Fine Art Photography Blog

It’s bitterly ironic that the Pacific Northwest is home to one of the world’s remaining pockets of linguistic diversity - the others are in the Amazon, Siberia and Oklahoma - and at the same time home to the quietest place in North America. It should come as no surprise that both are in danger from the Brave New World.

One Square Inch of Silence is a research institution, independent of the National Park Service. Gordon Hempton traveled the country measuring soundscapes and their makeup. His projects don’t quiet with silence; the results of the national survey showed the quietest spot in continental America to be in the Hoh rain forest. Woodpeckers, owls and eagle, bear, caribou, and other wildlife aren’t exactly abundant, but they aren’t rare either. However, in the northwestern corner of the Continental US, with almost no roads into the park, the isolation is extreme. Combined with a usual blanket of fog and deep forest, the entire peninsula feels like a sanctuary from the modern world.

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Seattle is a notoriously wet place; all the more so as fall takes hold of our region. The rainy season hasn’t begun yet, so as hard as this may be to believe, the few actual rains we’ve had thus far are almost a novelty. That will change, soon and dramatically, but until then the water seems interesting and not oppressive.

These leaves come from a more popular section of Carkeek Park. Near the beach, a meadow clearing leads into the forest and up the side of a ravine. A stream flows out to Puget Sound and then the Pacific Ocean, fed by even smaller tributaries draining down the hillside. Naturally, this is home to a number of green leafy plants living at the forest floor, soaking up the water. Here, a leaf from one of the trees overhed has met its resting place among the understory. The plant supporting it is glistening from a fresh rain.

Note: As unnatural as the coloring in the oak leaf looks, this is not a Photoshop artifact.

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Seattle is returning to its typical weather pattern, almost what it’s known for. It hasn’t rained in some time, but it’s been overcast more and more often lately, and if the sun burns through the cloud layer at all, it seems to be later in the day. Further, sunset has advanced from about 9:45 pm in the height of summer to around 7:30. Even Bumpershoot, hailing itself as summer’s last party, has come and gone.

This photo is from the edge of lovely Carkeek Park, in northern Seattle’s Blue Ridge neighborhood, but could well be any forest in the area. Still, the proximity to the ocean makes for more lush, almost rain forest conditions, and occasional eagle sightings. It’s a pleasant area to go hiking within the city - in the Greenwood neighborhood - and has a long stretch of beach to enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

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