Smoke and clouds blanketed the sky back in late August, so I headed over to West Seattle to use the neutral, low lighting to do some long exposure (bulb) photography. Another photographer in town had mentioned this old, rusty dock, but he didn’t know exactly where it was- happy to have found it! I included two of my favorite photographs from this location.
Rusty Dock, (Bulb Exposure #1), West Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Rusty Dock, (Bulb Exposure #2), West Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
After the fires this summer, views of Mount Sopris from Carbondale and the surrounding area were sadly hazy and smoky. A few evening rain clouds blew in over Sopris, but there wasn’t enough precipitation or wind to fully clear the air, leaving the views of one of my favorite mountains slightly obscured.
Sopris, Clouds, and Smoke, near Carbondale, CO (12″x18″)
Fortunately, on my last night in the area, the winds changed direction and pushed some of the smoke out of the region. It felt like I’d put on glasses- the view of Mount Sopris appeared crisp and well-defined as the setting sun cast a pink glow on the flanks of the mountain.
Sopris and Evening Clouds, near Carbondale, CO (12″x18″)
I stopped to photograph Hayes Creek Falls along Colorado-133 (south of Carbondale, just west of Mount Sopris). Water was barely trickling over the Falls, so I crossed CO-133 and shot a few bulb exposures of the water flowing around the rocks in the Crystal River. Hoping this area recovers from drought and fire season.
Crystal River (Bulb Panorama), near Bears Gulch, CO (16″x54″)
Crystal River (Bulb Single Frame), near Bears Gulch, CO (10″x18″)
As we approached Winfield from Hope Pass along the Continental Divide Trail, the clouds parted near the horizon and allowed a few rays of golden light to shine across the valley onto Emerald Peak, Mt Belford, and Mt Oxford.
Light on Ridge near Hope Pass, near Buena Vista, CO (12″x18″)
While in Colorado this summer, I helped a friend scout Hope Pass for the Leadville 100. Before stopping for lunch at the saddle (~12,500 feet elevation), I took this panorama to the west and north looking back down the valley towards Twin Lakes.
Trail to Hope Pass, Continental Divide Trail, near Buena Vista, CO (16″66″)
Visiting the same location year after year forces me to try to see the same scene from new perspectives. This summer, I spent more time to the right of the falls taking a few long exposures of the water flowing out of the limestone at Spouting Rock above Hanging Lake.
Spouting Rock (Horizontal #3, Color, 2018), Hanging Lake, Colorado (16″x20″)
Spouting Rock (Vertical #3, Color, 2018), Hanging Lake, Colorado (28″x16″)
Blue ice, brown ridge, white snow, and sky near Heliotrope Ridge.
Coleman Glacial Ice and Ridge (1×1), Mt Baker Wilderness, WA (16″x16″)
I walked up the lateral moraine along Coleman Glacier and stopped to shoot a long-exposure panorama of the meltwaters flowing out of the snow and ice. I liked this composition because it captured the stream, house-sized seracs (chunks of ice in the middle of the panorama above the snow field), and Mt Baker peeking over the ridge and snow field in the background.
Meltwater and Coleman Glacier (#3, Color), Mt Baker Wilderness, Washington (16″x54″)
I am used to hiking to near 13,000 feet in Wyoming to get on blue ice, so I’ve been trying to take advantage of the relatively easy access to low-elevation glaciers in Washington State. A few weekends ago, I drove to Mt. Baker and hiked up to Heliotrope Ridge and Coleman Glacier. I stacked three horizontal panoramas to try to capture the full view of the crevasses, seracs, and ice falls, but it’s still hard to get a sense of the size of the mountain and flowing ice from a series of photographs.
Coleman Glacier and Mt Baker (#5, Color), Mt Baker Wilderness, Washington (32″x61″)
A single-frame photograph of the falls along the creek running out of Annette Lake in western Washington.
Humpback Falls (Single Frame), Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, WA (16″x16″)
