquihalla Hwy). I’ve visited Canada once before on a trip to Whistler but I would say that this was my first “real” trip to Canada. Driving Hwys 1 & 5 provide a great overview of the diverse landscape found across western Canada. Starting in the wet coastal environment of the Fraser River valley, the route transitions into the drier pine forest found in the rain shadow of the Coast Ranges. This area very much reminded me of the high country along Interstate 80 as you approach North Lake Tahoe.
Beyond Kamloops lies a transition zone with larch, pine, aspen, and even cedar. The region between Salmon Arm and Revelstoke holds the transition to the Rockies. Revelstoke also marks the beginning of many National Parks of Canada- Mount Revelstoke, Glacier, Yoho, and finally Banff National Park. Wildlife abounds- during out trip we saw mountain sheep, deer, moose, bald eagles, and elk without really trying. The abundance of wildlife does create problems for motorists and so Canada has invested a lot of money (and continues to as evidenced by several construction projects we saw) in wildlife fencing, under- and over-passes to direct wildlife away from the highways towards more controlled & safer crossings.
We made the drive over the course of two days and spent our first night in the town of Revelstoke (which is situated along the banks of the Columbia River). Since this was 2/3rds of the way to Banff, I decided to poke around Revelstoke to shoot a little bit of the local scenery. One of the local print guides from our hotel mentioned Begbie Falls so I did some quick research on the internet about it and set out for it first thing the next morning. Despite the lack of vegetation due to fall leaves dropping, this area was amazing! The trails were a bit confusing so I actually ended up exploring the stretch of Begbie Creek upstream of the falls.
I could have easily spent much more time here than the 90 minutes that I did spend here. If you do find yourself in Revelstoke, I would highly recommend visiting this little gem of a park. Be aware that the information on the internet talks about the rough road leading up to the trailhead. I found this to be true so if you don’t have a high clearance vehicle, you might want to heed the advice about parking your car and walking the road to the official trailhead. Some of the potholes on the road are almost the entire width of the road (a one lane road) and filled with water.
Anyone contemplating a photography trip to the Canadian Rockies owes it to themselves to pick up Darwin Wiggett’s awesome guidebook: “How to Photograph the Canadian Rockies.” I picked up my copy through Darwin’s website 2 months ago but it has sadly gone out of print (his website claims a PDF variant will be available in November 2010). This book, along with his coffee table photo book “Dances with Light” helped me identify spots that I wanted to visit. This area is BIG so you definitely need some help to prioritize and maximize your time there!
One of the locations Darwin recommends are the Vermillion Lakes just outside of the town of Banff for sunrise. Darwin’s description is spot on! I went here for the 3 sunrises I was in town for and 2 of them had color despite gray overcast skies. I highly recommend making this a morning ritual as part of your trip. If at all possible, make a visit during the day so you can get a sense of what’s there and pre-plan where you might want to set up for your shots. I wasn’t able to do this and so I settled for a sub-par location for my first sunrise when a much better position was just down the road. I wish I could combine the light of my first sunrise with the location of my second morning! These are the lessons we learn when out in new locations..
Another lesson I’ve learned is that the beginning of November is not the ideal time to visit. Much (if not virtually ALL!) of the National Park trails and attractions are closed for winter by now. This renders many scenic locations such as Moraine Lake near Lake Louise inaccessible. On one of my days, I wanted to travel up the Icefields Parkway towards Jasper. Somewhere between Bow Lake and the Peyto Lake turnoff, winter driving conditions made an appearance. Conditions for photography were dubious in the sleety conditions and the driving was getting sketchier. The Bow River valley, however provides many roadside scenes such as the dramatic Castle Mountain and even year round attractions such as Johnson Canyon.
Johnson Canyon provides access to several beautiful waterfalls in a tight canyon. The trail is pretty crazy because the first third of it is a catwalk which is anchored to the canyon side wall. The forest is very pretty and the creek runs crystal clear. At the upper falls is a large deposit of travertine limestone which adds some colorful interest. The best locations for photos are definitely off trail but aggressive signage reminds visitors to stay on the trail. And so I did.
Banff Mountain Festival
There was another reason for my visit, of course, and this was to attend the Banff Mountain Festival. As I’ve mentioned on my blog a few times, I was fortunate to have been awarded an honorable mention for the photography competition. All of the entries were on display in the lobby of one of the Banff Centre’s many buildings and they did a wonderful job of printing and presentation for all the photographs. Just because you couldn’t attend the event in Banff doesn’t mean you can’t see them! Now that the event has ended in Banff, it will begin a tour across the United States and Canada. Follow this link to find the date and location nearest to you.
We attended the invite-only gala event and spent some time talking with the woman responsible for the photography portion of the festival. She’s what I would call a longtime resident of Banff and it was very interesting to hear her talk about Banff and its history. Banff is literally surrounded by the Banff National Park and I was not aware that people living in Banff do not own the land they live on; they lease the land from the government in 42 year renewable agreements.
The evening of our last day in Banff was the “Best Of” and awards presentations for the film portion of the festival. I was only able to stay for the encore screenings of two films, the first of which was called “A Life Ascending.” It’s a very well made biography film of Canadian mountain guide Ruedi Beglinger. His guide service in the Selkirk Range of British Columbia was involved in the tragic 2003 avalanche that killed 7 people including professional snowboarder Craig Kelly. The film introduces you to Ruedi, his background, what he does, and then gradually incorporates his reflections about the 2003 avalanche and the healing process that had to begin afterwards. I really can’t recommend seeing this film strongly enough!
The last film I stayed for was called “Eastern Rises” and I’m quite frankly surprised that I loved it so much! You see, it’s a film about fly fishing on the Kamchatka region of eastern Russia and I don’t fish. At all. This is really a testament to how well made the film is that it can hook (no pun intended) even people who don’t fish. Anyways, the film accomplishes this through lots of humor and beautiful scenery. Once again, I highly recommend this film! Visit the festival’s website to find out the nearest dates & times for the festival’s world tour.
The next morning it was time to head home. I tried for one more sunrise from Vermillion Lakes but despite the clear skies, there was no sunrise like the previous two. The weather was cold & frosty so I started to think about driving straight back through to Seattle. We eventually decided to do this since I had some concerns about the snowy sections of Hwy 5 turning into ice the following morning. We only made a few brief stops along the way back for a quick photo or two. Just outside of Kamloops, the most amazing sunset happened in the most UN-photogenic location.
I quickly pulled over next to a railroad crossing which gave me just a little bit higher vantage point to help “hide” the busy Hwy 1 traffic in the foreground. This really was a great introduction to the Canadian Rockies and I’ll definitely have to add it to my list of places to return to.
Just got home from my first trip to the Canadian Rockies and the lovely town of Banff. The Banff Mountain Festival is a great event and I’d highly recommend attending a future festival. Conditions were challenging due to active weather but I still managed to take over 400 photos during my brief 2 day stay in Banff. Needless to say, it will take some time to process and post the results!
I was barely able to scratch the surface of this amazing area so I know I will be back!
Halloween is the last day that Wells Creek Road is accessible beyond Nooksack Falls until the following July 1st. I had to head into Bellingham to purchase my Mount Baker season pass so I decided to head up Wells Creek one last time this season. Fall color has been making a bit of an appearance in the lowlands so I was a little hopeful that I might see some of that up in the mountains.
Most leaves have dropped so the remaining leaves that were in fall color didn’t quite have the same impact or appeal. I continued onward back to Wells Creek Falls. My last visit was on a very rainy day in July. Battling both the rain and downspray from the falls, the photography was tough going. Today, however, was dry and the creek was running just a tad lower making the crossing a little easier.
I hiked back to my original vantage point and then continued around the corner into the waterfall’s surrounding bowl. Getting closer did provide the best view of the falls but also brought me even closer to the downspray. These conditions require some patience and thinking in order to obtain a good photo. Here’s my procedure:
My first vantage point was so close that I knew I needed a short shutter speed. I normally like to shoot at ISO 100 but that would have been far too long of a shutter speed (creating too many water droplets). For this shot, I increased my ISO to 400 which brought my shutter speed down to 0.3 seconds:
After a taking a few variations to make sure I got the shot, I moved back to my original vantage point from back in July to take some more shots. Despite being further downstream, I still collected water drops on the lens so I repeated the process I described. I experimented with both landscape and portrait versions:
The afternoon was getting long so I packed up and headed back to my truck. I wanted to get a better look at the slopes of Barometer Ridge since they were flocked with fresh snow. A mile or so beyond the bridge over Sholes Creek is an open roadside with a nice view of Barometer Ridge. The sun was out and clouds were drifting upwards from the valley floor…
The summit of Mount Baker was almost- but not quite visible. I enjoyed the stillness and the surroundings but soon it was time to head home. I tried stopping by a waterfall on the way out but found it unsafe all by myself. Not a ton of photos but a good outing with my new Pentax K-5.
Which reminds me…..I’ll be out of town for the next week. I’m headed to attend the Banff Mountain Festival where one of my photos will be on display! I’ll be spending a couple of days in the Banff area so I’m hoping for some good photos!
I thought I’d take a little time to talk about the “hidden” costs of upgrading your camera. I’ve had my Pentax K10d for the last two years or so, and during that time, Pentax has released two succeeding cameras: the K20d and then the K7. The K10d was meeting my needs and is a great camera at base ISO so I wasn’t interested in upgrading. During the last year, however, I’ve began finding myself in situations where the camera was limiting my creativity & vision. I rarely bumped up the ISO beyond 100 or 200 ISO due to the noise that is found in the resulting photos. So, when you’re out photographing flowers in a meadow on a breezy day, this becomes an issue.
I followed the rumors surrounding the next Pentax flagship camera (the K-5), in the months leading up to it’s presumed revealing at Photokina 2010. It was revealed at Photokina and I decided to become an early adopter so I pre-ordered it. It finally began shipping on the 15th of October and so I’ve only had it about a week or so (I plan on doing a writeup in the near future). There are plenty of other websites to get all the nitty gritty details about the camera but the quick specs include a 16mp sensor, ISO 100-12,800 (80-51,200 expanded mode), an improved autofocus system.
I have a modest collection of Pentax lenses but they’ve served me well so that’s why I decided to continue with a Pentax system. The K10d has a 10 megapixel sensor so, although it’s only about a 20% increase in photo resolution, it’s a SIGNIFICANT increase in file size. I shoot using the Adobe DNG RAW file format and the K10d’s RAW files are approximately about 17Mb each; the K5’s RAW files are about 30Mb each. Consider this- on a typical day of shooting, I’ll probably take somewhere around 70 photos. Using the K10d, that amounts to about 900Mb of storage just for the RAW files. For my only outing so far with the K-5, I took 38 photos and that required the same 900Mb of disk space.
Taking this a step further, let’s consider photo processing. I edit my photos using Photoshop CS5 and save my work both as Photoshop files (the PSD files) as well as an output JPEG. With the K10d (10 MP size), the output PSD files were running someplace close to 400Mb in size. The K-5 (16 MP size) output files are now anywhere from 700-900Mb in size. If you’re any sort of regular to my blog, you know I usually post about a dozen photos from each outing. As you can see, the disk space usage QUICKLY adds up!
My older laptop has been processing my K10d’s RAW files fairly well but it’s starting to show its age with the newer K-5 RAW files. The point I want to get across is that you need to look at your whole workflow when you’re considering an upgrade. Using myself as an example, I was just upgrading my camera body but I now have to spend additional money for extra disk storage and most likely a new computer. Things I hadn’t really thought of before my daydreams of a new uber-camera!
Don’t let your zeal for a shiny new piece of equipment distract you from the ability to do your work.
This spot has been on my list for awhile now. The sunny weekend just seemed to be the perfect reason for finally making a visit. Well, that and the new delivery of my Pentax K-5 SLR! After trying to learn all the menus and settings, it was time to try it out. The pass is somewhat unique in that two trails provide two very different hiking experiences. Most people hike up the front side using the Squire Creek valley but a shorter (albeit more grueling) hike is using the Eight Mile trail which starts in the Clear Creek valley. A massive landslide in 2002 added an additional 3 miles roundtrip so the Eight Mile Trail seems like a more direct route in. It’s direct, all right….
On paper it’s only 2.2 miles and 2,200 feet to the pass. Everything starts out mellow as the trail follows an old logging road. The trail enters the Boulder River Wilderness at about 0.4 miles and enters a forest with MASSIVE Western Red Cedars. The diameter of trees is most impressive. This tree is one of the largest I’ve seen anywhere:
The trail steadily climbs up & over roots and rocks arriving at Three O’ Clock Rock at about 0.6 miles. The main attraction here is the large exfoliation dome that offers rock climbers several routes to attempt. This spot also offers up some of the first views of the area (including Whitechuck Mountain down the Clear Creek valley). There were still a few small signs of fall color left so we soaked in the views before moving along. From here, the trail really gets ugly. More roots, more rocks, and now add mud into the equation.
Plodding along, the mirage of more & more blue sky ahead keeps you going. At about 1.5 miles, you reach the edge of the subalpine meadows that stretches out for the remaining distance up to the pass. The area is littered with large exposed rock slabs, often with water running over them. Splendid for a summer outing but a bit more precarious when the temperatures are much lower. In the shade, the water turns into ice. After a series of small ups & downs, you reach Squire Creek Pass- an immense bench of solid rock.
To the west lies the east face of Three Fingers, the crown jewel of this hike. To the northwest, a rarely seen side of Whitehorse Mountain. Behind you to the east, a better view of Whitehorse Mountain as well as the upper portion of Glacier Peak. A forested knoll extends to the north and a series of parkland benches rises to the south, completing the view.
Fall color was hanging on primarily in the form of huckleberry leaves. Due to the sporadic nature, I found it hard to find a good composition which included the better looking spots of color. Most impressive is the lookout on top of one of the Three Fingers, a tiny speck of white compared to the massive east face.
After eating some lunch, we climbed southward although I wasn’t feeling that well. We came across a couple nice sized tarns which did offer a few reflection possibilities. Fall days are short so it was soon time to turn around and head back. We made it up to the pass in about 3 hours and only took 2 hours on the way down (despite the constant punishment your joints take).
Everyone should probably make it up there at least once to enjoy the views in silence and solitude. As for the new Pentax SLR, I need to go on a few more outings to give more of a review. Ergonomics are great but its operation is different, especially coming from their K10d. Photo quality seems pretty good, though!
Fall is coming to a close and without much fanfare. The only good fall color this year has been up high and and on the east side of the Cascades. I’ve wanted to check out the larch fall colors since my premature visit two years ago to Maple Pass. I got a bit more excited when I learned that weather forecasts were calling for the first low snow levels of the season. I hoped I could combine the yellow larches, the blue of Blue Lake, and the white of fresh snow.
Off I went to the Blue Lake trailhead near Washington Pass. Skies were clearing and the air was quite crisp. I had hoped that there might be 1-2” of fresh snow but what greeted me was nothing more than a barely a trace at the trailhead. Up higher, the amount was still little more than a trace but more widespread. Most larches still had needles but were past prime color and even starting to shed needles.
There’s a small creek near the turnoff for the climbers path up to Liberty Bell & Early Winter Spires and luckily it had some small drops & ice formations to take advantage of:
After my brief stop, I hiked the remaining half mile or so to Blue Lake. This stretch of trail is now somewhat sketchy since the water on the trail has frozen and probably won’t thaw out before winter finally arrives. It’s a short stretch so in little time I arrived at Blue Lake. After crossing the outlet, way trails scatter in every direction. I followed the shoreline for a while before deciding to gain the crest of a small cliff for a higher vantage.
The wind kicked up a bit and clouds began to drift over the surrounding ridges. Tucked away just west of Blue Lake are a couple small tarns. Scenic in their own right but I had difficulty getting some nice compositions. Before I ended my day at the lake I made my way down to the shoreline to do some exploring:
I didn’t see a single person until I started my hike out which was pretty nice, especially for a popular location such as this. As I drove home, I did quickly stop off at one location along the North Cascades Highway which had a nice display of fall color. This was somewhat of an oddity since most of the fall color I observed were solitary trees scattered throughout the forest.
