Streaming Clouds over Mt Mitchell after Sunset
Clouds streaming over Mt Mitchell as the sun’s light fades from the Blue Ridge Mountains. Exposure time was ~5 minutes to allow blurring of the moving clouds.
Mt Mitchell and Streaming Clouds after Sunset, Blue Ridge Mountains, NC (9″x16″)
Bulb Exposure of Mt Sopris and Clouds
While driving across the country in June, I stopped in Carbondale, Colorado to take my annual photograph of Mt Sopris. This time I decided to make the long shadows across the field an abstract, black foreground element. Exposure time was ~4-5 minutes with a 10-stop ND filter to get a little blur in the passing clouds.
Mt Sopris, Shadow, and Clouds (B&W, Bulb), near Carbondale, CO (7″x16″)
Warped Wooden Dock, Part II
Long exposure of warped wooden dock along the shores of Lake Washington.
Warped Dock at Stan Sayres Memorial Park (B&W, #1), Seattle, WA (10″x18″)
Warped Wooden Dock and Fog at Stan Sayres Memorial Park
Long exposure of passing morning rain clouds and fog over a warped wooden dock along the shores of Lake Washington.
Warped Dock and Fog at Stan Sayres Memorial Park (B&W), Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Angled Warped Dock and Fog at Stan Sayres Memorial Park (Color), Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Dock and Fog at Stan Sayres Memorial Park
Long exposure of passing morning rain clouds and fog over Lake Washington at Stan Sayres Memorial Park.
Dock and Fog at Stan Sayres Memorial Park (B&W), Seattle, WA (12″x12″)
Rocks and Fog at Stan Sayres Memorial Park
Morning rain clouds and fog over Lake Washington at the jetty along Stan Sayres Memorial Park.
Rocks and Fog at Stan Sayres Memorial Park (B&W), Seattle, WA (10″x18″)
Winter Storm Approaches Westport Jetty
Long exposure of winter storm coming in from the Pacific at Westport Jetty near Twin Harbors State Park, Washington.
Westport Jetty and Clouds at Sunset (B&W), Westport, WA (10″x18″)
Washington Coastline in Winter
Stumps and logs embedded in the sand at Twin Harbors State Park, Washington.
Stump in Waves (#3, B&W), Twin Harbors State Park, WA (12″x12″)
Snoqualmie Falls Panorama
Panorama of Snoqualmie Falls- wish I had included a bit more foreground as the bottom of the ravine feels cut off in this one. I’ll have to take another trip out there when it’s more foggy/cloudy so I don’t get that burned out white spot in the sky!
Snoqualmie Falls in Late Winter (Color Panorama #1), Snoqualmie, WA (16″x28″)
Snoqualmie Falls in Black and White
Shooting a few long-exposure photographs of Snoqualmie Falls has been on my bucket list, so I decided to check the location off my list last weekend- rainy/cloudy conditions were in the weather forecast, but the sun started poking through the clouds as I got there. Winter sun is usually a relief in the Pacific Northwest, but not for long-exposure photography.
Snoqualmie Falls in Late Winter (BW #1), Snoqualmie, WA (12″x18″)
Stan Sayres Boat Launch at Sunrise
Bulb exposures of passing clouds reflecting morning light at the Stan Sayres Boat Launch in late August.
Stan Sayres Dock at Sunrise (Angle), Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Stan Sayres Dock at Sunrise (Side), Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Lake Washington Sunrise Bulb Exposure
Back in late August, I decided to head down to the Lake Washington shore to photograph a new subject before sunrise. Passing morning clouds provided a nice linear structure in the sky for these 3-5 minute exposures.
Submerged Tree Branches in Lake Washington at Sunrise (BW),
Seattle, WA (12″x16″)
Submerged Tree Branches in Lake Washington at Sunrise (Color),
Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Thomas Lakes and Mount Sopris, 2019
Blue hour bulb/ND panorama of snow fields, cirque, and summit of Mt Sopris from Upper Thomas Lake at Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, White River National Forest. It was hard to get the exposure right as the light was fading- you can probably tell that the panorama gets darker from left to right as I left the exposure times the same for each of the frames in the shot. The second panorama is from the following morning- I used a B&W conversion to try to emphasize the texture of the rocks and clouds.
Upper Thomas Lake and Mt Sopris at Blue Hour (2019),
Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, Colorado (16″x35″)
Upper Thomas Lake, Mt Sopris, and Morning Clouds (B&W),
Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, Colorado (16″x40″)
Hanging Lake, Summer 2019
Last summer was quite dry and hot on the Western Slope of the Rockies in Colorado- smoky air from forest fires and streams and waterfalls that trickled instead of gushed. This summer, I took my annual walk up to Hanging Lake in Glenwood Canyon and photographed the falls- there was much more water, with falls spouting out of the cliffs in multiple places. Here is a 30-second exposure of the falls at Hanging Lake.
Hanging Lake and Falls (Bulb Exposure, 2019),
Glenwood Canyon, White River National Forest, Colorado (11″x18″)
Lake Washington Bulb Exposures, Part 6
We had a relatively rare mid-summer rain pass through this weekend, so I took advantage of the darker skies and headed out to Madison Park to take a few bulb exposures of the passing clouds over Lake Washington. Unfortunately, as I set up to shoot, the sun started poking through the clouds, so even stacking a 10-stop ND filter on a polarizing filter only allowed for ~60-75 second exposures. I’ve found that I need a good two to five minutes to really get the water to flatten out in these photographs.
Madison Park Pier and Summer Rain Clouds (#5, B&W), Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Rialto Beach Bulb Exposures, Part 5
Long-exposure photographs from the cloudy morning hike back to the car at Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park, WA.
Waves Washing around Rock, Olympic National Park, WA (12″x18″)
Waves, Rocks, and Black Sand, Olympic National Park, WA (12″x18″)
Rialto Beach Bulb Exposures, Part 3
Single-frame long exposure photograph of sea stacks and Hole-In-The-Wall at sunset along Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park, WA.
Light Rays over Sea Stacks, Olympic National Park, WA (12″x18″)
Tide around Rocks at Sunset, Olympic National Park, WA (12″x18″)
Rialto Beach Bulb Exposures, Part 2
Long-exposure panorama (and a single-frame long exposure) of sea stacks and Hole-In-The-Wall at sunset along Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park, WA.
Sea Stacks and Hole-In-The-Wall at Sunset, Olympic National Park, WA (16″x34″)
Sea Stacks and Low Tide at Sunset (#3, Color), Olympic National Park, WA (12″x18″)
Rialto Beach Bulb Exposures, Part 1
Back in April, I spent a couple of days backpacking along the Pacific coast near Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park, WA. I already want to go back- rocky coastline full of tide pools, sea stacks, black sands, and bleached trees. More ND/bulb exposures soon!
Sea Stacks and Low Tide at Sunset (#1, B&W), Olympic National Park, WA (12″x18″)
Lake Washington Bulb Exposures, Part 5
Exploring more docks/piers along the Lake Washington shore line- this weekend, I visited the ‘T Dock’ near Madrona Beach. With the low, thick clouds, I was able to get 2-5 minute exposure times with a 10-stop ND filter, even during the middle of the morning.
Lake Washington T Dock and Rain Clouds (#1, B&W), Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Lake Washington T Dock, Rain Clouds, and Ghosts (#1, Color), Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Lake Washington Bulb Exposures, Part 4
I had a chance to go back to the swimming pier at Mt Baker Beach on Lake Washington near sunset- fading pink light shifting to blue hour and passing clouds, and five minute exposure times. I was there for about an hour and walked away with something like six photographs. I like the way bulb exposure photography slows things down.
Lake Washington Swimming Pier at Sunset (#1, Color), Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Lake Washington Swimming Pier at Sunset (#2, B&W), Seattle, WA (10″x18″)
Lake Washington Bulb Exposures, Part 3
Swimming pier and I-90 bridge along the shore of Lake Washington, Seattle, WA.
Lake Washington Swimming Pier (#4, B&W), Seattle, WA (11″x18″)
I-90 Bridge and Fog (B&W), Seattle, WA (12″x12″)
Lake Washington Bulb Exposures, Part 2
Swimming pier near Mt Baker Beach along the shores of Lake Washington, Seattle, WA.
Mt Baker Beach Swimming Pier (#3, B&W), Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Lake Washington Bulb Exposures, Part 1
Foggy/rainy evening skies provide perfect ‘grey box’ lighting for bulb exposures along the shores of Lake Washington, Seattle, WA. This was my first time shooting there, so I tried two compositions: one including the eroding stairs leading down to the water, and the other with just the swimming pier- I like the simplicity of the latter, but the stairs and shore are a nice element in the former.
Lake Washington Swimming Pier (#1, B&W), Seattle, WA (12″x18″)
Lake Washington Swimming Pier (#2, B&W), Seattle, WA (10″x18″)
