Delights of Bryce

Seven years ago, I had stepped foot in a fairytale. Tall red hoodoos in impossible shapes and crimson shades towered over the trail and every turn in the corner brought out even more mystical shapes. The vibrant red and orange landscape was peppered with deep green pine trees somehow surviving in this orchre terrain. It was like walking through nature's recreation of a medina, complete with tiny alleyways lined towering houses painted in an coat of orange.

Climbing out of the aptly named peekaboo canyon, I got to look upon this fairytale land, a land which impressed upon me how water can act in mysterious ways.

Bryce Canyon National Park

UT USA

The Unspoilt Coast - Part II

From the distance, I could see rock formations lining the shore. As I got closer, I realized that these were sea stacks. These tall formations, capped by a few pine trees, stood stoically out in the middle of the bay, sentinels guarding the pristine beach through the hardiest of storms.

At one point, they wold have been connected to the mountainous coastline, but the erosive power of water would have slowly scoured these fingers of earth until all that remained were a few sea stacks. In a few hundred years, they will most likely crumble away as new ones form from the land slowly giving away to the powerful ocean.

For now, they remain out there in the hundreds and thousands, waiting for the day of their timely demise.

Olympic national Park

WA USA

The Unspoilt Coast

The rugged Pacific coast of the Olympic National Park is an unique jewel of that National Park. Here, once gets to see rocky sea-stacks topped by conifers stand just a few hundred feet from flat sandy beaches which disappear into the thick temperate rainforest that characterizes this lush and pristine environment.

I am excited to spend a couple of days exploring the nooks and crannies of the rugged coastline in the northwest corner of this National Park. Hope your weekend plans are just as colorful.

Olympic National Park

WA USA

High Above Nicaragua

The volcano was mired in clouds and fog as we were climbing up during the wee hours of dawn. Not that we could have enjoyed the views - the steep sprint up slushy terrain, rocky scree, and thick vegetation had left us pretty exhausted. And the possibility of not having any views from the top of the Concepcion volcano in Nicaragua had dampened our spirits as well.

Then, just we were about to descend, the skies opened up. Lake Nicaragua, the largest inland water body in the country, stretched before us, with the mainland visible far in the distance. Puffy white clouds were floating lazily above the lake and the distant landmass. And it was only now did we appreciate the steep ascent we had made, and the steep descent that we were about to face.

Volcan Concepcion

Rivas, Nicaragua

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Regrowth

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The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. And up here, high in the alpine terrain of the Canadian Rockies, where large icefields give birth to glaciers, spring starts in July, and summer only lasts a month. Yet, plants thrive in this harsh environment, albeit barely. And reward us with beautiful pastel colors on a soft green carpet.

Canadian Rockies

AB Canada

Throwback to the Past

Two years ago, to the day, I was wrapping up the last few days on a guided tour through the island of Honshu in Japan. I am not normally a fan of guided tours that feel like a roller coaster ride, especially in a country like Japan where you can barely peel the surface of the complex subcultures of this diverse country. Between language barriers, the lack of any planning effort, or large mob mentality, I could never grasp the history and origins of a particular culture or place and thereby immerse myself as I normally try to do. It may not have been the right way to travel in Japan, but considering it was also one last goodbye to many friends whom I have known dearly for two years, it was worth the tradeoff.

Despite these barriers, I still felt a sensory overload: visual, aural, and oral. There was just so much happening on this whirlwind of a trip through different places, and the smells, the sights, and the sounds have taken quite a bit of time for my brain to process. My camera managed to preserve certain moments of time while the journal managed to capture some of the memories and emotions I felt as I traveled through very diverse locales and cities. And yet, I feel that I have barely scratched the surface of the experiences I have had.

Tokyo

Japan

Sunblooms

The wind was incessant and unrelenting. The tiny flowers struggled to hold on, dragged by the breeze that blew up the rolling hills. It was a battle that the flowers would eventually succumb to, but not yet. And until then, these tiny balsamroot blooms would grace the green hillscapes with their colorful blooms, lending a brief bit of yellow to the otherwise brown and dusty slopes on the Columbia River Gorge.

The sun had't crested the distant range, and in the shadow of the morning light, I spied a dusty rustbucket nestled in a field of balsamroot. I was still contemplating how it made its way down here, far away from the nearby roads and ranches, when the sun slowly appeared, blooming with a vibrant sunstar over the eager balsamroot.

Columbia River Gorge

WA USA

The Best of the West

This landscape is animate: it moves, transposes, builds, proceeds, shifts, always going on, never coming back, and one can only retain it in vignettes, impressions caught in a flash, flipped through in succession, leaving a richness of images imprinted on a sunburned retina.

- Ann Zwinger

Of all the National Parks in the southwest, Bryce has some of the most unique geological formations - the amphitheater of hoodoos. While hoodoos (irregular columns of rock) exist on every continent, the largest concentration found anywhere on Earth is at Bryce. Hiking in and through these hoodoos and observing them from below and above, I had marveled at the innumerable canyons, gullies and gorges that changed this landscape over the geological timescale. And I am excited to be returning to this amazing park after over 8 years, and I can't wait to shoot the morning light over the cavernous amphitheater or the glowing reds of the hoodoos at sunset.

Bryce Canyon National Park

UT USA

Return to the Palouse

The long halcyon days of summer have begun. And that means it is time for a trip to the eastern half of the state to once again to experience the beauty the Palouse region has to offer: rolling hilly terrain with a velvety carpet of freshly sprouted wheat and soybean, rustic farmhouses in a bucolic countryside with colorful barns peppered amidst the pastoral landscape. It also means shooting during the longest days of the year, with 4 am wakeups for photographing this divine landscape bathed in morning light, and staying awake till 10pm for capturing the last of the golden light. And driving around in dusty farmroads to find that one unique perspective of the Palouse.

So who wants to join me on this magical, albeit tiring, journey in June?

Palouse

WA USA

The Change of Seasons

If spring is the season of love and new beginnings, then fall is the season for mad lust. The fresh burst of the colorful flowers and pleasing greenery is replaced by the vibrant yellows and burning orange, a final attempt at living before the long, cold, and dreary winter.

And yet, like clockwork, every new year heralds such a cycle of change in the flora across the planet. And as a photographer, I am grateful both for the beautiful blooms in the spring, and the colorful hues of autumn. This was is of a beautiful maple tree in the Japanese Garden in Portland.

Portland

OR USA