Author: Michael

I had grand plans to be up at 4am to scoot up to Hurrican Ridge to catch the sunrise. The plans didn’t last. It was tough enough to drag myself out of bed at 5:45am for the regular 6:45am pickup. Like yesterday, Peter and Layla arrived at the exact same time I did. Couldn’t have worked out better.

We were the last up the ridge, which was fine with us.

The light was flat, the mountains dark, the clouds thin and whitening the whole pale, pale blue sky. I bought a graduated neutral density for just this reason–to darken the sky so my camera could handle the sharp contrasts. I forgot to use it.

Another tough subject. No foreground, constrasty subject. My hopes for this trip was to get one great shot I could use for my Christmas cards this year. But I’m beginning to despair of a great shot. I’ll settle with learning some great new techniques and getting some nice, but not stellar shots.

Peter, Layla and I were the first to leave the ridge, which was fine with us.

It wasn’t even 9am, and our afternoon subject would begin at 12:30pm. On the way down, we ran into some deer, which consumed a bit of time. After that, my first thought as navigator was to head to the harbor for some reflections. But it was windy (no reflections), so we headed back to the Marymere Falls trailhead from Day 1, this time to focus on Lake Crescent. Peter stopped us on the way to shoot some forget-me-nots, which eventually pulled me in, too.

Tongue Point was our 12:30 appointment, and for once on this trip, we had a challenging subject that yielded some good shots, with a lot of work. The weather wasn’t fighting us, the subject wasn’t foreign to me. Not that I had ever shot tidal pools before, but close-up/detail work and color are things with which I’m familiar. But we did have to work: the entire path was encrusted with barnacles and shells and slippery slimy kelp. Our subjects–anemones, starfish, etc.–were hidden in cracks and crevices, behind kelp and rocks.

Low tide was 2pm, and a few moments after that, someone told me that a cluster of serving-bowl-sized, multi-colored starfish were clumped together right where the waves were coming in. I was entranced, so much so, that I didn’t realize the tide was coming in until my right boot was almost entirely underwater.

Next, the harbor again. I wandered a bit, but was bored, and when two boat-owners engaged me in conversation, I put my camera aside and began chatting. They gave me a tip: a 1920s wooden sailboat originally commissioned and owned by prize fighter Jack Dempsey was up in drydock for repairs. I went up to the repair shop, started chatting up the workers, and soon enough, I was talking to the Capella‘s new owner. I didn’t really get any interesting shots, but it was fun to wander the drydock during working hours with permission.

Not much after that, though. Sunset was back at Ediz Hook, but the most memorable moments were the local reporter, the crazy lady telling us how to get the best shots, and the conversation I had with one workshop participant about Microsoft’s fantastic ability to burn money like fuel (he’s a Microsoft partner).

Tomorrow, we meet at 7am for one last morning destination, and then the workshop is over. Tough, frustrating, but a good challenge.

We got off to an early start to a long day. First destination: Sol Duc forest, about ten miles west of the main part of Olympic NP. Peter, Layla and I were on the road early, and when we arrived, only David was at the trailhead.

I came here to learn how to photograph forests and landscapes. Part of this hike was Sol Duc falls, the other was the forest–David’s favorite, apparently, and the main reason he has come back to the Olympic Peninsula for twenty-two years. Anyway, I haven’t figured out forests yet. I got the s-curve thing (photo right), but that’s general. I tried everything, and it was all lame.

The falls was a nice distraction, and I got some nice shots. And I had some fun with these tiny water droplets somehow frozen on the underside of a fungus.

Just as the sun was coming out, making the forest nearly impossible to shoot with stark highlights and shadows, David (with Layla) found me to give us both some tips. I didn’t get to practice, but I want to write it down for next time.

1. Hide trees behind trees. You’re trying to simplify the chaos of the forest.
2. Find a few trees in a row, ideally in perspective to lead the viewer into the forest. They don’t have to be in a line, actually, but they should be at different distances.
3. Use at least one tree as a vertical frame, even cut the trunk in half.
4. Don’t bother finding the tops of the trees. It’ll just wash out the picture.
5. Find leading lines.
6. Generally, you’re trying to make the viewer feel like they can step right into the forest through your picture.

Anyway, I’ll remember this for later.

Next destination: Rialto Beach, on the Pacific Coast. The lighting was bleak, flat. Gray clouds, no texture, dirty gray/brown water. Blech.

Layla and I walked about twenty minutes down the beach to "hole in the wall," an arch at the far end of the beach. Photographically dull, but a beautiful hike. On the way back, we figured we should find some subjects to shoot. A rusted propane tank was the target. The pictures all sucked, but we were getting tired, and trying David’s landscape technique with the propane tank as our foreground was hilariously funny. By the time we had walked back, though, our legs were weak from keeping a sure footing on the pebbles and rocks that made up 75% of the beach. I had planned to stay until sunset, but by the time I reached the parking lot, I was done. Peter had been ready to go for an hour, so we took off immediately.

When we got back, I rallied to make a trip out to Ediz Hook for the sunset there. It was flat. Pretty to watch, bland to photograph.

This has been a very challenging workshop. 

Rain.

The day started well enough: cloudy, but dry. I drove out with Peter (a former 20th Century Fox exec) and Layla (a student from Victoria) to Marymere Falls, just west of Olympic NP. David, our instructor, joked that there was always one person who pounded out to the Falls, photographed, and was back in the parking lot before he had even managed to start up the trail with the final stragglers. This would be me.

The point was not the waterfall, I kept reminding myself. The point was the forest and the moss. Which is good: I’ve got the whole waterfall thing down. Narrow aperture, low ISO, super-slow exposure, and about a half stop up from the automatic meter. The camera always meters against the white of the water, leaving the greens of the moss and blacks of the rocks blacked out. Hmmm. Actually, the meter on my new digital body always tries to take shots as if it were midday, no matter the lighting, necessitating a full stop down instead.

Still, easy. The only challenges with Marymere falls was the huge amount of mist which blurred out half my shots. And the supposedly "washed out" trail right up by the falls. I was the first to ignore the warning signs and walk down the trail.

But the forest. That was hard. And as I started heading back, eyeing the forest, it started to rain. Just a little. Then a little more. Then a lot. Pouring. I don’t know if I even managed anything good. To the right is the best I got. But this is why I’m here.

After lunch, the plan was to head up to Hurricane Ridge. Weather was still crap, but there was a slim chance that, if we went high enough, we could get up over the cloud layer. We did get over the cloud layer. The first cloud layer. The second, higher cloud layer wasn’t raining. It was snowing. Big thick flakes, and as we got higher, they began to stick. We turned around. It was a useless trip.

Though we did run into some incredibly tame deer. I must’ve been within ten feet of one buck before I decided I was getting too close. Best shot there: this one of a fawn peeking from outside a shrub.

Today was Day 0 of the Olympic NP Workshop led by David Middleton.

Day 0 meaning, I thought everyone would get in Friday evening, and we’d be shooting today. No such luck. Workshop’s first meeting was this evening. There are sixteen of us, I think, only one other is in my age range. Actually, I think she’s younger than me, probably 20s. But everyone else is 50s or older. No strenuous hikes on this trip. Which, considering how slammed I was after my activities this morning, it’s probably a good thing.

I sent David an email before the workshop, asking for recommendations for my free Saturday. He suggested I check out Lake Crescent and/or the Elwha River if it’s cloudy, or the harbor if it’s sunny. I figured I hit all three, but after the long ride yesterday, and some strenuous hikes with huge amounts of gear, I only hit two of the three waterfalls along the Elwha River I’d planned to hit.

The experience was daunting: I’ve never been that good of a nature photographer. I try, but having lived in, well, Chicago, San Francisco and Manhattan since I left home at 18, I’m a city boy. Urban photography, people, seems to work better for me, even though I want to take the beautiful nature shots.

Anyway, I can get the waterfalls. I’m good with the waterfalls. The killer, though, was the photo to the left. I had to jump creeks to get to it, but just as I was about to head back, I caught a glimpse, just above the falls, of another waterfall. I couldn’t see much of it, but gods, it looked magnificent.

And no way to get there without climbing gear, or major bodily injury.

A good day, though.

This morning’s photographic foray was Pike Place market. I have a lot of trouble with Pike Place. The colors and patterns of the fruit, flowers, vegetables and other goods for sale should be easy, even with the tricky lighting. But I walk out with three or four weak pictures every time.

Which was the case today. Except that I decided to stand by the fish packers for an hour and try to capture them tossing fish back and forth. I think the picture below works very well.

My photography workshop in the Olympics is only a few weeks away. After moving/painting/packing, WoW, work and a lot of rain & clouds, I’m rusty. Hell, I barely became familiar with my new camera in Guatemala. I still feel like I could better predict my pictures using the old, entry-level Canon Rebel SLR my family bought for me a decade ago.

So, I’ve been out every weekend for the past month with my camera, getting back into shape for the Olympics.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I started out with waterfalls, but, of course, I realized pretty quickly that what the book listed–big, gushing, pouring waterfalls–is not very photogenic. This shot to the right (click to enlarge) of a nameless little creek I found on a hike with Katie last weekend is far more compelling than, say, this picture of Snoqualmie falls.

Last weekend, I went after my favorite subject in San Francisco: urban decay, grafiti and industrial grit. Seattle still has an active light industrial base, however, so I couldn’t find the collosal abandoned factories and buildings that were just down the street from me in Potrero Hill.

But grafiti can be found anywhere. I spent 1.5 hours last Saturday cruising around SoDo and Georgetown (an area south of downtown and the ballparks which I insist on calling South of Market due to its similarity with that neighborhood), and found some interesting specimens, like this angry face to the left (click to enlarge). Lots more are in my Industrial Seattle gallery.

And today? Today, I started out at Volunteer Park just a few blocks north of home in Capitol Hill, and landed some interesting shots of some cacti–maybe euphorbs–in the Conservatory. There are more of the park in my Seattle gallery.

After that, though, I just scooted around, drove all the way to Seattle’s southern border, then up the coast through West Seattle and home. It was a gorgeous day, cool but not cold, sunny. A beautiful day for a ride.