Palouse Falls: Sunset, Starlight and Sunrise

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I drove the 5+ hours to Palouse Falls with the intent to capture an image at night. the forecast called for mostly clear skies and the moon was just past new, so I reckoned that I had a good chance to get some nice shots.

There is a camp ground at Palouse State Park, first come, first serve, so I arrived at about 10:30am got a spot, set up the tent and headed out to explore the Palouse.

I arrived back in the late afternoon and started to explore the view points from which to capture images. Soon the sun began to go down and I started shooting.
Palouse Falls State Park

Once the sun dropped low enough there was nice lighting on the canyon walls and the clouds started to perk up.
Palouse Falls State Park

Once the sun set I crawled in the tent and zonked out, setting my internal alarm clock to awaken when the stars were out! At about 1am my eyes popped open and, peering out of the tent I saw stars! I was quickly at the edge of the canyon with my gear.

The Milky Way was visible, arcing above the basin! I was in luck!
Palouse Falls State Park

I was surprised to see light emanating from the bottom of the canyon, at the base of the falls…wondering if someone was there with flash lights, I hurriedly got set up and started shooting…the canyon walls were aglow with colors.
Palouse Falls State Park

Then I realized the light source was a camp fire! Some wonderfully prescient people had started a fire on the waters edge! The effect was better than any I could have imagined.
Palouse Falls State Park

After clicking away for some time I finally retired to the tent, exhausted from the driving and little sleep. But I did not sleep long! I awoke again at about 4:30 am when the morning light was just giving a glow to the horizon to the east. I figured that I didn’t drive all this was to sleep, so I popped up and got out to try my luck at capturing some of the delicate morning photons bouncing off the cliff walls. Palouse Falls State Park

Palouse Falls State Park

Palouse Falls State Park

After about 2 hours of ogling I was done. By 6:30 I was back in the car staring the long drive back across the mountains to my home…

Palouse Falls State Park

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Palouse Falls and the Milky Way
Palouse Falls State park is in the south-eastern part of Washington State. I had seen many stunning pictures of it and decided to drive there last Saturday to try my luck. The skies were predicted to be mostly clear and the moon was just starting it’s new cycle, and I was hoping to get some decent images of the Milky Way over the falls. Palouse Falls reflected light
I camped there at the Park and awoke at 1am, peeked out of the tent, saw stars and excitedly hurried over to the edge for a look.
Palouse Falls Panorama
Much to my surprise someone was down in the basin, near the base of the falls, and had started a camp fire! The red fire illuminated the falls with an ethereal glow. Palouse Falls and camp fire The entire canyon was lit up perfectly.
As for camera specs: I used a Canon 6D (full size sensor), a Rokinon 14mm lens, 30 sec. exposure, f/2.8 and had the ISO set at 4000.

Skagit Valley Sunsets

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These first three images were taken along Cook Road, just east of I-5. There is a barn here, with no house nearby and the views are expansive. Of course landscapes and skies are always better with stuff in the foreground! tractor-and-sky-1m

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This next set of three images was taken 2 nights later, out along the Bayview-Edison Road, just west of Edison. That’s the Samish River there.
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Mountain Goat

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Mountain Goat at North Cascades National Park
This mountain goat came early one morning to visit at Sahale Glacier Camp in North Cascades National Park. Mountain Goat at North Cascades National Park
The tent sites are atop three big piles of rubble, from the glacier above.
Mountain Goat at North Cascades National Park
The goat was hanging out looking for places where someone had peed so that he could get some salt!
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The goat had a minimum safe distance of about 10 feet. He was happy to be that close, but if I took one step closer he would back off that same distance.
Mountain Goat at North Cascades National Park
The large white mountain way in the distance here is Mount Rainier.
Mountain Goat at North Cascades National Park

Delicate Arch, image in Backpacker Magazine

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I captured this image of Delicate Arch in Arches National Park 2 years ago.
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It is gracing the pages of the new issue of Backpacker Magazine this month! I was lucky to get some nice light and good color on the arch and mountains in the background!

Left Fork Canyon and the Subway, Zion National Park

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Zion Subway Panorama Panorama of the “Subway”, Zion National Park

Most Zion visitors stay in the valley.
Zion National Park Zion Valley from the Angel’s Landing Trail

There are other parts of the park to visit. In order to not let some of these other areas become as overrun as the main valley a permit system is in place to limit the number of people. I am quite happy for this, solitude is one of my most valued commodities.
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One hike available is called Left Fork Canyon, aka “The Subway”. The subway name is from a short section of the hike (the entire trip is 9 miles) where the canyon walls curve and it looks like you’re inside a subway tunnel.
Zion National Park and the "Subway" Subway

The hike can be done two ways: From top to bottom as a through hike, you’ll need to cars, one to park at each end. This also necessitates that you have experience in rappelling, climbing and in many seasons, you’ll need to bring a wet suit. Zion National Park and the "Subway" Rappelling down into the Subway section of the hike

The other option is to hike the trail from the bottom up, to the Subway entrance, and then turn around and hike back. This trip is also 9 miles (4.5 miles each way), but does not require climbing skills or a wet suit. Zion National Park and the "Subway" Entrance to the Subway

The bottom up hike starts with a scramble from the parking area down to the creek. From there you just follow the water course until you come to the subway entrance. Max and Ella 1em

Along the way are a myriad of pools, grottoes and fantastic views as the canyon becomes more and more narrow. lfc-2m Grotto along Left Fork Canyon

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There are also a very well preserved set of dinosaur tracks right along the trail. Dinosaur Prints Dinosaur Prints Fossilized

The Subway itself is a true wonder of nature, the smooth, etched walls of the canyon curve overhead while emerald green pools of water glisten. lfc-6m1

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The canyon itself arcs with a slit above revealing beautiful red rock towers jutting over the floor striated with luscious hues.subway 1112m

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If you want to pay this holy canyon a visit, go on line and apply for a permit WELL in advance of your trip.

This is a hike you will not soon forget!

Sahale Camp Photomerge

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Photomegre is one of the multitude of Photoshop Tools. It is a system of merging 2 or more images into a panorama.
Here are two original jpeg images from Sahale Glacier Camp. I took these with the thought in mind to later merge them. using a tripod I captured one image and carefully swung the camera on the tripod and lined up the second one. It wasn’t any fancy movement, I made note in my mind of where the frame’s edge was and pointed the camera in the approximate place to take up where the first image left off, planning for some overlap. I was using a 24 mm lens. I set my image quality when capturing the images so that I would have both a RAW file and a jpeg of the shots.
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Once back home I opened both of the raw files together in Photoshop CS6 and synchronized them so that what ever changes I made to one were duplicated on the other. I worked to lighten the foreground and darken the sky. Using the sliders for highlights, shadows, exposure, clarity, whites and contrast I played around until I liked the result.

I also used the brush tool on the foreground to bring out more details on the rocks.

I saved the images as jpeg files. Here they are. sa 3em
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Once this was done and images saved I went to Photomerge, selected the two modified images and let Photoshop work its magic. Untitled_Panorama 1201 em

Opening the panorama as a jpeg image I filled in the corners using the clone stamp tool and tweaked the levels settings a bit, and Viola! Here is the final image.

Sahale Glacier Camp, North Cascades National Park

I have printed the image as a 40″ x 15″ canvas print and it is very stunning.

Barn at Sunrise

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I awoke at 5:30am to take sunrise pictures, but I was almost too late! As I was driving to the ocean I espied this barn and diverted, partly because of the dandelions and mostly because I could see I was late to make it to the shore in time…not that I’m complaining!
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Bill McKibben at WWU in Bellingham, May 17th

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For some time now I have donated use of my images to various groups. Washington Trails Association, North Cascades Institute, The Sierra Club, Washington Wild, National Resources Defense Fund, National Park Foundation, Cascade Loop Magazine and others have all used my images to help promote their message(s) of conservation, environmental protection and tourism.
This the first time one of my images has been used directly to promote something very important to me, namely, Global Warming and Climate Change! I am excited to attend the event.
This image is of Mount Baker and the Coleman Glacier from the Heliotrope Trail, on the north side of Mount Baker, in the North Cascades, in Washington State.
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