First Hike of Summer 2024

Yesterday, I hiked to Barclay Lake (near Index) for my first hike of the summer. As a photography outing, the day was a mixed bag. On the plus side, I enjoyed some periods of light winds, and I had good visibility of the surrounding peaks (particularly Baring Mountain, which is the star of the show on this hike). Making things more difficult was intermittent broken cloudiness. These bright clouds made overexposure of the sky (or underexposure of the foreground) more of a problem, so I didn't get the big view shots over the lake that I wanted.

First, an image of Baring Mountain that did turn out more or less the way I wanted, with an alder tree in the foreground. F/18.

Next, a view of Barclay Lake near the end of the trail. This isn't the most iconic view of the lake, but I like how all of the elements come together: the remnants of snow, the bright green new leaves, the lake's surface, and the broken clouds. I had to wait a few minutes for the sun and clouds to align just right for this picture; when the clouds went back to covering up the sun, the trees were too dark and the detail quality was poor. F/14.

Lastly, here's a view of Barclay Lake from a cloudier moment in time. I was drawn to the contrasting greens at this vantage point, particularly the bright-green new growth in the foreground. I think the different shades of green here don't all stand out against each other as much as I'd like, but the sense of season comes through quite well. F/14.

Spring detail work

Good morning! I'm going to combine my two most recent hiking trips into a single post, because I took a similar approach to my work: hiking slowly and focusing mostly on closeups of flowers and other details. After some bad luck weather-wise this spring, it was nice to have a couple of hikes where weather conditions were conducive to photography - dry, overcast, and light winds.

Middle Fork Snoqualmie

Most recently, I hiked the Middle Fork Snoqualmie trail for a few miles. First, a flower I don't think I've photographed before: false lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum dilatatum). F/5.6.

Next, the flowers of vine maple (Acer circinatum). The vibrant leaves of the vine maple get all the recognition, but I enjoy their flowers, too. F/5.

Here's another look at vine maple flowers, with the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River in the background. F/5.

Next, some deer fern (Blechnum spicant or Struthiopteris spicant) opening up for the season. I always enjoy deer fern's distinct fiddleheads this time of year. I was looking down a fairly steep slope when I took this picture, which allowed me to get a forest background without including any sky (which probably would have overexposed). F/8.

Lastly, a deep-forest scene with Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa) blooming in the foreground. F/5.

Perry Creek

Before that, I hiked the Perry Creek trail off the Mountain Loop Highway. The trail's big views of Hall Peak notwithstanding, this is one of my favorite locations for detail/closeup work. The frequent transitions between woods and open slopes make for a rich diversity of plants. A lot of the plants in this post, in fact, are ones that I haven't identified confidently yet. I'll keep working on it, but I didn't want that to delay the post.

First, a flower that looks like it's in the currant/gooseberry family (genus Ribes). F/5.6.

Next, some valerian flowers. I suspect these belong to Scouler's valerian (Valeriana scouleri) rather than Sitka valerian, due to their shorter height and pinkish hue. F/6.3.

I enjoyed the color contrasts of the scene below: the white flowers, the green leaves, and the yellowish moss are all very distinct from one another. I believe the flowers are large-leaf sandwort (Moehringia macrophylla). F/7.1.

Next, vine maple (Acer circinatum) flowers with a bit of Hall Peak in the background. I like the composition here, but I'm not happy with the lighting - the flowers and leaves ended up too dark. Perhaps I can keep finessing it in Lightroom. F/9.

Finally, a visit to Perry Creek wouldn't be complete without some shots of Hall Peak down the valley. I've tried views like this before; while these newest attempts aren't perfect, these show a bit more of the peak than the ones I've tried in the past (see visits from 2020 and 2022), which is an improvement. They also show more texture in the clouds. F/16 and F/18, respectively.

April-May Roundup

Good morning! I've gotten a bit behind on blogging, so in this post, I'm going to combine a few recent trips. The last month and a half or so has been busy, and I've had some bad luck with weather, so I haven't gotten to do quite as much spring photography so far as I would have liked. Still, I think I've made the best of the time I've had, including the first overnight trip of the season!

The first image is from Soaring Eagle Regional Park. Gusty winds and unexpectedly abundant sunshine made forest photography difficult, but I did get this nice closeup of springbeauty (genus Claytonia, I'm thinking; I don't know the exact species). F/5.

The next image is from the May Valley Loop in Squak Mountain State Park. It ended up being quite a rainy morning, so I wasn't able to do much photography. I'm intrigued by the possibility of a return spring visit, though; the forest is very lush, and I think I'd have a decent chance of catching some forest wildflowers. The yellow flowers in the image below belong to Oregon grape; they made for a fun contrast with the greens of the forest. F/16.

More recently, I hiked to Barlow Point off the Mountain Loop Highway. Apparently, it's the site of a former fire lookout, and although the trees in the area have grown in since then, there are still some nice views of the surrounding terrain. First, the best view from the top, framed by foliage. I like the contrasting greens of all the different trees. F/16. 

Here's another mountain view from Barlow Point, this time with more of a depth-of-field concept. I liked the vivid yellow-green of the cedar in the foreground. F/5.6.

Most recently, I took a quick trip to the Lewis River area, with the intention to hike the Lewis River Falls and spend the night in a cabin nearby. I did so, but the hike was a challenging one for photography for a couple of reasons. The first was the weather - it rained in the morning, and then in the afternoon, the lighting conditions seemed to change every few seconds, making it hard to set up a shot.

The second challenge was trail conditions. I was able to hike from the Lower Falls to the Middle Falls, but turned back before I could reach the Upper Falls, because there were a lot of downed trees and damaged sections of trail. It might have been passable without all my photography gear, but as it was, I didn't want to risk it. Plus, it just wasn't very enjoyable. The upshot of the early turn-around was that I had more time on the return hike to photograph scenes that I had passed by earlier due to the weather.

First, Lower Lewis Falls framed by a maple tree. F/16, 1/3 of a second.

And here's the top of the Middle Falls, framed by spring foliage. F/16, 1/2 of a second.

Next, a cool crescent-shaped formation in the river rapids. The foreground tree trunk is a bit dark, but this was the best I could do without overexposing the rapids. F/16, 0.4 seconds.

Lastly, looking down on a stream through alder trunks. If you look closely, you can see the river through the trees in the distance. F/16.

Until next time!

Flowers and Sunshine!

Yesterday, I thought the forecast for sunshine called for a hike with views. I headed up to Washington Park in Anacortes, hoping that along with water views, I might catch a few early wildflowers. The flowers there have not reached their peak yet, but I was able to find a few nice patches. Washington Park doesn't offer a very long hike - you can loop through the whole park in less than three miles. The excursion still felt like a hike, though, with plenty of steep and rugged side trails to explore. And I had plenty of time for photography!

First, camas and other flowers and grasses, with Burrows Island in the distance. F/6.3.

Next up, a patch of sea blush (Plectritis congesta) beginning to bloom. Given that I took this picture close to midday in bright sunshine, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. F/5.6.

Below, a calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa) on the forest floor. I shot this one basically handheld; I used my mini-tripod with its legs together to brace the camera a bit, but it wasn't providing much stability. Because of that, the detail isn't quite as sharp as I'd like, although you'd have to enlarge this quite a bit to really notice. I think the ground-level perspective is interesting, which helps make up for the technical imperfections. F/5.

Lastly, a spotted coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata) just starting to bloom. I've typically seen coralroot and other myco-heterotrophic plants in darker, older forests than that of Washington Park's southern slopes, so seeing this was a fun surprise. Similarly to the calypso orchid picture above, I had trouble getting the detail perfectly sharp; my best result is below. F/5.

All for now. Stay safe and enjoy the sunshine!

Fun with Pink Flowers

Yesterday, I visited the O'Grady unit of the Green River Natural Area, between Auburn and Enumclaw. In the off-season, at least, this park is one of my favorite spots to hike short of going to the mountains. The forest, even though it is second-growth, is very lush with lots of fun wildflowers, and there are a couple opportunities to get all the way down to the Green River. My main hope was to find some trillium to photograph. I did see some trillium blooming, but none were quite right for a picture. Happily, I found three other flowers - all pink - to photograph.

First, Scouler's coryalis (Corydalis scouleri) just beginning to bloom. I'm happy with how well I was able to blur the background, as well as the presence of some raindrops. F/5.

Next, Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa). I've taken pictures of these flowers before, but this image really highlights the intricacy of the leaves; I also like the mossy log in the background. F/5.

There were a lot of salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) flowers blooming as well. I was worried that this image would be too busy, but I think it works. The flower on the right really pops, and the mossy trunks in the background add to the scene. I enjoy how the bright green of the new leaves contrasts with the yellowish green of the moss in the background. F/5.

Finally, a non-floral image: some ferns opening up, with mossy trees beyond. The lens was angled downhill, which really helped; the background is all trees and grass, instead of splotches of overexposed white sky. At a small size, this image looks a bit busy; when I expanded it to take up the entire computer screen, the foreground ferns came through more distinctly and the depth-of-field effect was a bit more convincing. F/5.6.

Rain started to fall off and on after about 10am, and more consistently after noon, so I'm happy with what I was able to achieve before then. Until next time!

Two Recent Trips

It's time for another roundup of some recent photography excursions! First, a view from Pratt Balcony, looking over the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River. I took some pictures from this viewpoint last December. This more recent image lacks the fun mist of the December trip, but has deeper colors and clearer visibility. F/14.

Next, a salmonberry flower in the woods along the trail to Pratt Balcony. I was concerned that the contrast would be too high and the highlights would overexpose, but the result isn't bad at all. I was even able to preserve some of the blue in the sky. This picture is special, because it's my first wildflower photograph of the year! F/9.

Prior to the Pratt Balcony trip, I walked the main trail in O. O. Denny Park in Kirkland, wanting to get at least a short trip in before a forecasted rain started to fall. The trail is short and mostly follows a small creek before a brief climb up a hillside to terminate unceremoniously at a road. For a city trail, it's pretty lush and remote-feeling; the ravine and dense woods screen out sight and sound of the surrounding neighborhoods. I didn't have much time for photography before it started raining, but I was able to get this nice image with new Indian plum leaves in the foreground, and the creek in the background. F/8.

Next, a wider view of the creek, with a cedar trunk in the foreground. F/18.

All for now. Hopefully some more wildflowers soon!

February Forest Frolicking

Hello, everyone! In this one, I'm going to recap two photography trips I've taken this February. Most recently, I visited Twin Falls near North Bend. I haven't been there for a while; I usually prefer trails where the crowds are a bit less concentrated. But it's really a gorgeous trail, with mossy trees and lots of river access, so I couldn't resist. Because the trail is wide in places, and because there are lots of spur trails to the river, the popularity of the trail didn't impact my photography as much as I had feared. (The only place where it was really an issue was the upper falls; those are best viewed from a wooden bridge, and the vibrations from all the people walking by precluded any kind of tripod photography.)

First, the South Fork Snoqualmie River. I like the sense of depth in this composition, with the rapids on the foreground and the perspective effect of the trees in the background. F/16, 2.5 seconds.

Here's a shot of a somewhat calmer spot on the South Fork Snoqualmie. I'm pretty pleased that I was able to get this depth of field to work. F/18.

Next, an interesting spot on the river with an abrupt boundary between calm and rushing waters. If you're looking for it, you can see wide-angle distortion in the trees in the upper left and right corners; otherwise, I like this one. F/14, 1.6 seconds.

I'm less convinced by this next image, featuring the lower falls. The trees and branches at left aren't a particularly interesting foreground, and there isn't anything to really give the falls a sense of scale. F/16, 1.3 seconds.

After the Twin Falls hike, I checked out the nearby Weeks Falls, which is accessible via a short trail through the woods. My images of Weeks Falls itself didn't turn out very well; I didn't get good definition in the water. The short trail has a couple river access points; the composition below is from one such location. The relative darkness of the foreground tree made the lighting a challenge, so I'm happy that I was able to make this one work. F/18, 13 seconds.

The week prior to my Twin Falls hike, I visited the Redmond Watershed Preserve for the first time. Most of the forest wasn't particularly photogenic (at least, not in the winter; I imagine there will be lots of spring flowers in a month or so). It's a very pleasant walk in the woods, however, and I got roughly 5 miles of walking in, so I'm glad I went. Below is an image of a stream coming out of "Old Pond." I wasn't originally going for the reflections, but I think they add to the composition. F/18, 1 second.

I'm seeing Indian plum flowers popping up in the woods around home, so I'm getting excited about spring!  I'm also glad to see that we'll be getting a bit of cooler weather - the mountains really need the snow. I'm not a big snow-seeker, so I imagine this means my next hike(s) will be nearby lowland trails. Maybe I'll find some early flowers? Stay tuned!