Landscapes

California Greens

The Golden State has a remarkable ability of turning green during spring. Rolling landscapes take on a green sheen as the winter turns to spring, paving way for the black oaks to sprout new leaves, and for colorful wildflowers to paint the landscape with a palette of pink, purple, blue, red, yellow and white. With a bountiful winter rain this year signaling the end of the drought, the parched landscape has once again renewed its cycle afresh.

Seeing images of the California greens brought back wonderful memories of a hike I took a couple of years ago in the hillscapes of Pacheco State Park nestled amidst the Diablo Range near Central California. I still vividly remember the journey as the trail wound its way around the parks' many geographical features. Every turn brought surprising delights, whether it was a small rancher's pond, replete with quacking mallards and dancing dragonflies, or a small gorge filled with multi-colored shooting stars glowing in the warm afternoon sunlight, or ridge-top vistas of the vast rolling scenery landscape with budding oak trees as far as the eye could see.

Here was one such vista taken in the late afternoon light, as the the slowly setting sun lengthened the shadows the oak trees cast on the green meadows all around, while patches of wildflowers colored the landscape yellow, orange and pink.

Pacheco State Park
CA USA

Winter Solitude in Yosemite

It has been 4 years since the magical winter weekend under the towering walls of the Yosemite Valley, yet I remember it as though it were yesterday. I remember wandering through the pine forest, the scrunching sounds of snow, ice and pine needles breaking from the solitude of winter in the valley. As I approached the riverbank, I ran into familiar faces from the California photography community, with the clicks from their camera shutters signaling their intent to capture the glorious scene that you see above.

Yosemite National Park holds a special place in my heart, partly because it opened my eyes to wilderness that most people see, but not observe. By spending more time in this National park over multiple seasons than any other, I was able to explore and re-explore some of the innumerable nooks and crannies in every valley, meadow, crag, gorge, and mountaintop that abound in one of the most photogenic sections of the Sierra Nevada. Over this long period of time, it exposed me to the true impact and learnings of life in the outdoors, and to understand and appreciate the rekindling of the spirit that comes about from just spending time outside normal creature comforts.

This image captures the quintessence of what makes that step outside into nature so powerful. I look forward to spending more time reconnecting with the outdoors in Yosemite, as well as the innumerable other National Parks of this land.

Yosemite National Park
CA
USA

Ray of Light

The Black Forest of Germany, while not wild uninhabited wilderness like the grand forested regions of Canada and Russia, is still a picturesque, bucolic alternative to the densely populated urban regions of the country. And in a way, its beauty is enhanced, not diminished by gentle anthropomorphic changes, whether it be rustic villages scattered on its many hillsides, tiny barns with serene ponds or flower-strewn meadows on rolling landscapes.

I looked forward to every turn on that windy mountain road that brought about new vistas, and for every cloud that added to the shimmering ephemeral glow of the grassy meadows and reflective ponds. I yearned for all the hiking paths that I could see disappearing into the clouds of the Schwarzwald.

As I made my way from one village to another, I was enthralled by the pastoral nature of the landscape. One such spot between St. Peter and St. Morgan was lit by a fleeting ray of light, highlighting an old barn set amidst a green meadow thereby riveting my attention to this beautiful scene. I realized I had to stop and capture the moment before it was gone, hence freezing that instance of time.

Sankt Morgan

Baden-Wurttemberg Germany

The Church Mountain

This was one of those sunrises for the books.

Having arrived in Grundarfjordur in the Snaefellsnes peninsula during the eaves of dusk, I really couldn't perceive the beauty that this place had beholden. Nevertheless, I strove to wake up just a few hours later for sunrise, with no expectations of what this peninsula had in store for me.

The sky was still grey as I pulled into the parking lot. With only the early twilight illuminating the serene shapes ahead, I quickly gathered my gear and headed to the shore overlooking the bay across from Kirkjufell, the Church Mountain.

It was a scene unlike any other. And even though I had seen it plastered on so much marketing materials about Iceland, the sight of it in person just took my breath away.

I watched as the light of dawn slowly made its way down the graceful curves of Kirkjufell (Church Mountain) and as the shade of pink in the clouds made its way from the horizon to the foreground. I watched as the absolutely still waters of the bay slowly rose up with the incoming tide, all the while reflecting the beautiful scene in front of me. I watched as this everyday occurrence of nature enlightened and rejuvenated my own soul.

And that bliss is what I tried to capture in this image.

Kirkjufell
Iceland

Rise of the Rundle

It wasn't until my 3rd morning at Banff that the clouds really parted for sunrise. The cloudy and gloomy days prior had put a damper on my spirit and a camera had shot nary a scene. Yet, on this lucky day, when the clouds finally parted, it was setting the stage for a spectacular scene.

I made a beeline to the famed Vermillion lakes in the town of Banff, where all the photographers gather to try their hand at shooting the beautiful range of Mt Rundle rising steeply from the long valley beyond. Thankfully, this early in the summer, I had to share the stage with just two others, providing plenty of peace and quiet to save the slow warming of colors in the sky.

Positioning myself on the pier, battling mosquitoes and the cold temperatures alike, I got to work. Being my first time at the scene, I had to improvise quite a bit based on the lighting, the topography and the amount of place I had to work with. The biggest challenge was trying to get the floating pier steady long enough to capture a sharp scene.

In the end, this composition was one of my favorites, showing the line of clouds lit brightly by the morning sun rising slowly from beyond the peaks.

Banff National Park
AB Canada

Sunrise spectacle at Lake Tahoe

A early fall weekend found me on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Being the tail end of the travel season, the tourist crowd had all but melted away, leaving behind the place of solitude in what was once a throbbing hub of outdoor activity.

As I woke up for sunrise, my eyes spied the correct features in clouds, along with the break in the eastern horizon, thereby setting up for a very colorful sunrise. And I dashed over to Eagle falls, where I had hoped to capture the gush of the falls glowing deep red in the morning light.

The one thing I did not realize was that waterfalls don't exactly gush in fall - they dwindle to a trickle. I hence had to settle for the next best thing - capturing reflections in the small pools remaining behind. And despite that compromise, I was awestruck by the colors and the unique landscape in front of me. The transition from deep reds to orange to yellow as the whole scene lit up was a landscape photographer's delight.

Lake Tahoe
CA USA

Happy Centennial Birthday

Happy 100th Birthday National Park Service. Thank you so much for providing such amazing opportunities to connect with nature and for preserving the wild beauty of this vast country in your many forms and facets.

I still remember my very first National Park visit - a camping trip undertaken in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. I remember gathering firewood, lighting a warm campfire and discussing stories, and spending a night with the stars as my roof. It was also my very first foray into the activity of hiking, and served as an inspiration to take up photography in order to capture the epic beauty of the National Parks

As a commemoration, here is a wild primeval scene from the nation's first National Park, Yellowstone. Gushing geysers, steaming nozzles and aquamarine thermal pools all play host to a dynamic and active sunset scene at Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone.

I have visited many, but I have many more to go, and I am looking forward to visiting each and every one of the 59 parks.

Yellowstone National Park
WY USA

Capturing the spotlight

Sometimes capturing the spotlight is just about capturing the attention of everybody. But at other times, capturing the spotlight means literally that - capturing the spotlight created by point light sources.

As I was wandering through the maze of tufa towers at Mono Lake in California, I noticed that at one location, the crevice was sufficiently small to reduce the sun to a point source of light. With the correct positioning of the camera, I was able to get that spot of light to create a starburst effect, which, with the right exposure, enabled this image of the tufa towers glowing the warm morning light.

The tufa towers at Mono lake are a very enigmatic, yet sad, fixture. While learning about the creation of these tall limestone towers over hundreds of years takes one by surprise, to see these towers trampled over and abused by visitors not paying heed to the signs, is quite troubling indeed. I wish visitors to this unique environment are aware that they are in a very special place and have a little bit of conscience to preserve this beautiful locale for posterity.

Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve
CA USA

Ode to the Tetons

The august days of August is the time of the year when I normally set forth on mountain adventures, heaving up and down winding trails through granite monoliths and grassy meadows while carrying enough weight to make my body complain for the rest of the year. This summer has been a bit different, and hence I have resorted to going through my archives and reliving memories of past summers spent in thin air.

One such undertaking was a grand backpack through the Teton Crest trail in Grand Teton National Park, a 32 mile gem that winds above, through and around the craggy mountainscapes of the Teton Range. Hiking it in August meant that I could catch the best of the short wildflower season filled with daisies, Indian Paintbrush, lupines and tidytips, while also getting the best of the summer weather. The sheer diversity and beauty of mountainscapes I witnessed in that hike was bar none.

Here is one such wildflower-filled scene in the Alaska Basin, a section of the trail outside the park boundaries.

Grand Teton National Park
WY USA

Sunrise draws photographers for a reason. The calm pre-dawn landscape slowly taken over by beams of red, orange, and yellow is a magical sight to behold. But it is in the mountainous landscapes that sunrises become really special.

Perhaps it is the mesmerizing movements of clouds kissing the snow-capped peaks as they slowly take on a coat of the morning colors, or perhaps it is the soothing sway of mist rising up from the mirror-life reflections of a lake, or perhaps it is just the sense of being connected with nature as you smell the fresh moist earth, hear the chirp of the morning birds, or witness the raw beauty of the landscape all around you.

Sure, I had suffered plenty of hardships in making this scene - a severe lack of sleep, a drive up windy mountain roads in pitch-black darkness, freezing conditions that I was not prepared for, and more. Yet, once I set my camera on the trip and started composing, I got into the zone of photography, forgetting the pain and the hardships, and focusing purely on the beauty of the scene around me.

Mt Rainier National Park
WA USA