Here is a link to a description of Artist Point, Washington’s Best Drive.
Along the way you’ll pass Picture Lake and this smashing view of Mount Shuksan, the most photographed mountain in North America.
Mount Shuksan and Picture Lake
Mount Shuksan, North Cascades
North Cascades Photo Tours will take you to photograph these places! Here are the details.
Schools out for summer! This year the song has new meaning, and actually has more excitement for me as a teacher than it did as a student.
The plan for back country excursions and North Cascades Classes this year is:
Note: To see details for all my classes in the North Cascades National Park are here.
AND details of classes at the North Cascades Institute this summer/fall, follow this link.
IF YOU are interested in coming along on any of these longer backpacking excursions, contact me! andyporterphotography@gmail.com
July 11 – North Cascades National Park Landscape Photography Class (free) 7-9pm
Cathedral Peak trip – 6 days, Mid July 12-18. This is a 60-mile RT hike, through the Pasayten Wilderness. Starting at the Iron Gate Trail head the route follows the Boundary Trail to Cathedral Lake. Here in the basin you are sandwiched between Amphitheater Mountain and Cathedral Peak. One of the coolest spots ever! I great early summer trip.
Spider Gap – Upper Lyman Lake July 20-24. This is a short and relatively easy trip, with unparalleled views. I cannot wait to do this trip!
July 30 Winchester Lookout. I was there 2 x last year, a short hike and unbelievable views. Great for Night Sky imaging.
July 31 Artist Point North Cascades Institute Night Sky Class
Aug. 1 North Cascades National Park Night Sky Class (free)
Aug. 2 Hidden Peak Lookout. I have never stayed overnight at the Hidden Lake Lookout, but reckin it would be beyond compare for night sky pics.
Aug. 3 Park Butte Lookout
Park Creek Pass Loop – 6 days Early Aug. 5 -10. This is my most ambitious trip for the summer, 7 days and three steep passes, (Easy, Park Creek, Cascade) through the most remote parts of the North Cascades.
Aug. 21 – North Cascades National Park Slide Show at Colonial Creek (free)
All dates are estimates, based on weather and trail conditions!
Here is a link to today’s post on my new blog page, an article about North Cascades Goats.
Enchantments and Mountain Goats
It includes LOTS of images from North Cascades National Park and the Enchantments.
Please have a look and while you’re there you can sign up for our Newsletter and subscribe to the new Blog via Email.
Today is the day that I delete my face book account and disconnect my I-Phone.
I know that many people will laugh at me and my decision to “go bush”, maybe making side bets as to how long I will last before I come back to my senses. I don’t know what the current O/U is in days, but my advice is don’t take the odds!
I have been with FB for a loonngg time, started with a personal account, then added business accounts along the way. My main two accounts were the personal one (which is required by FB to have a business account) and the Photography one. Here I posted images, articles and used it as a marketing tool for the photo biz. It had slowly expanded, to more than 4,000 followers. As time went on I saw that the more followers I had, the less people saw the material I posted. Over the past 3 months I spent a total of about $100 “boosting” a few posts. My suspicion is that, in order to extort more money from me to reach the people already following me, FB tweaked their algorithm so that less people saw me, prompting me to pay more $.
But really, as a marketing tool for a photographer, FB is a very ineffective. It requires a good bit of time with little result.
I would sometimes tell myself that I was going to go on FB post quickly and then close it and get on to more productive work, but like a meth head with ADD I would mindlessly surf all over.
There I would sit, seeing a weird mix of funny videos (a demolition derby with the cars pulling mobile homes and campers) and the horrors of the 
world. Between laughing and crying I would be sharing, making cool, snarky comments and like-ing my way through life, satisfied with myself and the work I was doing to make the world a better place, all with the click of a mouse!
“Johnny, what did you do today to make the world a better place?” I shared a video and made a comment on FB! Yippee!
The truth is that I feel better after pulling weeds in my garden for an hour over being on FB. I accomplished some tangible thing.
I must confess that one feature I will miss is unfriending. I mean how awesome is that? Where else can you see or read or hear someone else’s opinion and just delete them? Fucking awesome! A different political view, an unkind comment about my religion, dissing my fave team, Unfriended, Bitch! HA!!!
The passive-aggressive nature of FB is built right in to it. One can anonymously dis anyone and make belittling comments about others! Really, this is one of the most alarming aspects of FB, feeding the chicken-hearted, weasels ripped my flesh side of humanity.
Yes, I confess I will miss the funny videos, seeing stupid fuck-tards drive fork lifts down a flight of stairs. And I will miss the feeling of moral 
superiority as I share some cool article about the world banking system and how they are responsible for all that is wrong with our planet. Oh well! L
And then there is the Smart/I-Phone!
I was a long holdout to getting a smart phone; it was only a few months ago that I got one. My rationale was that I could use it to build my business, it would enable me to use Instagram, and well, everyone else had one. I vowed to NOT be that guy who sits with my friends and instead of actually communicating, we all sit nearby, ignoring each other, our collective attention sucked to the small screen enclosing the singularity of a black hole…any…effort…to…pull…away…a…struggle… 
Let me say right away that there are cool aspects of having one. The basic list is getting directions, finding restaurants, and all that. Blah, blah blah. But you know what? I somehow managed to get along without one for a LONG time. It is NOT a necessity.
One could say that having a smart phone offers the opportunity to be spontaneous, you know , you’re driving along and decide suddenly to have Thai food, so you ask the phone for the nearest spots, etc. Well, the phone may not actually understand you, and you get a link to the Two Lips Escort Service, when all you wanted was a map of the tulip fields, but hey, I never knew there WAS a Two Lips Escort Service and it turns out they are VERY nice people, and I mean, how cool is that?
For me I would go to my son’s baseball game and watch. After watching a bit I’d pull out the phone and start connecting, check on my FB friends, see some scores, watch more videos, see the latest news. Whereas before I would just watch the game, maybe chat with the people nearby and think about life. Now my focus was this little all-knowing screen.
In the end having the phone disconnected me.
From people; from events; from the environment, from the here and now. I became more connected to the over there and the before and/or later.
I admit to having a somewhat addictive personality. I should have been able to use my self-control, to only check my email or FB status every hour, not minute by minute. But, I am a weak minded person and so I lost the battle.
But then, in one last moment of lucid thought it came to me!
I can just un-friend my I-Phone!!!!!
And so that’s where I am going.
Sayonara, Facebook! Adios I-Phone!
Maybe we will meet again, but I sure hope not.
The Cascade Loop Magazine is a tourist guide that comes out every spring. It covers all the cool things to do, places to see, great spots to eat and nice hotels to stay in along the Loop.
The 400 mile route crosses the North Cascades twice, along Highway 2 (between Everett and Wenatchee) and again along Highway 20 between Burlington and Winthrop. 
Here is the cover of this years publication, an image I captured last year along the Maple Pass Loop Trail.
The magazine is filled with stunning images of places along the way. Here are a few of my images that made it into this years issue.
If you are planning a trip along the Loop and would like to go on a North Cascades Photo Tour, here is the link with details.
And if you would like to own a beautiful, high quality Canvas Wrapped Print of the scenery along the way, here is a gallery where you can purchase them for yourself.
Capturing cool images of the Milky Way is a lot of fun. Adding stars, especially the strip of the Milky Way Galaxy to an image create such an awesome look and feel.
So I am always searching for new elements of coolness for foreground interest. The idea of old, abandoned buildings came to mind, and I began to search for a likely place.
I wanted a wooden structure, old and beaten. It needed to be off, away from any city or town, so that the sky would not be washed out by light pollution.
A google search landed me at the Govan Schoolhouse and I knew right away where the next New Moon would take me.
I called the local city hall, in Wilbur, to check and see if the building was still standing and made my way east along with several night sky photo friends.
The building is located well off the beaten path, though there two farms close by.
As the sky darkened and the Milky Way became visible I made my way inside with several lanterns and lights of various kinds, too illuminate the schoolhouse with a glow.
The next New Moon is July 4th! If you are interested in coming along on the next Night Sky Photo Adventure, here is a link with the details!
Happy Star Shooting!
Here are a few images from the Samish River from last week. The sky was abound with color. I love the green grass and the reflection of colors in the river.
This is from the little bridge that spans the Samish along the Bayview – Edison Road.
There is something about an old, weathered wooden barn that captures the imagination. I guess barns in general are cool, but to grab attention the barn needs to be made of wood AND look like its seem a bit too many winters.
That gives it a certain character, a personality. barns re great photo subjects anytime. Autumn is always a wonderful barn season, with the fall colors. But for me, spring is the time! Bright green meadows and fantastically colorful skies make a barn image complete!
There are many barns strewn through the Skagit Valley and I was lucky to catch one of my favorites on a night just right for picture taking!
BTW, if you have an interest in capturing Night Sky Images with old barns and buildings, this coming new moon, June 4th, I am leading a night sky class to Eastern Washington to capture Milky Way images and old abandoned buildings. Here is the link for more info!
A few recent splashes for one of my night sky images.
First Beach Olympic Coast, near La Push Washington
The image won third place in the annual Alaska Airlines Photo comp, winning me 2 free RT tickets! You can see the Alaska web page here.
Another use of the image is from the Sierra Club, on their Daily Ray of Hope page.
The next New Moon is June 4th, here is the link if you would like to come out for a Night Sky Photo Tour!
North Western Images - photos by Andy Porter 