Naturescapes

Watered Down

I was quite surprised when I learnt that the state of Washington may have the largest number of waterfalls in the lower 48, including this icy falls near Snoqualmie Pass, but I reckon that the most beautiful falls in the Pacific Northwest reside in the state of Oregon. Between the multitude of falls that tumble down the walls of the Columbia Gorge, and those scattered across its state parks, Oregon has no dearth of falls. And thanks to the volcanic basalt rocks that frame many of the falls in this state, Oregon offers photographers a bounty of photogenic falls to capture.

Here are a couple from that state, which while similar to each other, are still unique in their own way.

Pacific Northwest

Summer Greens

I use the long slow winter days to pour over archives to see if I found anything interesting. While going through thousands of photos I had shot in the Palouse region over the past few years, I found these four classic pastoral landscapes. Often, these would be of rusting shacks or vibrant red barns set against a lush farmland framed by a deep blue sky. It took a while to find these locations and find matching compositions, but these four worked.

Palouse
WA USA

Into the Fog

Hiking above the inversion layer, a thick layer of fog below you, is certainly alluring. It feels like you are above a sea of clouds. But hiking into the inversion layer is a whole new experience. The harsh light and the associated shadows get soft while trees and rocks now have a gentle blur. Occasionally, the fog highlights shafts of sunlight passing through the trees.
In this winter scene, all these effects came into play on a sunny day in a snow-covered landscape. I captured a few shots of this fleeting scene just as the fog started to thicken again.

Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest
WA USA

Still Waters

As the kayak drifted slowly through the shallow waters of Cedar creek, I passed by baldcypress trees with their broad ribs and towering tupelo trees cradling the riverbank. The morning light of late fall lit up the faded yellows and orange of the swamp cottonwoods. The still waters of the creek created a sublime and moving reflection of the entire scene. The gentle chorus of songbirds as they were starting their morning flight echoed throughout the forest.

The everchanging pattern of colors, light and sound captured, in my mind, the essence of Congaree National Park, which preserves the last old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the United States. This scene from Cedar creek in the National Park is the featured image for November in my 2024 calendar available at this link.

Congaree National Park
SC USA

Reflections of fall

The surest sign of fall across north-western US and most of Canada is the larches changing to a golden yellow in unison. Out in the PNW, this synchronized phenomenon happens like clockwork across all the major larch forests in early October. And for the most part, these forests lay hidden in the higher altitudes and require a bit of effort to get up and see the golden palettes.

And even though the show is brief, I savor every moment of hiking under a canopy of vibrant orange larch forest.

You can purchase my 2024 calendar at this link. And as before, all proceeds get donated to the Sierra Club Foundation

Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest
WA USA

Pacific bliss

May of 2023 will forever remind me of the furthest distance I have ever traveled to visit a National Park. Situated 2500 mi west of Hawaii, the National Park of the American Samoa is spread across a chain of islands in the southern Pacific. Getting to American Samoa proved half the challenge. Getting to an even more remote island, which featured one of the best shoreline coral reefs, undoubtedly harder. But the effort required to get to this tropical paradise was well worth the reward. Hence, this became the featured image for May for my 2024 calendar

As before, you can buy this calendar at this link.

National Park of the American Samoa
American Samoa

Skagit blossoms

April has always been symbolic of tulips for me. From my very first visit to the tulip fields of Skagit Valley more than a decade ago, I have been fascinated by the vast carpets of vibrant reds and crimsons, bright whites and yellows, soothing rose, and vivid blues and purples. Being blessed to live less than an hour away, I try to seize every opportunity to explore the ever-changing spring patterns out here.

Earlier this year, I was lucky to capture the beginnings of a storm-front rising above the tulip fields during the late afternoon hours. I found these bright red tulips a perfect contrast to the grey and yellow clouds.

As before, you can buy this calendar at this link.


Skagit Valley
WA USA

Superbloom

While March is cold and dreary in the Pacific Northwest, signs of spring manage to squeeze in. The Cherry blossoms peak in mid-late march, and different sets of flowering plants start showing off their colors with every passing week. But for the best signs of spring, there is no better place that the wildflowers of California. The bumper rains of the winter of '22-23 meant that the spring of 2023 was going to be a superbloom year, where acres of predominantly sun-drenched dry landscapes were going to be transformed into a vast carpet of colors.

I paid a visit to central California during this time, and even though I was a week early, the scope and size of the wildflower blooms I witnessed was nothing short of extraordinary.

As before, you can buy this calendar at this link.

Carrizo Plains National Monument
CA USA

Waiting for Dinner

When do you decide from being a spectator to becoming an active participant? When it comes to wildlife, my principle is never (interfere). But there are times which have come close to testing it. This was certainly one of them.

Out at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, it was still early in the season. The salmon still hadn't started their upstream migration to their spawning grounds. They were waiting patiently in large numbers at the mouth of the river for some hidden signal that only they knew. The grizzles had just come out of their long winter hibernation, looking both famished and tired. The salmon is a key component of their summer diet, and the ursine population needed every salmon they could get their paws on; it was the only way to recover from the lost reserves.

And so, this year, the grizzlies waited at the same spot they wait every year. They were hoping to catch their break-fast, a feast of juicy salmon. However, with the slow run of the salmon, they just kept waiting in the cold waters of the river, looking sad and forlorn. 634 Popeye ( I think ) was one of them, and every spectator out on the deck felt so sorry for this guy that we all contemplated just feeding him a salmon from the store. Thankfully our better instincts (and a warning from the ranger) prevented us from doing so. So all we could do was just watch nature take its course.

Katmai National Park
AK USA

The Arrival of Spring

In the PNW, there are many signs of the seasonal changes in the spring. However, my favorite amongst those is the bloom of the tulips in the many farms that dot the Skagit Valley of Washington. Acres of carefully maintained gardens featuring a bounty of different kind of flowers provide plenty of splendid opportunities for photography. Here is one such farm at sunrise featuring a silhouette of Mt Baker.

Skagit Valley
WA USA