A few from Mt. Rainier

coscorrosa

These were taken on the Naches Peak Loop Trail, one of the few trails in Mt. Rainier National Park that's snow free right now. The wildflowers are just starting to bloom, it'll be a few weeks before they start hitting peak (I'll be back for that hopefully). There are lakes/tarns, flowers, valleys, mountains (Mt. Adams in the distance and ridiculously close up views of Rainier) all along the trail. I was all by myself on the trail from 6:00PM to dusk last night, and had a smile on my face the entire time. Although, shooting at dawn and dusk on Sunday, and then going to work on 2 hours of sleep probably wasn't that smart, my sleep schedule is pretty much hosed for the next few days

Anyway, here are a few of the shots.







The "fog" on this next photo is actually from cars driving along a dusty stretch of highway that's undergoing construction.

Tango

Ron these are

#2 is amazing

man you sure know how to motivate us!!

hawkeye978

All beautiful shots. I agree with Aaron #2 is amazing. The backlighting on the flower is beautiful.

schmoo

coscorrosa wrote:

Ron,

I really, honestly do not mean to comment on nearly every thread you post but I just cannot get over the scenes you bring back to us. These two in particular are absolutely incredible.

They don't even look real!!

Totally worth the sleep deprivation.

Tango

i think Ron is going to need to host a get-together-shootout and take us to his secret locations....

dlplumer

I have to agree with Schmoo. 2 and 3 are spectacular.

dlplumer

AaronNelson wrote:

i think Ron is going to need to host a get-together-shootout and take us to his secret locations....

+1

coscorrosa

AaronNelson wrote:

Ron these are

#2 is amazing

man you sure know how to motivate us!!

Thanks Aaron! I've been looking forward to wildflower season all year long (last year, I was too late, the year before, I was in a photography funk and wasn't shooting much at all, and the year before that, I didn't know how to use my camera). It doesn't look like I'll be able to take signifcant time off to shoot, but I'm going to take advantage of the weekends (this place in particular is close enough (90 miles) that I could go before or after work on a weekday, and I probably will).

And then there's also the Olympics, and the other mountains in the Cascades (the big ones St. Helens, Adams, Baker, as well as several smaller peaks in the North Cascades), and some places in the Columbia Gorge that have wildflowers. Basically, there's a lifetime worth of locations and I won't be able to get to all of them this year (or even the next several years), but I'll try

coscorrosa

schmoo wrote:

Ron,

I really, honestly do not mean to comment on nearly every thread you post but I just cannot get over the scenes you bring back to us. These two in particular are absolutely incredible.

They don't even look real!!

Totally worth the sleep deprivation.

I don't mind (you commenting or the sleep deprivation)

Thanks for the comments, Mt. Rainier is a truly wonderful place. It's hard to describe the feeling of being alone on the trail for 3 hours surrounded by such magnificent landscapes, my work was easy, I just had to make sure the lens cap was off, I could point the camera in any direction and come away with something.

coscorrosa

AaronNelson wrote:

i think Ron is going to need to host a get-together-shootout and take us to his secret locations....

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/39491_hike20.shtml

There you go, secret is out! I did walk the entire loop beforehand (finished about an hour before sunset) so that I could figure out what locations would be best for sunset.

coscorrosa

hawkeye978 wrote:

All beautiful shots. I agree with Aaron #2 is amazing. The backlighting on the flower is beautiful.

Thanks Tom, I love the beargrass, it seems to start a bit earlier than the rest of the flowers. I spent a good ten minutes trying to find the best composition with that flower, I would have preferred that it would be less centered but then the mountain or the sun would have been obstructed by trees.

coscorrosa

dlplumer wrote:

I have to agree with Schmoo. 2 and 3 are spectacular.

Thanks Dan! I'm glad they hold up because I was only in a semi-conscious state when I processed them