May trip part 2

Kamiak Butte

During the second half of my big May trip, I camped for two nights at Kamiak Butte - I wouldn't dream of visiting eastern Washington in the spring without stopping here.

On one of the mornings, I was surprised by fog. I believe it was my first time ever doing photography here under foggy conditions, and it was a fun challenge. Winds were very light, enabling me to use narrow apertures and still freeze the flowers and other foliage. F/22 in both cases.

Next are two forest landscapes. I've had a hard time getting representative compositions of the forests on the north side of the Butte, and these ones have decent depth and image quality. Both were along the West End Primitive Trail. F/18 in both cases.

Next is a view from the ridge using selective focus, with balsamroot flowers in the foreground. Frankly, the image quality and sharpness aren't ideal, but I like the composition and how the colors turned out. F/5.6.

Here's another balsamroot picture from the ridge. I thought the clouds were quite interesting at the time, and I like how I was able to include some of the sweep of the sky in the frame. This composition thus has an airy and open feel. F/18.

Finally, a closeup of death camas on the ridge. There are a couple varieties that grow in Washington and I haven't yet figured out which one this is. F/6.3.

Lastly, a closeup of Fendler's waterleaf (Hydrophyllum fendleri). This one wasn't at Kamiak Butte itself, but the nearby Rose Creek Nature Preserve, where I made a quick stop one evening. F/5.

Fields Spring

My final destination was Fields Spring State Park, one of my favorite places in Washington. The wildflowers weren't as far along as they've been other times I've visited, but I was still able to find some photography opportunities. Below is the best composition from the stay, a view from the hiking trail to Puffer Butte immediately after sunrise. F/16.

Here is a view of the summit of Puffer Butte the previous evening. I like the early-spring feel of this image, with new green foliage and yellow desert parsley just starting to pop up, as well as the wide perspective. The colors and lighting might need a bit of additional work. F/22.

Next, a couple compositions involving balsamroot flowers at the summit. Neither one is a show-stopper but I still thought I'd post them. Both at F/22.

Finally, a cool flower closeup. I'm pretty sure this is a rockcress, and my best guess is that this is Boechera retrofracta, or Arabis holboellii, Holboell's rockcress, since defining features vs. other rockcress species apparently include downward-hanging flowers and pinkish-purple petals. I'm not 100 percent sure, though, as there are a lot of varieties of rockcress and some variations in scientific naming as well.

May trip part 1

So, I am finally making some progress going through my images from my trip earlier this May! As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was my longest photography trip to date, lasting about a week. I visited some favorite destinations in eastern Washington as well as a new spot. The weather was a challenge, with periodic wind, rain, and bright sunshine. Nevertheless, I was able to stay fairly dry and make use of the best photographic weather. Here are my best results from the first couple days:

Hog Lake

Below is probably my favorite image from the whole trip: Hog Canyon Falls in the Fishtrap Recreation Area (BLM), with balsamroot flowers in the foreground. Even at 6:30 am, which is roughly when I took this picture, the light was getting a bit harsh. The fact that the falls themselves were shaded was fortunate, as that kept the water from getting overexposed. A lens hood and some creative hand shading enabled me to reduce glare from the sun. F/22, 1/10 sec.

The image below isn't quite as captivating, but it gives you an idea of the look of the countryside, with wildflowers, rocky outcrops, and patchy ponderosa woods. I took this shot near Hog Lake. Camas are blooming in the foreground. F/20.

Twin Lakes

Before I visited Hog Lake, I stayed at the Twin Lakes Recreation Area (also BLM), which is near Harrington, WA. This was my first time to the area. The topography and presence of water make for a surprising diversity of plant communities.

First is a view typical of the area's uplands, with sagebrush and balsamroot. The miles of hiking through open sagebrush landscapes likely make Twin Lakes a better spring than summer destination.

Below are a couple of the area's wetter environments. In the first, camas are blooming in the foreground, with buttercups adding color to the pond in the background. In the second, sagebrush contrasts with quaking aspen. Both F/22.

Finally, here's a closeup of what I believe is a large-flowered triteleia or Douglas's brodiaea (Triteleia grandiflora or Brodiaea douglasii). F/4.5.

Boulder River

Hello! I'm blogging out of order here - about a week ago, I got back from a trip to eastern Washington. It was my longest photo trip yet, and I'm nowhere near done going through all the pictures. I went on a photo jaunt this morning, however, and thought I'd go ahead and post the results.

My destination was the Boulder River trail near Darrington, particularly the twin waterfall that is a bit more than a mile into the trail (I think). I spent a lot of time there, so it might be worth it at some point to return to the trail in the near future and not make a photography stop at this place - I could then hike the full length of the trail and photograph other river views, the old-growth forest, etc.

Anyway, the waterfall pictures turned out well. The morning featured overcast skies and thus balanced lighting, and a lack of wind enabled me to use trees and leaves as framing devices. Here are two views of the falls, framed by trees. Both F/18, respectively 0.6 and 0.5 seconds exposure time.

Lastly, here's a different take on the falls, out of focus with a salmonberry flower as the foreground. F/13, 1/4 second.