DUers go to the Olympics... (DIAL-UP WARNING)

[regnaD kciN]

Last Saturday, paisley and I met up with intheflow and usedtobesick, who were on vacation touring the Olympic Peninsula and San Juan Islands, for a shoot at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.

When we met in Port Angeles, it looked like the promised "partly cloudy" skies meant "clear everywhere except over the Olympics where you're planning to shoot," as the mountains looked pretty well socked in with heavy cloud cover. A call to the ranger station, though, brought the improbable news that conditions at Hurricane Ridge were "clear." And so it turned out -- as we headed into the park, and began the seventeen-mile climb to the top, we went straight into the clouds and out the other side. By the time we got to the Ridge, any clouds were below us, as in these views from Cirque Rim Trail looking north:


Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D (all shots) - 28mm - 1/50 - f32


18mm - 1/30 - f22

While, looking south, there were only a few clouds on the distant horizon:


18mm - 1/30 - f22

While checking out several of the trails, we found a variety of flora...


(Avalanche Lillies) 230mm - 1/125 - f11


(Indian Paintbrush and Broadleaf Lupine) 70mm - 1/100 - f7.1


(a typical "mix" of wildflowers) 70mm - 1/125 - f8

...and fauna.


130mm - 1/200 - f29


300mm - 1/160 - f29


300mm - 1/125 - f14 (center crop from larger image)

As evening fell, the clouds vanished toward the north as well. The following shot is taken from the same section of trail as the first two. That "cloud bank" in the distance isn't clouds at all -- it's the mountains of Canada's Vancouver Island, across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. If you look carefully, you can make out Port Angeles just above the line of pine trees in the center of the picture.


35mm - 1/180 - f13

Finally, on the way home, we caught the last moments of sunset at a bay on the Jamestown S'Klallam tribal lands.


40mm - 1/6 - f32

I'm assuming that intheflow and usedtobesick will add their photos to this thread once their vacation is over.

[TahitiNut]

1. Now, those are photos that do justice to the scenery.

I think the best time to visit the tip of the Olympic peninsula is when the low-hanging clouds are like that. I think it's the "signature climate" of the area - along with the "blue hole." I especially like the photos of the (mule?) deer posed enjoying the scenery and the chipmunk. I feel like I'm looking at them live.

The color balance, saturation, composition, depth of field, focus, and steady hand (although you must've used a tripod with the 300mm) are very nice - and I appreciate that. Very nice, indeed. It's surprising to me you could get the quality you got from a crop on the chipmunk. That really turned out well. He's even lit perfectly - angle and intensity.

Lovely! Not just the subject ... the technique, too. (Too often, we seem to give too much credit to the photographer when the subject is appealing. That's not the case for me, here.)

[Touchdown]

2. Admit it. You burned them off of your Sound of Music DVD.

...didn't you?:evilgrin:

They look gorgeous. I lived on the eastern (desert) side for 6 years, and never got over there. Farthest west for me was Puget Sound. Next time I visit Mom, I'll have to make a trip, and not sit there and watch Dr. Phil with her. "C'mon Mom! Get up! Let's go. I'll buy you lunch. PLEEEEEAAAAASE?????"

[regnaD kciN]

3. If I had done that...

...the images would have been of much lower resolution, and had a noticable edge-enhancement "halo" around objects. ;-)

[Blue_In_AK]

4. These are stunning...

...and I am so jealous you got to spend time with my friends InTheFlow and UsedToBeSick. Aren't they just the greatest?

[regnaD kciN]

7. It was great to meet them...

They were mentioning the possibility that, after itf's Mississippi job is finished, they might consider moving up here to the Northwest. Let's hope!

[uppityperson]

5. thanks for the pictures, I love Hurricane Ridge

if you get over here again, stop by also. itf and utbs spent the night, didn't know you were with them or would've invited you also and you should have come anyways! I am friendly. Maybe next time. Thanks for the pictures, very nice.

[Maestro]

6. Excellent series!

Just beautiful.

[babylonsister]

8. Every photo is brilliant to my untrained eye. Thank you! nt

[intheflow]

9. Since I know you're chomping at the bit to see what I shot...

I have to admit, I like your shot of this view better. The direction of the sun played havoc with my shots. And then, the crispness you achieved may also be due in large part to shooting in raw--a technique that still won't cleave to my pea brain.



I had many similar photos of this view as yours. I like this one because of the white wildflowers in the foreground (the same kind of flower as your gorgeous closeup, above) and how clearly you can also see the burn area from... which big wild fire was that?



Your second deer shot is spectacular! This top one is the closest I got to the same "feel" as yours.



What regnaD kciN didn't tell you is that these deer were pretty much swarming the perimeters of the parking lot. This deer was munching about a foot away from a parking space. :)



Oh, and did you say wildflowers???

tiger lily


lupine, columbine, and mountain daisy


indian paintbrush


regnaD kciN's cute, inquisitive, smart daughter pointed this "jewel" out to me, nestled in a lupine leaf cluster.


lupine


On the way out of the part, usedtobesick and I pulled over to side of the road so I could take this shot. So many varieties of wildflowers mixed into on slope--a natural mixed bouquet!


Thanks for the awesome meet-up! Said hi to paisley and midget paisley. Next you'll have to come to Mississippi and we can compare disaster zone photos. :hi:

[Blue_In_AK]

10. Beautiful shots, ITF...

It looks like you guys had gorgeous weather. We've had such a rainy gray summer that my photo ops have been severely limited. :( It's really not fair after suffering through all those months of cold, dark winter. Waa-a-ah-h-h.....

[regnaD kciN]

11. Your wildflowers are spectacular...!

I wish I could have gotten shots as good as that.

I tried taking most of my flower shots on the Hurricane Hill Trail later in the afternoon. I thought I was getting some good photos, until we started heading back, and I discovered I had somehow messed up the controls, and all of the wildflower shots were taken with -2 stop exposure compensation (i.e. a whole array of shades of impenetrable darkness). :-( I went back and tried to retake some of the places I'd shot before, but I was in a hurry and the light had changed, and...let's just say, the results were disappointing. None that could compare with yours. I particularly love that last shot, which confirmed what I suspected -- the flowers were actually better along the lower elevations than at the Ridge itself.

And I'm going to have to have a long talk with my daughter about doing "location scouting" for you rather than her own family member... ;-)