Fine Art Photography Blog

Like the Siberian Highway, travel through America’s trans-continental freeways is subject to approval from the weather. This weights heavy on our minds given the recent flooding along I-5 and the official state of emergency that ensued. Of course this has been a tragic, highly unusual storm; ordinarily the mountain roads can be treacherous, but far more predictable.

To Seattlites, Snoqualmie Pass and the Mountains to Sound Greenway can easily become old hat. Taking a step back, though, there are few similarly breathtaking freeway landscapes in the continental United States. Donner Pass is another example, crossing through the Sierra Nevada at more than 7,000 feet.

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Last week, for Thanksgiving, I went down to The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, a roughly 75 mile stretch of water and land reaching up toward the heavens. The river begins in Montana’s Rockies, at Triple Divide Peak, along the Backbone of the World, or, in less poetic terms, the Continental Divide. The Snake River heads south, through Idaho, while the Columbia traverses Washington State, a desert river for most of its path, until it finally crosses the Cascade Mountain Range.

The mountains quite literally form islands in the sky, creating an oasis in the desert pulling moisture out of the clouds. Multnomah Falls is America’s second tallest year-round waterfall; half an hour to the east, The Dalles stands with one foot in the desert. Micro-climates are readily apparent here - driving west you’ll see sagebrush slowly give way to ferns and peat moss.

While superlatives like the second tallest sound impressive, The Gorge is known for the countless tributaries rushing down cliffs and the sides of mountains to join the Columbia on its way to the sea.

Benson Bridge, above and to the right, lets visitors see the plumage up close. Trails lead for miles in both directions, guiding hikers between parks, waterfalls, and camp grounds, forming a network much like Big Sur. Read the rest of this entry »

The mountains that hold up the sky above the Columbia River are beginning the long, sluggish process of donning their winter coats. Mount Hood, true to its image, looks like a gargantuan tepee covered in what could well be permafrost. Other peaks are dusted in white along the tops of their ridges, growing large snowfields for the season, but less stark than Hood’s glaciated peak.

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Fuji makes slide film in two renowned flavors: Velvia, for intensely colored landscape, and Provia, a more true to life but less break-taking color rendition. Before people debated whether or not Photoshop is cheating, photographers have been choosing their film ( and shutter speed, and aperture ) to suit their tastes. Galen Rowell famously praised Velvia, asking “Who wants to take dull pictures that will last a hundred years?”

Less people these days are using slide film; photography is a digital art now. And while the biggest influence on color saturation is still lighting, we use Photoshop instead of a favorite type of film and darkroom wizardry now. To that end, how does one recreate a digital Velvia?

There are a number of options, actually. Most people use the Hue / Saturation command. Like most approaches in life, this works in moderation, but will only get you so far. Anything beyond a small dose begins to look overly colorized, like a neon sign in Las Vegas or Disney Land. Curves offers the opposite extreme: a little too cumbersome in its power and flexibility, although it makes a good color balancing tool.

Beyond vivacious color, balance is an important part of a stunning visual impression. Read the rest of this entry »

Something doesn’t have to be big to be compelling. A friend of mine who didn’t know much or anything about photography tried an old camera I used to have with a mega-zoom lens, and described the wide angle as a “grand view.” We’re taught to think in terms of sea to shining sea, of a big sky that stretches from one end of the horizon to the other, as far as the eye can see. This doesn’t always have to be the case.

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In Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, the Boulder River Wilderness Area is remote and obscure. At 75 miles from Seattle, and without skiing, many locals can’t easily point to it on the map. Along with the natural splendor, this makes for hiking heaven. There are more campgrounds between Silverton and the end of the paved road than Starbucks downtown; all are closed for the season.

The area is home to centuries old virgin western hemlock and red cedar, 60 million year old fossilized plant leaves, Big Four Mountain which will hopefully be the subject of a future post, and the famed Ice Caves. This is an easy and well maintained single mile hike, starting at a picnic area build on the site of the old Big Four Mountain Hotel. A boardwalk guides visitors across the bog and to the base of the mountain, towering more than a mile above. The caves themselves are more like tunnels into a permanent ice field; the roof is unstable, and hikers have been seriously injured, even killed, here. Read the rest of this entry »

I thought I had lost the first image in this series many years ago. This was shot in December of 2000; I had spent the month living in Denver and left at sun up most days to explore the high country. Heading into Colorado’s “interior” along US Route 285 toward Buena Vista, this expansive landscape can’t help but catch the eye.

Without meaning to, I’ve pulled over to enjoy the scenery every time I’ve driven by this particular curve in the road. That hasn’t been very often; three years passed between the road trips that produced the two photos below.

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Just east of Snoqualmie Pass, the climate begins to change drastically. A desert opens up after the Cascade Mountains drop off; this isn’t the type of weather we typically associate with the Pacific Northwest. Across the “Mountains to Sound Greenway” from Keechelus Lake ( the source of the Yakima River ), is a small pond in the Aline Lakes Wilderness Area.

Ironically, Gold Creek is an artificial alpine lake. When the DOT was building I-90 in the late 1960s, the area was a gravel pit and storage yard for the construction vehicles. From humble beginnings comes a tranquil hike and a home for abundant wildlife.

A crop showing the distant snow-capped peak reflecting in the water, and the shore above … notice the deeply red tree, which is smaller and less distinct than the lone yellows:

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From Yellowstone’s Geyser Basin, this is a good example of the power of panoramic format landscape photography. We tend to scan the horizon - glance side to side - to keep our wits about us and avoid surprises. Whether this is hard wired from evolutionary times or because of the generally broad plane from one edge of our vision to the other, we see the world this was: as wide as the sky.

Photography is an art, meaning that your goal shouldn’t be to reproduce the world as a bystander would see it. On the other hand, tapping into the familiar can help convey abstract notions.

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