2022 Year in Review

Hello everybody! 2022 has drawn to a close. Those of you who know me personally are aware that it has been an eventful year - most significantly, I got married and moved, both within about a month of each other! This new stage of life has brought me great joy, but meant that I wasn't able to spend as much time on camping trips or photography hikes as, say, the spring and early summer of 2021 or the post-reopening portion of 2020 (though this also has to do with the fact that I've been working consistently, another positive development after the periodic unemployment of 2020 and 2021). So, while I wouldn't have had 2022 any other way, my photographic accomplishments, particularly in the late spring and early summer, came in this context.

I. Highlights of 2022

1) Northern California trip

The obvious number-one highlight of 2022 was my trip to the redwoods in northern California. I had the idea once while flipping through a book about America's national parks, and the thought nagged at me for months, until I finally gave in and planned the trip. I put the trip together well in advance, and it's probably good that I did so - by late April, when it was time to go, fuel prices were vastly higher than they had been when I booked the trip, so much so that I probably would have balked had I not already made reservations and arrangements. In hindsight, of course, I'm glad I made the trip. It's not often that I'm able to carve out an entire calendar week for a photography trip, so it was good to take the opportunity when it arose. Given how iconic the coast redwoods are, it was a surprisingly quiet and peaceful trip. I lucked out with mostly good weather, and since I was hiking on off-season weekdays, I encountered only a handful of other hikers (with the exception of the bustling Grove of the Titans). 

The redwood trees really are worth the hype, particularly in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. I hiked the Boy Scout Tree Trail (first two pictures below), which had the most consistently impressive redwood scenery of any of the trails I hiked. It's also farther from major highways or waterways than many of the redwood trails, and thus almost eerily quiet. I also hiked the Grove of the Titans. Despite its popularity, the Grove of the Titans wasn't as scenic or enjoyable as a hike, although there were some enormous individual trees that were fun to look at (third picture below).

Lastly for Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, I hiked the lesser-known Nickerson Ranch trail, and had some fun experimenting with the early-morning light:

I also enjoyed the somewhat lusher environs of Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. I hiked the Prairie Creek Trail and the Brown Creek Trail, where it was fun to see massive old-growth redwoods juxtaposed against creekside vegetation. I'm particularly happy with my first image below; almost all of my images from the redwoods consist of greens and browns, so I'm proud of the fact that I was able to get some color contrast (provided by a salmonberry flower).

Finally, for a change of pace, I spent one morning on the coast. I hiked to Hidden Beach, a lovely spot in a sheltered cove where no roads or buildings are audible or visible - it's just green hillsides, sea stacks, crashing waves, and wildflowers.

2) Camping trips

I didn't get as much camping time in 2022 as I would have liked, but I managed to squeeze out two shorter trips. The first was to the Salmon La Sac area north of Roslyn, where I hiked the Cooper River Trail. Photographically, it wasn't an exceptional trip - the wildflowers weren't as impressive as they had been on a prior visit, and I struggled with lighting in the sunlit forest. I do really like the river shot below; the river's motion and a sense of depth come through really well. The second image comes from my turnaround point, a secluded spot with a good view of Cooper Lake.

My second camping trip was toward the end of the summer, in Mount Rainier National Park. I was itching to see some high-country wildflower displays, so I camped at the White River Campground and hiked the trails around Sunrise. I did so just in the nick of time - aster, one of the last alpine flower to bloom, was out in full force. I also benefited from excellent visibility of Mount Rainier and other surrounding terrain.

Here's a closer shot, with some of Mount Rainier visible in the background. I'm happy with how this turned out, because for a composition like this to work, the depth of field has to be just right. Too wide, and the image will be busy; too narrow, and the background will be unrecognizable.

I'm also fond of this next image, looking down on the White River. The backlighting was challenging to work with, but helps accentuate the effect of the terrain fading into the distance.

3) Canada trip

My honeymoon was on Vancouver Island, and I came away with some fun images from the trip. I'd love to go back and see more of the island, and perhaps even camp. On this trip, I didn't see the northwest half of the island at all; it'd be fun to go exploring in that direction.

First, the view from the Chinese Mountains trail on Quadra Island (near Campbell River). It's short - just a few miles round trip - but quite steep and rugged, making for a more challenging outing than the mileage and elevation statistics led me to anticipate. The views at the top, however, were incredibly rewarding.

Next, Lake Helen Mackenzie, in the Forbidden Plateau area of Strathcona Provincial Park.

Finally, the beaches of the south side of the island, near Port Renfrew. Geologically and biologically, there was a lot to see.

Botanical Beach

Along the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail

China Beach

China Beach

Mystic Beach

4) Making the Best of Fall

Late summer and early fall were challenging for photography - partially because of time constraints and partially because of the smoke, which was intermittently bad not only in the mountains but also near where I live.

Early on, I got some fun images of the transition from summer to fall, as late-blooming flowers like fireweed put on their final displays, and green leaves turned to yellow and red. At this point, I was able to get out to the mountains occasionally.

The Gold Creek Trail

The Gold Creek Trail

The Oxbow Loop Trail

Mirror Lake

Mirror Lake

A few times, the smoke got bad enough that I headed to the islands to hike, where the air quality was better. Below are two autumn scenes from Barnum Point County Park on Camano Island.

Then the weather turned, and it was back to more familiar cool, damp, clean atmospheric conditions. Surprisingly, there was a good bit of fall color remaining, so I was able to have some more satisfying autumn photo trips after all.

Old Robe Canyon trail

The South Fork Stillaguamish from the Old Robe Canyon trail

The Middle Fork Snoqualmie River

One trip from this period of time that merits a special mention is my hike on the Baker River Trail in November. In both of the images below, I was able to do well with fairly sharp contrasts between sun and shade, as well as strongly convey depth and open space. I also like the contrasts between warm and cool colors.

5) Forest photography in sunshine

Something I did successfully several times over the year was take pictures under forest cover in sunny conditions - landscape shots, no less. I often shy away from doing this because the high contrast between sunlit and shaded areas can often mean that highlights get overexposed. I'm not completely certain why I did well this year, although most of these images are from early morning, so the angle of sunlight has something to do with it. It may also have to do with the presence of elements that result in a brighter foreground (the trunks themselves are lighter due to bark, lichen, moss, etc.; or there is reflected light coming from somewhere behind the camera).

Along the Middle Fork Snoqualmie trail

Along the Oxbow Loop Trail

Near Cottonwood Lake

Mount Rainier National Park, near the Carbon River entrance

6) New or Improved Wildflowers

Every year, I post the wildflowers that I photographed for the first time, or that I was able to photograph in a new or different way than in prior years. Below are this year's results!

Spotted saxifrage (Saxifraga austromontana), Perry Creek trail

Trillium (Trillium ovatum) on a rainy day in the Green River Natural Area

Red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum), Deception Pass State Park

Vine maple (Acer circinatum), Mount Rainier National Park

I believe this is trailing black currant (Ribes laxiflorum), seen near Snoqualmie Pass

Fendler's waterleaf (Hydrophyllum fendleri), Perry Creek trail

Red columbine (Aquilegia formosa). It isn't common to see them showing their faces like this!

Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia parviflora), Deception Pass State Park

7) Non-floral closeups

Occasionally, I've expressed the desire to try my hand at closeups of subjects other than blooming wildflowers. While I wouldn't say that I made a concerted effort to do so this year, I came away with a few results along these lines. First, some frost on a sword fern:

Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park

Next, a vine maple with a fun color gradient. It isn't super close, but it's interesting and different:

Baker River trail

The colorful foliage of what I think is Oregon stonecrop (Sedum oreganum):

Perry Creek trail

Lastly, raindrops on the emerging spring leaves of a forest-floor plant. I didn't end up identifying it. I like the clarity of the raindrop at center left.

Green River Natural Area

8) New Spring Growth

I was initially going to stick these pictures in other sections, but they have enough in common, and there are enough of them, that I thought they deserved a separate discussion. I ended up with some pretty nice images depicting emerging spring growth, and/or the transition from winter to spring. I like to capture seasonal transitions, so I'm gratified that I was able to do this well this year.

Red alder (Alnus rubra) catkins, Skookum Flats

Salmonberry leaves (Rubus spectabilis), Green River Natural Area

Willow catkins, Green River Natural Area

Bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa) buds, Green River Natural Area

Ferns, Old Sauk River trail

Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis), Old Sauk River Trail

9) Reflections, lake beds, and polarization

The images I'm going to talk about here are in other sections already, so I won't repost them, but when photographing lakes this year, I was intentional about whether I wanted to feature reflections on the lake's surface or objects on the lake bed like rocks. For instance, in section 3 (my trip to Canada), there is an image of Lake Helen MacKenzie. I used my polarizing filter to remove reflection and glare from the lake's surface as much as possible, to keep the rocks visible. By contrast, in section 4 (fall), I posted an image of Mirror Lake. In this image, I backed off with the polarizing filter, to keep glare (and thus reflection) from the lake's surface visible. Of course, the polarizing filter affects the look of the sky, too, so I sometimes found that when I had gotten the lake to look the way I wanted, the sky was polarized poorly or unevenly. I'm getting better at this balance, but it remains a challenge.

10) Other highlights

Lastly, some images that didn't make it into the above categories, but that I really liked and wanted to highlight.

First, Elliott Creek on the way to Goat Lake. I just like how this composition comes together, with the creek, old-growth tree, and small bunchberry flowers.

Next, some foggy peaks along the PCT just north of Snoqualmie Pass. I think I got the clouds/mist just right with these. Any earlier, and the peaks wouldn't have been visible; any later, and the clouds would have lifted and been less interesting. This was partially due to good fortune, but also due to the fact that I make it a point to get an early start.

Here's a view of Skookum Falls (off Highway 410). This was a tricky picture to take, due to high contrast and busy foreground. Given those factors, I'm happy with this result. The highlights are a bit bright, but I decided to prioritize the exposure of the falls.

Next, another waterfall, Silver Falls in Mount Rainier National Park. The overall composition is a bit dark, but I like how everything comes together as a whole.

Here's a nearby view of the Ohanapecosh River from the same day. I like the sense of depth, as well as the deep color of the river.

Here's a shot from the Green River Natural Area in January. I'm always happy when a winter forest shot ends up colorful and eye-catching.

Next, the Cedar River near Ravensdale, also in January. I like the look of the water, and the mossy branches up above.

Below, a little waterfall on the PCT just north of Snoqualmie Pass.

To close us out, here's a nice picture of thimbleberry flowers (Rubus parviflorus) at Goat Lake, one of my all-time favorite places.

II. Ideas for 2023

Every year, I try to come up with a few goals or ideas for myself. Mostly, I just want to spend more time on the basics - get to the mountains more this summer, see more waterfalls, find wildflowers, go places with big-sky views, et cetera - but here are some things I might be thinking about:

1) Continue work on water, reflections, and polarization

I wrote above regarding my work on using the polarizing filter to either maximize lake reflections or render the lake surface transparent, and balancing this with sky polarization. I'm getting better at this, and want to continue thinking intentionally about this in 2023. 

2) Local hikes

Last year, I wrote about wanting to pay more visits to local parks and trails, such as the King County system. That has become even more imperative with this year's fluctuations in gas prices. I did keep this in mind this year, with visits to the Green River Natural Area, the state parks in the Green River area, Cougar Mountain, and other spots. There were definitely some weeks in which, in another year, I might have chosen to go farther afield than I chose to this year (e.g., to Fidalgo Island or the North Cascades). There are still more nearby trails that I haven't explored, or that I haven't visited in a long time, so I want to keep this thought on my radar.

3) Local travel

On a related note, I'd like to do more camping and overnight trips here in Washington state over the next year. Driving to California to see the redwoods was fun, but if closer trips mean I can afford to take more of them, then that's what I'd prefer for this year. The other advantage of closer travel is that I can be a bit more spontaneous and responsive to conditions and opportunities. A trip like the redwoods trip has to be put together pretty well in advance, and is harder to modify if I'm unlucky and conditions aren't favorable.

4) Continue non-floral closeup work

This is another goal I've mentioned in prior years, and I was able to do a bit of this, especially with foliage and spring growth (see sections 7 and 8). I'd like to continue this work, perhaps broadening this out to things like bark, fungi, moss, grasses and sedges, etc. There are lots of colorful fungi and mushrooms around here, and I've never really tried to photograph them. It's also been a while since I've tried moss or lichen. I think it's mostly because I've never been great at identifying them, but maybe I shouldn't let that stop me.

Thanks for sticking with me through this long post. Cheers and happy new year!