Alpine Lakes Wilderness Photography Field Report from October 7-9, 2014. Rich and I got the bad, not unexpected, outcome. Early October is prime time for the Washington State Enchantments, when golden larch skirt the stark, granite spires. Vying with a dozen hopefuls for the single, 7:45am permit draw─we lost. Our backup was Horseshoe Lake. The […]
Mt. Rainer National Park. I’m in my office, doing Lightroom repair work on an ancient, 2006 image from Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground. The photo didn’t make my (publish) cut years ago, but it wasn’t because composition, light or uniqueness were lacking. It passed those tests. The problem was mosquitoes, which streaked like blobs across sky, […]
One big kayak trip, no backpacking, much bird photography most often by kayak. A few pika shoots. I only sought landscapes a couple times, pretty dismal really. But I like what I got this year while staying pretty close to home. Washington State has so much to offer photographers. All images were shot with either […]
In 1994, a group of us kayakers organized and executed a self-led kayak camping trip at Johnstone Strait, on the north coast of Vancouver Island, BC. It was almost pure bliss. Twenty-five years later, my wife and I joined Sea Kayak Adventures on a six-day kayak camping trip. I’m shocked at the changes. One thing […]
I’m sitting in a kayak at the Sammamish River mouth on Lake Washington. Three hundred or so Common Mergansers flock nearby─in the slough fishing, roosting on the lake or flying in-between. The heavy birds fly at 40 mph up and down the tree-lined slough, a gauntlet that challenges the electronic viewfinder (EVF) and auto-focus of […]
Everything was going according to plan. At home, I consulted with www.stellarium.org for the Milky Way location, NOAA for cloud cover and Google Earth for orientation at Palouse Falls, WA. An October Milky Way shoot looked probable. I also checked the Palouse River stream gage, which was flowing above normal, not high but good enough. […]
My 2012/06 photo tip, Photograph Birds at Eye Level, covered getting down to the bird’s eye level for better photography. True enough, but often dismissed, so let’s re-visit. Not many photogs crawl on their belly in the mud. Yet dropping from a kneeling or sitting position to your elbows is huge. And, if you haven’t […]
No kayak trips, a couple of backpack overnights, bird photography in May and June and bird photography by kayak in the Fall. A thin year, but one that yielded keepers none-the-less. Oh, and every image here was shot with the tiny Sony a6300, using Canon, Sony or Rokinon lenses. Light in the Forest. I called […]
My backpacking cook set-up is tidy. Not perfect, but I wanted everything to pack inside my 650ml Toaks mug, and that’s done. Everything inside means stove, fuel, wind screen and lighter fits under the lid. I like the simple elegance; it saves space, with one less thing (the fuel bottle) floating about in the pack. […]
Light-weight your three-season backpacking gear to hike farther and higher, and capture the photographs of your dreams. Note: this is an update of a 2016/01/29 post. My ultalight Odyssey took root in a 1995 backpack to the Washington State Enchantments. On day one, we slogged over Aasgard Pass, a 4,550 ft elevation gain. My 55-pound […]