A Short Addendum to the Olympic Workshop, May, 2016

After returning to the cabin at 11pm after a very long but fine day of instructing, driving and dinner making, it seemed like a good idea to get in some photography before ending the day. There is little or no personal shooting while teaching, but the night sky was interesting and it can be very peaceful and relaxing shooting at night....

Retrieving my camera and tripod and heading to the shoreline, there was an amazing glow of lights over Pyramid Peak. It was very bright and beautiful, but my first thought was the military was doing some kind of odd testing. Part of the display was a giant beam of white light that one normally does not see in these latitudes.

Aurora Borealis, Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park. Byron Will, ©2016

 Rushing to the shore, the light was changing subtly every moment. It was quite spectacular. One detail that was missed was not fully tightening one section of the tripod leg sufficiently. While taking an exposure with the waves pounding right next to me, I heard the dreaded sound of my camera landing in the water. It was so dark, it fell over without me even seeing it fall. The cable release was just long enough to give a tug on my hand.

Aurora Borealis, Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park. Byron Will, ©2016

Completely upset and tired, the camera and lens were promptly tested (comatose), so were placed in a warm oven to (hopefully) revive. By the next morning (with not very much sleep for me), they came slowly back to working order. A big sigh of relief!

Aurora Borealis, Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park. Byron Will, ©2016

Olympic National Park New Year 2015

Winter is a relatively quiet time on the Olympic Peninsula. The weather gods can change their mood overnight, but on this occasion, after some light snow, it was calm and somewhat cold for a week.

Lake Crescent is a restful and beautiful retreat in winter. There was a slight wind this evening, so with a long exposure with the camera, the lake appears to be covered in ice. New snow, lit by moonlight, adorns the ridges, with the summit of Storm King Mountain veiled with a thin line of mist in the background. The distant lights below Storm King are from Lake Crescent Lodge, with the lights from our cabin to the right.

Lake Crescent in moonlight

Second Beach is always a place of beauty.  The feeling of summer was here on this visit. The normal winter surf was absent, a clear sky at sunset, and completely calm.

Calm waters after sunset

As darkness approached, sunlight was exchanged for moonlight reflecting off the beach. A few fine clouds added to the beauty of the sky and the stars. In the photograph below, this portion of the Milky Way, featuring Cyngus, the Swan, while overhead in summer, was now descending in the Northwest. The sea stacks and water were illuminated by the rising moon in the SE. The sea spread across the shallow beach as the tide rose. A tranquil evening, alone, surrounded with beauty.

Sea Stacks lit by the moon, framed by the Milky Way

 We have a small tradition, weather permitting, of visiting Hurricane Ridge on New Years Day. There was just enough snow at this elevation to have a wintry feel. A lovely sunset with warm skies and and very blue light from the east lighting the east side of the Olympics made for a beautiful color contrast on the peaks.

Lovely light after sunset highlights Boulder Peak

 If you would like to see larger photographs of these and others, please visit my Destinations>>

A Few Days in the Olympics

Winter is a generally quiet time here in the Olympics. There are always a few hardy souls about, but the rain can be quite unrelenting. One has to come prepared for a wide variety of weather. Upon arrival after dusk, snow was falling quietly at Lake Crescent. The moon was near first quarter phase, so did a beautiful job of lighting the ridges and clouds at night during our stay.

Beautiful morning light lasting less than a minute

New Year's Day opened with this beautiful but brief sunrise, and the day looked like the clear weather was going to hold for a bit, so we headed up to Hurricane Ridge. A strong east wind was blowing and patience (and warm attire!) was needed. The patient part was waiting for lulls in order to capture the action and lovely light on distant peaks with my telephoto. Below are two shots about 1/2 hour apart of the same basic scene with rapidly changing conditions as sunset approached.

Mt. Olympus with Mt Carrie in the foreground. Huge clouds of wind driven snow.

Warmer, darker tones 1/2 hour later

Rain dominated the rest of our stay, but this is an expected part of the beauty here. No one on the trails, rain and green dominate the forest.

Patterns of the colorful Pacific Madrone tree

Moss delights in the damp air near Marymere Falls

The last evening was very stormy, with strong gusts at the lake well over 50 knots!

Spring in the Olympics

It's always a pleasure to return to the Olympics. The first place visited when moving here 35(!) years ago this May was Lena Lake in the Olympics. The memory is clear; had a great hike, spotted a Dipper swimming in the stream, fantastic peaks, beautiful forests. Seemed like I had found paradise. 35 years later, it's more beautiful than ever.

Dipper surveying his domain on the Sol Duc

With turbulent weather, there can be unexpected surprises. It was dismally gray as sunset approached with little hope of something interesting. With some last minute clearing, suddenly the sky lit up with pinks and magentas. It was quite amazing. Almost strange to see such intense colors and grandness compressed into this tiny picture below. This is a composite of 5 photographs. Will make a grand print...

Rich sunset looking west at Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park

Loons are occasional visitors here. It's usually lone males prying the waters of Lake Crescent, far from shore. Morning revealed this one close in. Had to shoot through the cabin windows, as he would otherwise be gone in flash.

Early morning Pacific Loon

Hiked into Sol Duc Falls (Sol Duc means "Sparkling Waters" in Quileute), a popular hike near Hot Springs Resort. It is also the beginning of the trail to Seven Lakes Basin and the glorious High Divide. The prevailing Westerlies had been prevailing on the Olympics, with generous drippy, cold days, swelling the Sol Duc and creating quite a cascade at the falls.

Sol Duc Falls with Spring Runoff

Evening brought some color before the gray closed in.

Mist and Light over Mt. Muller

Lake Crescent in August

After our trip to the South Oregon Coast, we later headed to our cabin on Lake Crescent in the Olympic National Park. Centrally located, there are endless photographic opportunities there. This day I was out canoeing and experimenting.

Many times here we have fantastic and fanciful cirrus clouds. This day offered yet another interesting formation over Pyramid Peak.

I used the Split Toning feature in Adobe Lightroom for this photo.

Cirrus formations over Pyramid Peak

During the day, I try to find subjects or studies that may not, because of the contrast, work well in color, but work well in black and white.

Alders and log near Barnes Creek