North Cascades Photo Tours and Prints

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Andy Porter

North Cascades Photo Tours and Prints

The North Cascade mountains in Washington State are rugged, lush, stark and colorful all at once.

Lupine and the North Cascades

Abundant rainfall creates fantastic meadows filled with wild flowers while at the same time sculpting the ridges and peaks into serrated knives of stone.

The two main entry ways into the North Cascades are the North Cascades Highway (Hwy 20) and the Mount Baker Highway (Hwy 542)

Mount Shuksan and Picture Lake, along the Mount Baker Highway

While there are a few places, such as Artist Point (located at the end of Hwy 542) and Washington Pass (the highest point along Hwy 20) where you can drive to see the scenery, most of the time a trip here involves hiking.

Liberty Bell from the North Cascades Highway

Along these two byways there are many side roads leading to trail heads that take you up (always up!) into the high country. There are so many trails and choices!

The North Cascades Highway (Hwy 20) is a part of the Cascade Loop Scenic Byway. This is the Best Road Trip Vacation in Washington State!

North Cascades Photo Prints

If you are interested in fantastic, colorful prints of the North Cascades to adorn your home or office here is a link to my North Cascades Gallery. There you can purchase Canvas Wrapped prints (framed prints are available) as well as Fine Art prints.

One of the most popular hikes along Highway 20 is the Lake Ann – Maple Pass Loop. This 7 mile hike visits Lake Ann, cupped amongst peaks snow and flowers and offers spectacular views of the nearby summits.

Wildflowers along the Lake Ann – Maple Pass Trail

North Cascades Photo Tours

This summer I am offering Guided Photo Tours of the North Cascades. We can pick a trail, based on your available time and venture into the mountains for some stunning scenery and photographic opportunities and/or training. Tours are available for both day hikes and overnight trips.

Skyline Divide is a trail reached from Highway 542. This trail leads up and onto a ridge carpeted with lupine, paintbrush and other flowers with grandstand views of Mount Baker, adorned with glaciers.

Mount Baker and Lupine from the Skyline Divide Trail

If you are looking for a guide book that catalogs most all of the North Cascades Trails, I recommend the book “Hiking the North Cascades” by Erik Molvar (Falcon Press). This book provides accurate info about each trail including mileage, elevation gain, and details of flora and fauna.

Another fabulous day hike is the Sauk Mountain Trail.

This trail is an easy(ish) hike up into the high country with smashing views of the Skagit Valley.

If you like a dash of solitude to go along with your mountain scenery then you’ll need to don a backpack and hike at least a day travel from the parking area. Here the crowds disappear and you have the place (mostly) to yourself.

Hiking along Sahale Arm

In the next installment I will describe a few of the most stunning overnight and extended hikes in the North Cascades.

Trail along the North Fork, Bridge Creek

If capturing images of the Night Sky is your thing, check out our Night Sky Photo Tours and the Night Sky Photo Gallery!

Glow of Aurora Borealis

Stars, Tent and Kids

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Andy Porter

Here is another shot from the other night along the Baker River.

Camped under the Milky Way 3

I had in my mind several images, planning and scheming as we hiked in, having the kids in the tent illuminated with the I-Pad, having them look out of the tent, in awe at the stars.

Here is the i-pad shot. Not too bad! A little overexposed on the face of the kid (Dawson) holding the device.

Then I tried an image with them looking out of the tent. I used the red light function on my head lamp to illuminate their faces and this is what I got:

At first I didn’t even try to edit it, it looked so red.

But later I decided to give it a try. I edited (in photoshop, as a raw file) the foreground, then went back and edited the raw a second time, but edited just the sky.

Then I merged the two and did final editing.

That’s Joe on the left, wrapped in the sleeping bag. And my son, Max is the incredulous one on the right!

Not too bad!

I guess I’ll have to take the kids camping more often!

Looking at the stars

Mount Shuksan

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Andy Porter

This view of Mount Shuksan in the North Cascades (Washington State, USA) is the most photographed mountain in North America. This is due to its beauty (and Picture Lake!) and the fact that you can drive on a paved road to this very spot!

Here is an image I captured in the fall.

Mount Shuksan

And here is a less common view, an image from last night!

Mount Shuksan and the Milky Way

Milky Way, Northern Lights and a Cool Tent

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Andy Porter

The New Moon is marked every month on my calendar. As it gets closer I start watching the weather service map, looking for where there will be clear skies. Last month was a complete dud, the 5-night window only saw overcast and rain.

But this weekend the sky was clear. I had three people sign up for my Night Sky Photo Tour on Saturday night.

Officially the New Moon is tonight, June 16th, but if you are close, one or two days plus or minus, you will get the lighting you want.

Camped under the Milky Way

This first shot I have been dreaming of for some time. My son is 10 years old and he likes to go camping with his friends, swimming and being goof balls. Of course they always bring their electronic devices. I made sure to tell them to save some battery life for dark.

The strip of the Milky Way appeared directly over the tent. The exposure to capture the stars is 30 seconds long, but that’s way too long for the light from the I-pad. So I had them sit and turn it on for a second or two and then quickly off.

Then I spent some time circumnavigating the tent. I got a shooting star in this one.

Milky Way and Shooting Star

and then as I faced north I captured this image. The pink glow is actually the Aurora Borealis! How cool is that!

Glow of Aurora Borealis

I had three people sign up for my Night Sky Photo Tour on Saturday night. We visited the Washington Pass Overlook to capture images of Liberty Bell. Between instruction advices I snapped a few images. This image is from a north-facing view. To the naked eye there was NO color.

Needless to say we were all excited to see the Northern Lights there on the horizon!

Northern lights at Washington Pass

Editing Night Sky Images

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Andy Porter

I have been working with Photoshop for some time. My learning curve has been rather slow and often painful! Slowly I learn new techniques for manipulating light and shadows.
Images of the night sky demand more work than daytime shots. The camera I have, a Canon 6D, and the 14mm lens I use allow me to set the exposure for 30 seconds.
In the unedited images you can see the strip of the Milky Way and in the edited images it pops out and grabs you!
Here is an image I shot a few years ago with a Canon T2i, a 15mm lens at 30 sec. and 800iso. Its a bit dark!

Now the newly edited version.

This next shot is from Zion National Park. I used the Canon 6D with a 14mm lens at 15 sec.

Here is the edited image.

Liberty Bell and the North Cascades Highway, Canon 6D, 14mm lens at 25 sec. Before

And after.

The last shot is of Mount Rainier from Crystal Mountain. Again using the 6D and the 14mm lens at 30 sec.

If you would like to attend a Night Sky Photo Tour and learn how to capture such images, here is the link with dates and prices!

And the final version.

For those of you who are already Photoshop savvy, the most useful tutorials and techniques for editing starry night shots I have found are at Dave Morrow Photography.

If you would like personalized Photoshop Lessons with me online, here is the link!

Happy Shooting and Editing!

Earth Day 2015

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Andy Porter

Earth Day

What is Earth Day all about?

We live on a cool planet.

Mount Rainier

It’s beautiful.

Point of the Arches

There are mountains.

Colchuck Lake, Enchantments

Oceans.

Washington Park, Anacortes

Rivers.

Bridge over Skagit River

Flowers.

Skagit Tulips

Meadows.

Pacific Crest Trail, Pasayten Wilderness

Animals.

Deer at Cascade Pass

People.

Atop Maple Pass

and LOTS more.

Park Butte Lookout

Lets try harder to not fuck it up!

Snow Geese on Fir Island, Skagit Valley

Skagit Valley

Spider Meadows

Palouse Falls State Park

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Andy Porter

I made a trip last weekend to Palouse Falls State Park.
Caught the sunset.

Palouse Falls State Park – Sunset

Espied a few Yellow Bellied Marmots.

Yellow Bellied Marmot

Camped the night.

Palouse Falls State Park Campground

Captured a nice image of the falls in the moonlight.

Palouse Falls State Park Moonlight

and got this last parting shot of the sunrise.

Palouse Falls State Park Morning Light

New Web Site Launch!

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Andy Porter

I have been dreaming of this for some time, today is the launch of my new web site Andy Porter Images.

The site includes 10 Galleries of images for sale. Canvas Wrapped Prints and Archival Paper Prints in various sizes are available. Framing of the canvas prints is also an option. This is a big step, as now any orders for my work come directly to me.

The new site provides a place to provide a complete schedule of the Photography Classes I am teaching. Starting this Spring I will be teaching classes in Burlington, Bellingham and Marysville.

Another exciting part of the new site is that there is a section to promote Photography Tours! This Spring and Summer I am offering

Tulip Tours,

Night Sky Photo Tours

North Cascades – Skagit Valley Photo Tours.

We’ll see how it all goes! Thank you all very much for your support, comments and attention!

Photo Shoot at Crystal Mountain Resort

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Andy Porter

Last summer my friend asked me to come along on a nighttime imaging expedition. The plan was to capture images of Mount Rainier from the Crystal Mountain Resort.

Mr Rainier and early evening light

Gondola and Mount Rainier

The expedition aspect turned out to be pretty mild, we rode the gondola up to the resort and hung around all night, eating, drinking and once in a while taking pictures of the wonderful views!