North Fork Sauk Falls

Yesterday morning, I beat the rain with a morning jaunt to the North Fork Sauk Falls off the Mountain Loop Highway. It's something like 0.2 miles to the falls, so I knew I'd have time to do some photography before the rain hit. I was also looking forward to the overcast lighting.

I may go back - particularly in a different season (e.g. fall, if I can time foliage and water flow well, or early winter), but I'll have to keep in mind that this is a comparatively challenging place to do photography. The falls itself is very scenic, of course, as are other views of the river. The trail, however, is short, rocky, and brushy, limiting vantage points compared to other spots I've visited for waterfall photography (the twin falls at Boulder River, Sol Duc Falls).

First, here's one of the falls and spray. A shutter speed of 1/4 of a second provided the best compromise: I wanted to blur the motion of the water, but I didn't want the spray to be too blurry. Also, an advantage of digital photography: I took 45 exposures of this composition. Since the water and spray were constantly changing, I wanted to have some options. F/13.

Next, a view downstream over the North Fork Sauk. The spray from the falls caused the diffused look of this image, which I'm not sure how I feel about. Otherwise, I like this composition. F/16.

Boulder River again

As promised, I returned to the Boulder River trail last weekend to photograph subjects other than the twin waterfall. I didn't get to spend as much time there as I would have liked due to some issues with my backpack that were not fixable in the field. Even so, I was able to improvise a temporary means of keeping my backpack closed that enabled me to stay out long enough for a few decent compositions.

First, an old-growth forest shot from the trail with a cedar in the foreground. F/18.

Next, a bit of an experiment, a view of a waterfall closely framed by trees. Such a composition risks being busy, but I like how this one turned out. The lighting wasn't ideal - a bit on the high-contrast side - but workable. F/18, 0.8 seconds.

Finally, a view of the Boulder River itself, from a well-defined side trail. F/18, 0.8 seconds.

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.

Lopez Island

For Spring Break, I took a trip to Lopez Island! This has been one of my dream destinations for a long time. I camped at Spencer Spit State Park for three nights and visited some of the coolest parks and natural areas on the island. Even with this long of a visit, there's still more on the island that I didn't get to see - incentive for the next visit! I was blessed with dry conditions for the entirety of my stay. Here, in no particular order, are the best results of my photography.

Point Colville

Point Colville is on the south side of the island in the San Juan Islands National Monument. The hike is fairly short, but rewarding, with cool views and old trees. The view below looks roughly west, between the main island on the right and Castle Island on the left.

Lopez Hill

This is a forested area on the east side of the island; mostly second growth forest, I believe, but still a cool place, with unique natural features like wetlands and some rocky clearings. Here is one such wetland:

And a closeup of calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa). This is the best closeup I've gotten of a single flower of this kind. F/4.5.

Spencer Spit State Park

Here's the sunrise from the park where I stayed, just a few minutes' walk from the camping area.

Iceberg Point

This, another unit of the national monument, might be the most iconic spot on Lopez - and, for me, it was the hardest place to do landscapes. I've written on this blog about how forests are hard to photograph effectively due to the sheer overabundance of things; the compositions get so busy. Iceberg Point presents the opposite challenge, as it is a comparatively sparse landscape and finding a foreground that will be compelling is tricky. I felt least successful here. Iceberg Point would be a place to visit multiple times in multiple seasons - I think on my second or fifth or tenth visit, I'd do a lot better.

First, two from almost the same spot on different days. I think the lighting on the second is better, although I like that the first includes the Olympics in the distance.

Here's one with camas in the foreground and the rest of the landscape out of focus (F/5). I'm not entirely satisfied with the sharpness/image quality of this one, but it might be sufficient for at least some print sizes, and I like the composition.

Speaking of camas, here's a closeup. This is the best camas closeup I have to date. F/5.

Here's another flower closeup, one I didn't recognize. Could it be Claytonia rubra? That would make sense, as this definitely looks like it could be related to other Claytonia plants, and my sources tell me that Claytonia rubra grows in the San Juans. I found this one out in the open, in a rocky area. F/6.3.

Odlin County Park

This park, which is on the north end of the island near the ferry terminal, has a smattering of old Douglas firs. This image features one such specimen in the foreground:

Watmough Bay

Finally, Watmough Bay is another piece of the national monument on the south side of the island, a quiet beach enclosed by cliffs. Here's a view looking up the cliffs to the north of the beach.

Sol Duc Not-Falls

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to visit the Sol Duc Falls trail in Olympic National Park. As the title of this post suggests, I won't be posting any compositions involving the main falls - I wasn't satisfied with my results. Some others turned out well, though, and the falls is always cool to experience.

First, two views of a tributary stream seen from the trail. Both F/20, 3 seconds and 2 seconds.

Next, two views of the Sol Duc River just downstream of the falls. I am unsure which composition I prefer, as the first emphasizes the river and rocks, and the second emphasizes the forest surroundings. Both F/20, 0.8 seconds and 1 second.

Finally, the Sol Duc River again, this time from a viewpoint along the road. F/22, 1 second.