Island Paradise

Life's needs are simple: food, water, shelter and clothing. But in the process to procure these needs, we humans engage in an activity called work. And for most of us, our work consumes more than half our adult lives, and its tedious monotony necessitates another need: physical and mental well being. And so, we have invented the concept of vacations where we escape the reality of our everyday lives and try to experience a different existence. The whole leisure and hospitality industry is built around this.

As condescending as this may seem, I too need such an escape to a different destination, a place where I would rather be than where I am....

Virgin Islands National Park
USVI

Winter Sunstar

I sat in the soft snow, powder up to my knees, watching the slow dance of sunrise. At first, it was the distant eastern horizon taking on a pale orange, its vibrancy kicking up a notch every minute. The silhouettes of the horizon were slowly coming to form, and I started to make out the jagged edges of the snow-capped Cascades.

The color started inching its way across the sky, reflecting first in the wispy Cirrus cloud formations. By then, the eastern horizon took on a vibrant yellow hue. The next few moments, I realized, would be the most crucial in what I had intended to capture: a sunstar

The sun finally broke through the hroizon, its light reflecting on the smooth bank of snow in front. Millions of tiny crystals of ice glistened, breathing in the first light of day. I bathed in the quiet stillness of this sunrise, a fleeting moment I froze in time.

Mount Rainier National Park
WA USA

Frozen Northwest

Winter in the PNW is rarely the stuff of dreams, unless one is a fan of cold dark dreariness alternated with miserable downpours and brief interludes of sun. But then again, there are brief intervals of time where sunlight meets the quiet still winter morning. And to be outside on a day, wandering amidsts snow-capped giants and snow-covered angels, is a moment to be treasured.

Tahoma State Forest

WA USAWinter in the PNW is rarely the stuff of dreams, unless one is a fan of cold dark dreariness alternated with miserable downpours and brief interludes of sun. But then again, there are brief intervals of time where sunlight meets the quiet still winter morning. And to be outside on a day, wandering amidsts snow-capped giants and snow-covered angels, is a moment to be treasured.

Tahoma State Forest
WA USA

Winter Sunrise

I always wondered what sunrise at Rainier looked like in winter. Photographing this famous peak at sunrise required three factors: a clear sunrise, a measurable amount of fresh snow dusting the foreground, and the right location that can be visited at sunrise. And one fortuitous day, I got to be at the right place at the right time when all these three came together.

And even though I wake to views of Rainier every day, this particular sunrise was still an awe-inspiring sight.

Mt Rainier National Park
WA USA

The Marching Elephants

I awaited in eerie darkness in the high desert on the border between Arizona and Utah. All around, I could sense the monolithic rock formations that dot this desert, but I could never really see them. The faint dawn light slowly crept across the sky westward, and added structure to the sensation.

As the darkness eased, I could see the nearest butte, looking like a marching elephant trundling westward. More time passed, and I could make out the details of the buttes further away. Nameless rock formations towered above the folds of desert landscape, and acquired a pink glow from the morning light. The land grew richer in detail until the first light of day struck the tips of these buttes.

This visit to the tribal park of the Navajo Nation was perhaps one my most memorable ones. I will never forget the vast Jon Waynesque landscapes I got to experience. And right now, the population of the Navajo nation are facing two major challenges: both the impact of lower tourism, and the high number of cases amongst the populate. It will be a while before normalcy returns to this sacred land

Monument Valley Tribal Park

UT USA

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Sunset in Blue and Gold

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During the dark and dreary winters in the PNW, I often reminisce my time living in California. There were many things I complained about my past life there: the heavy traffic, the car culture, the high cost of living and much more. But being able to get to the blissful Pacific coast in under an hour and capture the vestiges of a summer sunset after a hard day of work more than made up for the hardship of living there.

To make a jaunt to the coast worthwhile, I first scour the webcams pointing to the west to watch the cloud patterns and the inversion layer over the ocean. And once in a while, the conditions become favorable, as it was in this case where I drove to a cliff overlooking the calm waters of the Pacific

Davenport

CA USA

Faded Hills

From the distance, the rolling hills with faint tinges of ocher resemble the dry and brushy hinterlands ubiquitous in eastern Oregon, and there is nothing to differentiate this non-descript National Monument from the land around. That is, until you get closer.

Up close, the nooks and crannies of Painted Hills unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, take on vibrant and contrasting hues: layers of sandstone colored in vermilion, ocher, purple, black, green and yellow are exposed over this semi-desert landscape.

I was fortunate to visit this wonder of Oregon many years ago, and hope to pay another visit before it becomes too popular for its own good.

Painted Hills

OR USA