2021 Year in Review

Happy 2022!

When I started writing this post, I found myself remembering western Washington's triple-digit heat over the summer, which is funny to think about now with snow all over the the ground and icicles hanging from the house. The year's weather contrasts are a fitting metaphor for all the changes we've experienced this year, both personally and globally. For me, this included a frustratingly long stretch of unemployment, which posed a challenge to the mental energy (and money) that I was able to devote to photography. Thankfully, I've since found stable employment, and in retrospect am happy that I was able to carry on my photography consistently at all. As such, 2021 wasn't exactly a banner year for technical improvements to my work, or so I feel right now. But overall, I made artistic progress in certain situations, and successfully undertook some relatively long and/or unpredictable trips.

I. Highlights of 2021

1) Spring Break

One of the year's big highlights was my trip during the spring to the Columbia Gorge and the Lewis River area. This trip lasted nearly a week, with beautiful sunny (if occasionally windy) weather every day. Photographically speaking, the most fruitful part of my stay in the Gorge was hiking up Coyote Wall. I've been here before, but this time I hiked farther up than I have in the past, and I'm glad I did. The higher the trail climbs, the better the views of Mount Hood, and the more balsamroot flowers are visible in the meadows (nearer the road, desert parsley dominates the meadows). The second and third of this set are from those upper meadows:

I hadn't visited the Lewis River area, so it was exciting to see, particularly since it can be so busy, to the point that the Forest Service is now limiting access in the summer. Lower Lewis Falls, it seems, is a popular destination for swimming, picnicking, Instagramming, and other outdoor pursuits both traditional and modern. Thankfully, mid week in the spring, there were very few other visitors, and the water levels were high - a good combination for some waterfall photography!

Below is my favorite image from the trip, of Lower Lewis Falls. I'm quite proud of this image - between breezes moving the branches, water spray from the falls, high-contrast lighting, and sun glare on the lens, this was a very challenging and time-consuming photograph to take. There's a bit of overexposure on the branches, but that's more forgivable than if it were to occur on the waterfall.

I also explored a few of the other trails in the area; a highlight was the Curly Creek Falls trail, which includes a view of the very photogenic Miller Creek Falls.

2) Two Trips to the Olympic Peninsula

Another major highlight of 2021 was the opportunity to travel not once, but twice, to the Olympic Peninsula for camping and photography. In prior year-in-review posts, I've proposed spending more time on the Peninsula and exploring its east side, so it was satisfying to meet a goal that I've discussed in the past (#4 in last year's post). I also did some photography near dawn and dusk - goal #2 in last year's post!

My first trip was to the Deer Park area in the Olympic mountains, and subsequently to the Kalaloch area on the coast. I had originally planned to include a rainforest stay between these destinations, but record heat, surprisingly high humidity, and some ill-timed bug swarms caused several changes in plans, which culminated in one night in a hotel and then an extra night on the coast. It was disappointing not to be able to visit the rainforest, but Deer Park was gorgeous, and it was wonderful to be able to cool off at Kalaloch while the rest of the state was literally baking. Also, through creative use of coats, blankets, shade, and some ice from a store, I was able to keep my perishables cool throughout the trip. My food transport and storage strategies have come a long way since 2014, when my chocolate was always melting and I had sandwiches and granola bars stolen by animals.

The Deer Park campground is high in elevation and offers commanding views of the surrounding mountains. Perhaps that explains why the campground was full when I arrived - and at midday on a weekday, no less. Thankfully, with the assistance of friendly campers, we were able to score a campsite when someone left. Even at that high elevation, afternoon temperatures were quite warm, so we limited our hiking to the early morning and late evening.

First, some images from the vicinity of the campground and the nearby short trail up Blue Mountain. An unintended benefit of the heat was that it forced me to focus my photography on the early and late parts of the day, when the light is best:

Second, some images from the longer trails leaving the campground in either direction. The sunshine was a bit more of a challenge, but I still managed to take some decent pictures.

The Kalaloch Campground was cool and misty, a welcome respite from the heat elsewhere in the state. The crowds on the beaches posed a bit of a challenge to photography, but I managed to take some fun images of the rock formations on nearby Beach 4. I visited the iconic Ruby Beach as well, but there were so many people there (including on the rocks and sea stacks) that I couldn't get a decent picture. It'd be fun to revisit some time when there are fewer other visitors, perhaps at dawn.

I also saw the coast's famous Sitka spruce burls for the first time:

My second photography trip to the Peninsula was in August, when I camped at the Dungeness Forks campground and hiked the Upper Dungeness River trail. I took some rather long exposures (10 seconds) of the Dungeness River, both of which I was pleased with:

3) Making the Best of a Road Closure

A couple of my shorter camping trips were a bit tricky, photographically and logistically speaking. One such trip was over Memorial Day weekend, when I camped at the Bedal Campground on the Mountain Loop Highway. Some years, the entire loop is open by that point, and I had hoped that this would be the case this year; I would have been able to access Goat Lake as well as trails on the south side of the Loop. As it turned out, the gravel portion of the Mountain Loop highway was closed south of Bedal, rendering Goat Lake inaccessible as a day hike, and making it impractical to drive to trailheads on the southern side (like Perry Creek or Barlow Pass). Since this trip was for a holiday weekend, I'd had to make reservations well in advance, and changing my camping destination wasn't an option. I still managed to get out on a nice day hike (Old Sauk trail), but my best images ended up being from road walks along the Mountain Loop Highway itself south of Bedal. With frequent views of the South Fork Sauk River, some mountain views, lush greenery, and scenic little streams, the scenery was as good as many hikes I've done. I'm proud of the fact that I was able to adapt to unexpected circumstances.

4) Making the Best of Bright Sunshine

Another tricky camping trip was to a favorite destination: the Teanaway area. The sunshine was bright, winds were gusty, and the heatwave of early summer had baked some of the wildflowers. Nevertheless, I'm getting better at coping with the high-contrast lighting of sunny days. Part of this is taking advantage of the directionality of sunlight; compositions with some degree of side-lighting or back-lighting almost always turn out better. Front-lighting, or lighting coming from behind the camera directly onto a subject, tends to flatten out the depth. In the three images below from the Esmeralda Basin trail, I was intentional about using the directionality of the sunlight.

There were a few other trips in which I was able to make the best of bright sunshine. Most notable was a day at Emmons Moraine in Mount Rainier National Park. I wanted to capture an image of Mount Rainier with the White River in the background. The sunshine prevented me from using my usual strategy of blurring the water's motion with a long exposure, so I went with a short exposure instead (1/160 of a second). I like how it turned out, and should try this more often:

5) New or Improved Wildflowers

It didn't always seem like it while the year was in progress, but in the end, 2021 was a reasonably good year for wildflower photography. I found some new flowers, or favorites in new locations, and made some improved compositions of others.

Grass widow (Olsynium douglasii), Anacortes Community Forest Lands

Olympic onion (Allium crenulatum), near Deer Park, Olympic National Park

Calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa), Greenwater trail

White orchid (Platanthera dilatata), Esmeralda Basin trail

Vine maple (Acer circinatum), Greenwater trail

Swamp currant (Ribes lacustre), Thunder Creek trail

Trillium (Trillium ovatum), Rockport State Park

Avalanche lily (Erythronium montanum), near Deer Park, Olympic National Park

Salal (Gaultheria shallon), near Kalaloch, Olympic National Park

Spreading dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium), Snow Lake trail

Aster, Upper Dungeness River trail

Death camas (Toxicoscordion venenosum), Deception Pass State Park

Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa), Green River Natural Area

Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa), Green River Natural Area. It's uncommon to see it white like this.

Cooley's hedge-nettle (Stachys cooleyae), near Kalaloch, Olympic National Park

Western red columbine (Aquilegia formosa), Esmeralda Basin trail

6) Ice and Frost

I'm almost exclusively a wildflowers-and-landscapes person, but this year, I successfully experimented twice with closeups of frost. Non-floral closeup photography was goal #5 in last year's post, so I'm glad to have taken a step in that direction.  Yes, the first of these is a floral shot, but it's not exclusively floral, as it highlights the unique situation of frost formation on the petals:

Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium), Smithbrook trail

Next, hair ice, which only grows at certain latitudes and on certain types of wood (the presence of a fungus makes it crystallize in this way):

7) Fall Colors

Unexpectedly, 2021 was an excellent year for fall colors. Part of this, of course, is chance; vine maples in particular seemed to be very vivid this year, and I happened upon a lot of fall-color displays in good weather. I'd like to think that I'm getting better at photographing fall colors, too. It's surprisingly easy (for me at least) to get carried away by fall colors; with all the bright leaves in every direction, I take too many pictures and don't think about composition as carefully as I should. This year, I did a better job thinking through compositions and carefully selecting vantage points. And, as described above, I'm getting more skilled at anticipating and handling contrast and light direction on sunny days.

Looking down the Perry Creek valley

Lake Valhalla and Mount Lichtenberg from Mount McCausland

Mig Lake

Mig Lake

Along the Gold Creek trail, near Snoqualmie Pass

Along the Gold Creek trail, near Snoqualmie Pass

Along the Baker River trail

Along the Middle Fork Snoqualmie trail

8) Seasons Along the Greenwater

One thing I like to do in my photography is to visit a place throughout the year in different seasons. I've done this with the Perry Creek trail, the Baker River trail, and the Gold Creek trail, in particular. This year, I realized that the Greenwater trail near Enumclaw is becoming another such place. This year, I visited in January, June, and November. I'd like to get there earlier in the spring, as well as the peak of fall color in October. The lush forest understory, the river, and the lakes all offer a great deal of seasonal change to observe.

First, January. Sometimes, the trail can be snowbound in the winter, but in this case I happened upon it when there was just a bit of crusty snow on the ground. The fun creative challenge of winter is finding color from subjects other than leaves and flowers; in this case, the lake and some riverside alder trunks provided.

Second, June. The greens of the spring foliage were very rich, especially near the river and lakes:

Finally, November. The fall color was mostly gone, but high water from recent rains was a unique sight, and the old-growth evergreens were just as vibrant as ever.

9) Waterfalls

In addition to wildflowers and fall color landscapes, another standard subject of mine is waterfalls. Similarly to fall colors, I'm getting better at thinking through waterfall compositions, and having the patience to do them well, whether that means capturing the entire scope of a falls or highlighting just one part of it.

First, the most interesting of the year's waterfall photography: Keekwulee Falls, along the Denny Creek trail north of Snoqualmie Pass. The fog kept shifting and changing, so it took some patience and repeated attempts to achieve the balance between the mysterious atmosphere of the fog and the preservation of some background detail. When the fog was thicker, too much context and depth was lost.

Below, two photos from Mother's Day weekend along the Boulder River trail; this was the best I've done so far at creating simple and balanced compositions of the iconic waterfalls here. The color contrast in the first is also striking.

The flower at left is salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis)

Next, a small falls on Elliott Creek just below Goat Lake. Even though the falls on the way to Goat Lake are numerous and impressive, I've had a hard time both getting to them and photographing them. Something has always seemed to go wrong - sunlight through the trees has ruined the contrast, a breeze from the creek has kicked up and blurred the branches, or I haven't been able to find an unobstructed vantage point in time. This time, it all came together. I like the contrast between the silky water and the jagged rocks.

Lastly, one that's a little different - a small stream along the recently reopened Middle Fork Snoqualmie trail. Even though the falls is very small, I like how I was able to use its context to create a balanced composition that still leads the eye to the stream.

10) Other Highlights

Lastly, there were a few unique or otherwise noteworthy images that didn't make it into any of the above categories.

First, red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) in Deception Pass State Park. The vertical lines in the background suggest the forest context, but I don't think they're too distracting. I used F/6.3 to create this middle ground. I usually gravitate toward either landscapes with a very wide depth of field, or closeups with a very narrow depth of field. Experimenting with a middle ground like this is challenging, but rewarding when I get it right.

Next, a view from Sugarloaf in the Anacortes Community Forest Lands. Even though the view from the summit is wide and picturesque, I've had a hard time getting a landscape shot that I truly like. This one's close; I like how the gnarly branches frame the view beyond. I'd like to visit Sugarloaf on a truly clear day sometime, though, when the distant mountains are clearly visible.

Also from the Anacortes Community Forest Lands, here's an interesting shot of Whistle Lake. A couple of years ago, I might not have been able to pull this one off. I might have gotten too close to the foreground trees (thus creating a depth of field that my camera couldn't handle), or not done anything beyond one of my earlier attempts from this vantage point that morning. But every year, I improve my intuitive sense of what my camera is capable of in terms of contrast and depth of field.

Next, a view of Mount Dickerman from near the Big Four Picnic Area. How's that for rule of thirds?

Here's a very nicely framed view of Colonial Peak in the North Cascades:

Next, also from the North Cascades, a view of Mount Shuksan over Sulphide Creek. I like this one for a number of reasons. First, including the sky on a cloudy day always makes handling the contrast challenging, so I'm happy I was able to make it work. Second, the water levels and gravel bars on Sulphide Creek are always changing, and this vantage point isn't always accessible. Third, the road to the Baker River trailhead took some water damage this fall and I don't know when I'll be back, so I'm glad I was able to preserve this experience.

Finally, a shot from a time I hiked to Snow Lake. I like how there's both a reflection and some visibility of the rocks beneath the surface. Snow Lake is an incredibly popular destination, but with an early weekday start, it wasn't too bad. The more I hike and do photography, the better I become at anticipating crowding and guessing what trails are and aren't feasible for photography on weekends.

II. Lessons Learned and Ideas for 2022

1) Macro Lens in Winter

I would like to do more photography with my macro lens in the fall and winter months. This idea is inspired by my success photographing some frost and ice, as described above, so more frost and ice scenes are obvious subjects to look for. Other worthy candidates might include native mushrooms/fungus, moss, lichen, and other subjects that I haven't yet thought of. As I mentioned earlier, a fun creative challenge of late fall and winter is finding color, and this would be a new way to do it.

2) Forecasts!

Next, a lesson learned: heed weather forecasts! I had one photography trip go completely bust - a hike to Annette Lake in the late fall. I had even read forecasts for gusty winds, but I must have assumed that the lake basin would act as shelter from the gusts. I was wrong; the winds were so bad that the tripod would have vibrated in the wind had I set it up. Furthermore, I hadn't dressed for the wind chill, and was cold to the point of distraction. It pays to think through all aspects of the forecast, including wind speed and direction, and plan accordingly.

3) Out-of-state travel?

I love Washington, and I'm not at all tired of it yet - there are always new parts of it to explore, and I also get a lot out of repeat visits to favorite places. Nevertheless, I'm getting a bit of an itch to see some more of the country. There are a lot of variables involved in where I might end up going in 2022, but I've got my eyes on a spring trip to northern California. Stay tuned...

4) Local spots

On the other hand, there are a lot of local parks and trails systems that I'd like to get to know a bit better. King County has a fairly extensive network of parks and trails, and I'm hoping to explore more of it, particularly in the winter and early spring. Gas is expensive, and it'll be good to spend some time hiking close to home.

5) Technical improvements

Lastly, while I'm happy about the milestones I reached this year in compositional skill and trip execution, it could be rewarding to explore some new technical directions in 2022. One obvious one is moving beyond exclusively using long shutter speeds to photograph water, and trying quick ones, like I did successfully at Emmons Moraine. Perhaps some night sky photography? Or black-and-white? Due to budget limitations, whatever I do will probably have to be something I can try with existing equipment and software. I did manage to update my Photoshop Lightroom editing software (goal #3 last year), and it would be fruitful to spend some time learning all of its capabilities. I've already discovered that it is better at recovering overexposed highlights than the older version I was working with, so it may be beneficial to revisit some old images that I never posted or printed due to contrast problems. This includes some from my day hikes near Deer Park this year - those pictures were in full sunshine and I gave up on some due to the old Lightroom's inability to handle the contrast.

Happy New Year, readers! Here's wishing all of you health and peace in 2022!