Salmonberry Forests Forever

Last week, I described an oasis of old trees in Shoreline's Boeing Creek Park. I wish the same could be said about Meadowdale Beach Park in Edmonds. Only a scattering of behemoth stumps remain to evoke the forest's bygone grandeur. Still, the park is a lovely place, greeting the senses with a pleasant second-growth forest and the constant music of birdsong. The existing forest consists mostly of red alder and bigleaf maple, with a dense understory of salmonberry and the occasional red elderberry.

And what do you know? The salmonberry bushes were just beginning to bloom when I went there yesterday. What a remarkable bit of "luck!" Unfortunately, the air was a bit gusty, especially closer to the beach, making flower photography quite difficult. I did, however, manage to squeeze out three acceptable shots.

The first one, while not perfect, is the most visually arresting of the bunch. I stopped it down to f/6.3 to get an acceptable level of detail in the foreground flower. I'm not 100% happy with this composition, though, because it's a bit busy. The leaves in the upper left-hand corner (which were the objects closest to the camera) are particularly distracting.

The next shot features the same two flowers from a different angle. I was able to use a wider aperture, f/4.5, and still get a decent amount of sharpness because I wasn't as close. This one, while not as busy as the previous composition, is also not as adventurous. I think one of the reasons for its comparative lack of interest is the point of view - instead of keeping the flowers directly at eye level, as in the previous composition, this looks at them slightly from above, which for flowers is a more conventional and less interesting perspective.

This third one juxtaposes a salmonberry flower against a mossy tree (I think a maple). It turned out alright, but it's not as compelling as it was in my mind's eye. As more salmonberry bushes bloom, though, I'll get other chances to try similar compositions in more favorable settings.

Shoreline's Crown Jewel

Boeing Creek Park will always have a special significance for me. It was where, first on childhood walks with my family and, later, solitary adolescent wanderings, I learned to love hiking. It is also a lot more diverse than most forested parks in the Seattle area. Indeed, although most of the park consists of second-growth, the park is sprinkled with old Douglas firs, most of them along and within the ravine created by Boeing Creek. Why were these giants spared? Park signs suggest that it may have been due to the steep, unstable slopes on which they were and are situated.

Simply hiking through the park - particularly over time - reveals this to be entirely plausible. The ravine's slopes reveal themselves to be very steep in some places. More than that, though, this breathtakingly dynamic park's annual changes demonstrate why it would be impractical or even dangerous to operate logging equipment in some places. The soils are sandy and prone to collapse. Every spring, the trail greets me with a new series of washed-out sandy cliffs where a slope - or a trail - used to be. Bars and islands made of sand and gravel appear and disappear in the creek and in Hidden Lake. Entire trees periodically tumble into the ravine.

This turbulent, active nature - while making resource extraction, trail maintenance and hiking problematic - is a quality that, along with the presence of old trees, makes the park special and a prime place to witness nature at work.

The first composition I am going to present in two versions. I wanted to juxtapose the trunk of an old-growth Douglas fir that I found against the mossy maple trunks in the background. The creek was also visible, which was a bonus. Originally, I had planned to wait to try this composition until later in the spring or summer, when the trees had leaves. I decided to try it, though, because I realized that the mossy trunks and branches might actually stand out better without green leaves. (I will, however, try it again later in the spring as planned!) I used f/25 to get everything in focus, and actually set my focus point between the trunk and the background in order to keep both sharp.

I made two compositions, one in which the trunk takes up about two-thirds of the frame, and one in which the trunk takes up about a third. I think I like the first better, as it gives a clearer sense of the tree's massive size, but I wasn't confident, so I posted them both and you can think about it.

The next picture is imperfect but still worth posting. It is imperfect because the Indian Plum leaves in the foreground, the ones in focus, aren't totally sharp due to a slight breeze. Also, the forms of the mossy trunks in the background don't stand out as much as I'd like. Still, I like my idea here. Perhaps with some creative white-balance tweaks in Lightroom, I could help at least the second problem. (I didn't want to use any wider of a depth of field than that provided by f/6.3, because that would have brought too many leaves in too sharp of focus and rendered the image entirely too busy.)

Next, we see a young hemlock growing from the remains of an old tree (perhaps a cedar?). There are lots of diverse trees of different ages within the park, something that - for most of the park - suggests a health forest, at least comparatively: in some sections of Carkeek Park in Seattle, by contrast, the tree cover (alder) is so uniform that young firs and cedars have had to be planted to ensure the forest's continued existence.

Finally, one that celebrates the mossy maple trunks. Were I to edit this, I would modify the white balance in such a way that accentuated the yellow-green of the moss against the darker green of the evergreen foliage in the background.

Wet, Cold, Gray, Beautiful

For I think the third time this winter, I took advantage of relatively cold temperatures to make a snow level exploration. The snow level was not quite as low as I would have liked - the snow at the Middle and Upper falls was still rather slushy - but it was still nice to see some. The problem was nonstop precipitation. Thus, I hardly took any pictures. Still, the falls were very beautiful, even with rain, snow (eventually) and slush from the trees cascading over me. I made it all the way to the upper falls and contemplated continuing up to the logging roads and Wallace Lake. This, however, would have required a bit of off-trail travel in about a half-inch of slush and some steep sections. After about twenty feet I wound up on my hands and knees.........so I decided it wasn't worth the trouble. Wallace Lake isn't that pretty, and the route goes through second-growth forest that isn't very picturesque. (Note that the logging roads can actually be nice in the summer because they are covered with oxeye daisies and foxglove).

Although Wallace Falls is a fun place to visit as it is, I find myself wondering what it would have looked like before it was logged. It must have been just as spectacular, with cascading waters and huge mossy trees, as the rainforests on the Olympic Peninsula. It would put the Boulder River trail to shame, and send the even the West Fork Foss trail home crying about its inadequacy. Unfortunately, the forests are relatively uniform and second-growth.

I do, however, desire to return to Wallace Falls State Park in the spring. I noticed this time that there are a lot of salmonberry bushes growing along Wallace River and the North Fork Wallace River. Potentially, I could get some nice shots juxtaposing them against the rapids.

So, here are the two pictures worth posting. They both need some contrast enhancement...but of all digital post-processing tasks, adding contrast (even to just part of a picture) is one of the easiest to do. I also want to cool down the colors a bit; I left the white balance setting too warm on my camera. Editing from RAW, of course, that's not a problem.

The first one I owe to a kind hiker who held his umbrella up over me as I took the shot. Not having some covering would have resulted in water getting on my polarizing filter, as the wind was drifting the rain toward me. I would have liked better-defined snow on the trees. Contrast enhancement will help, though.

This second I took at the very end of my hike, when it finally stopped raining (albeit for a few minutes only). I wanted to juxtapose the lush lichen and moss on the trees with the snowy ridge up above. Post-processing will help me make the snowy ridge a bit more defined. But this picture, I think, says it all about winter in the Puget Sound. In the lowlands, winter is wet and lush, with plenty of moss, lichen and evergreen trees keeping things lively. Always looming nearby, however, is the cold and snowy winter world of the Cascades..

Marginal days can really make photography interesting. Days that capture transitions - such as a snow level, or snow on autumn leaves, or just-opening flowers - make me feel as though I am witnessing a truly special event. Today was like that. I felt as though I witnessed what might be winter's last hurrah as it gracefully retreated up into the hills.

...All that said, I can't wait until summer. Partially because of the weather, and partially because I'll be able to visit some proper wilderness. And flowers! Soon.

Lo How A Plum E'er Blooming

Spring has sprung in Discovery Park! The Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis) shrubs are budding, and a few bushes now have coming some flowerets bright. These plants are great; green leaves and white flowers light up the drab forests every February. They are like an alarm clock for the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Native plants wake up and get going right away, even if the local weather, as we all know, hits the snooze button and waits a couple months to get spring going on its end.

Here is my best. The red in the background in the lower third of the picture is from least year's dead leaves and twigs; I knew it would give an interesting color contrast. What I didn't anticipate was how dark the conifer foliage in the upper two thirds of the background would appear. I think that characteristic, though, makes the picture more interesting. I stopped down as far as I could (f/3.8) to minimize any distracting shapes in the background. It might look like I used flash, but I did not.

Here are some buds on another Indian Plum bush. I was so close that I was able to stop down to f/8 while maintaining a mostly solid background; I really needed more definition in the foreground than I would have gotten with a wider aperture; the area in focus would have been to small to form pleasing spots for the eye to lock on to when viewing the picture.

There is also a willow showing some signs of life. Frankly, I'll have to wait until later in the year to identify it. One picture I took turned out; it needs its contrast increased and the colors enhanced (maybe...if the contrast doesn't do the trick). I stopped down to f/10 because I wanted to place these budding branches within the context of the wintry field and branches behind them.

Finally, an experimental shot I took of some Indian Plum flowers. I wanted to juxtapose the new flowers against the bare branches of the surrounding trees. To do so, I stopped down to f/20 so that the branches' shapes would be at least somewhat discernible. It turned out better than I expected, although white flowers and a white cloudy sky aren't the best combination; the green draws all the attention in this photograph. I'll be trying a similar composition next month, hopefully, when the salmonberry bushes begin to bloom.

Before I go, I'll mention that I took a trip to Deception Pass State Park a couple weeks ago. Other than being lost for about 20 minutes of the hike, it was fairly uneventful. I jumped the gun on any interesting plant scenery. Only one picture is worth posting. This is looking west across Lottie Bay from the Canoe Pass Vista Trail; the little headland that I was on isn't named on my map. Anyway, to get all the depth of field that I wanted (f/25), I had to use an exposure speed of five seconds. This turned out to be a blessing because it blurred the water's motion and made it look glassy. Thankfully the air was still enough that the leaves didn't blur. The tree in the foreground is a Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii).

Ta ta!

Frostless near Seattle

Hopefully those of you who live in and around the Seattle area had the chance to see the magnificent frost we've had the past few mornings. Usually we just get some on the grass. This time, though, it has covered bushes and trees as well, in a few places heavily enough to be mistaken as a dusting of snow. I attempted to photograph this frost twice this weekend, and twice ended up with something other than what I had bargained for.

I'm going to write this post backward and start with the more recent trip because the photographs are better. Paradise Valley Conservation Area was my destination. I'd been there before, and was frankly unimpressed - the forest is young and not all that interesting, and the trail generally stays well away from wetlands, creeks, and other visually interesting yet ecologically sensitive features. I remembered, however, that one of the trails had a good eastern view not too far from the parking lot, and I though about maybe getting a nice frosty sunrise. Upon arrival, what should I find but - of all things - snow! Not deep, but a nice frosting still remained on most of the trees. So any frost was dwarfed by its more ostentatious cousins, snow and ice.

This is probably my favorite image of the pack. These bushes were everywhere, and all had little red buds, but this was the first composition I made of them and it ended up being the best. The red comes through very nicely, and the shapes of the buds are perceptible beneath the ice. The background has some barely perceptible lines/shapes, which I don't like, but I really needed some depth of field in the foreground. I think that, especially with some tweaking of the lighting, it's a forgivable deficiency.

Now comes my second favorite. As I was wandering down the trail, I happened upon a fir branch that was lit with soft sunlight. I tried envisioning a variety of different compositions, and noticed that the sun itself was quite diffused by other branches and some high clouds. The sun, then was soft enough to include in the composition without overwhelming everything else (although I did place it mostly behind the branch). I liked how the cool blue shows up in the shadows.

Next, two pictures I took prior to dawn. I think they capture the spirit of the morning well, and the colors even came through fairly accurately (although the first could stand slight saturation...but not much). Clearly the second could use a lighting boost in the shadows.

The next two juxtapose wintry trees against the sunrise. I used a graduated neutral density in the first one...and sideways, no less! This helped darken the sky and the sunrise, so I could expose for the tree in the foreground without overexposing the sky. In the second one, the sky actually is overexposed - with dark foreground elements on either side, I couldn't use the graduated filter. With Highlight Recovery in Lightroom, I might be able to save it, because I like the composition.

The previous morning, I had gone to Bob Heirman Wildlife Preserve, on the Snohomish River near Monroe, hoping to capture that elusive frost. For whatever reason, the park and its immediate environs were not as frosty. Perhaps the big river's proximity moderated the air temperature. That's really the only thing I can think of.

There was some frost, however, and this was my best composition. I wanted to juxtapose a frosty bush with the bare trunks of the adjoining forest. I think this picture does that fairly well, while also communicating the color in the branches. I tried many apertures for this, and settled on f/6.3 to preserve some shape in the background. I kept all of them, though - I'd really have to see this one printed at a large size to make the final decision on whether the background was distracting and needed less definition. I don't think any more would be a good idea.

The other respectable composition from the Preserve was this of a frosty fern. I honestly wasn't that satisfied with it, just because it seems like a bit of a conventional subject and composition. It turned out well, though. The middle of the fern is a bit left of center. This would be easy to fix at cropped sizes, of course.

A shout-out to my parents, older brother, and sister-in-law, who got me a tripod strap and warm pants and socks for Christmas! I surely would have perished without them. Thanks!

How Low Can You Snow? - or - Epiphytes Never Sleep

Still buoyed by my success photographing the Gold Creek Trail in the snow, I ventured out last Saturday on another snow level hunt - this one in Squak Mountain State Park. The trailhead is I think about 300 feet above sea level, and the summit tops out at 2000 feet. Perfect.

The snow level was a bit higher than I had expected - I was thinking 1000-1500 feet, but it was sitting right at about 2000 feet. Thus, I didn't find any snow or ice until almost the top of the mountain. So it was a pretty long slog in exchange for a very small section of trail that actually featured what I was looking for. Still, I took some nice pictures there, and a couple other decent ones in the pleasant, non-snowy sections of the forest.

Honestly, though, it reminds me of why I don't do a ton of hiking in the Issaquah Alps. The second-growth forests of Squak were nice, but not unique or spectacular. The "summit" was also a bit unsatisfying - it consists of a bunch of radio towers, a gravel service road, and some fences. I can honestly say that, after hiking all that way, it was a bit of a let down. I like hikes that are more wilderness-y, have some unique features, or don't require as much work as Squak did for the level of payoff. This is especially true in the spring and summer when I have more options.

Before I found actual snow, I found an interesting ice formation on some hemlock needles. Melt was beginning as I reached this icy section of trail, so I only had a few minutes before it all vanished. The next three pictures are from those few icy minutes; the first is the best, I think.

And from the snowy summit, a picture of some snow that fell on a mossy tree trunk. I like it but am not sure if it's too busy and abstract. Ironically, given all my snow-hysteria, this turned out to be my only post-worthy picture from the truly snowy portions of the trail. Snow is difficult to photograph well; it is so bright that it almost automatically creates contrast problems. It also makes it more difficult to find compelling colors in a scene. Add that to the usual difficulty of isolating compelling subjects in a crowded forest, and you have a challenging situation. For this moss picture, I used an aperture of f/7.1 to make sure I had enough snow in focus. So little of the background behind the trunk is included in the composition that I was able to stop down to f/7.1 without sacrificing background quality.

Finally, one that does not involve snow or ice. In hindsight, I wish I had experimented with moving the camera further to the left, to include more of the sun's brightness. This would have worsened the glare, though; as it was, I had to stand in an awkward position to shield my lens from the sun; even the lens hood didn't cut out the strong glare. Despite all these difficulties, I enjoy the result.

Finally, this one of licorice ferns growing on a trunk (probably big-leaf maple...although I didn't actually take note!). I love how they just grow right on the tree. I used an aperture of f/7.1; in hindsight, I could have used less detail in the background, although I wanted a reasonable amount of detail in the ferns themselves. Oh well, I can always try again - it's not like there's any shortage of epiphytes in the Puget Sound region!

Discovery Sunshine

Discovery Park was quite the place to be yesterday afternoon. I don't think I have ever seen the parking lot as full as it was. Not that it was a problem - it was good to see lots of people enjoying the outdoors, and the large park absorbed the throngs without seeming crowded. It was just funny that it should be less crowded on so many warm, clear summer evenings, and overrun with visitors on one of the coldest days of the autumn so far.

Believe it or not, there are still a few flowers blooming. They are certainly in the minority at this point, but I saw a few yarrow, a Queen Anne's lace (or some other carrot-type flower; I actually didn't stop to look very closely) and even some California poppies on the drive. Their tardiness would have been forgivable back in October when we were having our freak warm/dry spell. Now, however, they're definitely living on borrowed time. Those little rebels!

This was my attempt to render that concept onto an image; it juxtaposes living and withered yarrow flowers. The soft evening sunlight, partially diffused by some grass out of frame helps. I was able to position myself such that I got the blooming flower in focus and the dead flowers just out of focus, which I think makes the image more effective.

I then perambulated down to the beach for the sunset. My result was this picture, which silhouettes grass and dried-up hardhack stalks against the sunset. I used f/25 to get everything in good focus. I like it, and think it doesn't look too cluttered; the beach, however, creates a diagonal black area at the bottom which isn't terribly appealing compositionally. Still, it's alright, and I like the color scheme - the strong blues reinforce the clear, cold nature of the evening.

Also, I have an announcement! I have just opened up a website! To the readers of this blog, fear not: I will continue to write this blog as always. The new website is more of an online gallery where I can post some of my best work - sort of a web-based portfolio; at least, that is how I am conceiving it. Eventually, I hope to have a separate website where I have prints and other things available for purchase.

If you're reading this blog, you've probably seen these images before. Ultimately, though, this website will also be a place to keep track of any contests or events I'm participating in; plus, I just think it's cool. Here it is! http://www.zhibit.org/jdanderson