Autumn on Mt. Baker

coscorrosa

But first, the story...

I drove up to Mt. Baker last Sunday to take some photos of Mt. Shuksan/Mt. Baker and fall color (not the only dgrinner to do so apparently), and was greeted with at least a hundred people, many of them photographers with tripods, around Picture Lake. There was a group of photographers who had their walkie-talkies on full blast and were using them to carry on a conversation even though they were 15 feet apart (on a lake that's no more than 1/4 mile around anyway). I was ready to throw them into the water but that would have ruined the reflection of cars from the people who thoughtfully decided to park right in front of the lake. On one occasion, while I was in the middle of an exposure, another photographer stepped right in front of my camera and setup his tripod, he then turned around and waved at me. I waved back with one finger (not really, but I wanted to, and the fact that I didn't explode in a string of expletives throughout the entire experience shows a level of restraint that has eluded me in the past. I'm still debating whether that's a good thing).

I left the throng at Picture Lake frustrated, and drove up a few miles to Artist Point, walked about 1/2 mile to a tarn that had a reflection of Mt. Shuksan and the crowds thinned out (there is something to be said for actually having to expend a minimal amount of effort to reach a location, it seems the crowds drop off exponentially).

I took Wednesday off from work so that I could actually photograph in relative peace and get the bad taste out of my mouth from Sunday. After shooting Mt. Baker at sunrise, I hiked on the Chain Lakes trail (an 8-mile trail with lots of fall color, several alpine lakes, and great views of Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan) and only saw 5 other people over a period of 5 hours of hiking and taking photos. Much better!

Anyway, here are the photos from both days.

#1:



#2:



#3:



#4:



#5:



#6:



#7:



#8:



#9:



#10:



#11:



#12 (couldn't resist a pika shot...):

Dwayne Oakes

Awesome ! I like 4, 5 the best and good comp on the critter

http://dwayneoakes.zenfolio.com

Take care Dwayne Oakes

Ann McRae

Glad you went back, Ron, but really when this is the subject how can you be angry at the huddled masses! Absolutely gorgeous!

ann

Tango

ok.....i refuse to comment on these shots:bluduh






wait a minute...hold on....cant keep it in....
great series Ron!...




hey when i was up there last sunday i found all the photogs very fun and friendly....
i waved to one nice fellow that was setup behind me...we must have the same eye for composition...

thdizzy

Number 4 my fav hands down!

squirl033

terrific series, Ron... that area is so wonderfully scenic, you really can't go wrong... i especially loved # 4,5, 10 and 11, but they're all great shots...

Abiciriderback

Great series good to see you made it back up there I agree that Sunday the 27th was a mess. So true just a little hike and the hordes of people drop like flies. Going to call on my accounts in Bellingham week of Oct 13 hopefully there is some color left.

Ray Still

leaforte

Very, VERY, cool shots. Thanks for those. I lived in the Alpine Lake Wilderness of Snoqualmie Pass for over a decade, and am willing to say, "what happened" (so many people)!?! On a high note...I have this bit of good news...

Around ten years ago, a volunteer fire dept. and the DOE sent some divers into the Alpine lakes to clean the edges of these lakes. They picked some of the most popular ones, that they thought had been getting hit hard with traffic, and they sent in divers to remove debris ie; broken glass, beer cans, etc. from the edges of the lakes I was a volunteer fireman at the time and helped with Snow Lake, which is a HEAVY TRAFFIC lake at Alpental. The good news...the trash was old, the newest being about ten years old, according to a Dept. of Ecology guy. So, given, the trails are getting worked hard: The message is out there, "Pack it in, Pack it out". The data amazed me.

I guess we still have the common problem of etiquette, but at least some are understanding responsibility.

PS: Sorry to rant/rave your post...My favorite by far is #12. I see them in the scree fields some, but didn't know their name.

JenGrace

These are just stunning! Picture book quality, as far as I'm concerned. Every day my urge to move out there gets stronger and stronger.

DaddyO

Restraint.... good for you.

Darn right sweet images. Very well done. thumb

Pika is just digging the day. Michael

DaddyO

AaronNelson wrote:

hey when i was up there last sunday i found all the photogs very fun and friendly....
i waved to one nice fellow that was setup behind me...we must have the same eye for composition...

Jeezzee....

coscorrosa

Ann McRae wrote:

Glad you went back, Ron, but really when this is the subject how can you be angry at the huddled masses! Absolutely gorgeous!

ann

I don't blame the *entire* huddled masses, just the majority

It's actually my fault, I should have anticipated that it would be busy.

coscorrosa

AaronNelson wrote:

ok.....i refuse to comment on these shots:bluduh






wait a minute...hold on....cant keep it in....
great series Ron!...




hey when i was up there last sunday i found all the photogs very fun and friendly....
i waved to one nice fellow that was setup behind me...we must have the same eye for composition...

Aaron, if that was you, do you really think I would have let you get away with it? You would have ended up cold and wet, and I would have had a new (used) 5D

coscorrosa

squirl033 wrote:

terrific series, Ron... that area is so wonderfully scenic, you really can't go wrong... i especially loved # 4,5, 10 and 11, but they're all great shots...

Thanks, I agree, it's beautiful out there, I could spend a few weeks taking photos and only begin to capture it.

coscorrosa

leaforte wrote:

Very, VERY, cool shots. Thanks for those. I lived in the Alpine Lake Wilderness of Snoqualmie Pass for over a decade, and am willing to say, "what happened" (so many people)!?! On a high note...I have this bit of good news...

Around ten years ago, a volunteer fire dept. and the DOE sent some divers into the Alpine lakes to clean the edges of these lakes. They picked some of the most popular ones, that they thought had been getting hit hard with traffic, and they sent in divers to remove debris ie; broken glass, beer cans, etc. from the edges of the lakes I was a volunteer fireman at the time and helped with Snow Lake, which is a HEAVY TRAFFIC lake at Alpental. The good news...the trash was old, the newest being about ten years old, according to a Dept. of Ecology guy. So, given, the trails are getting worked hard: The message is out there, "Pack it in, Pack it out". The data amazed me.

I guess we still have the common problem of etiquette, but at least some are understanding responsibility.

PS: Sorry to rant/rave your post...My favorite by far is #12. I see them in the scree fields some, but didn't know their name.

That's great news, I do think that the majority of hikers do act responsibly, and most are courteous. I've never really photographed the Alpine Lakes Wilderness even though it's so close, I need to get out there one of these days.

Those pika (pikas? I don't know the plural) are pretty amusing to watch, they were building nests, and scurrying between rocks with grass in their mouth. They sound like birds when they whistle. Besides them the only wildlife I saw was one marmot.

coscorrosa

JenGrace wrote:

These are just stunning! Picture book quality, as far as I'm concerned. Every day my urge to move out there gets stronger and stronger.

Thanks Jen!

coscorrosa

DaddyO wrote:

Restraint.... good for you.

Darn right sweet images. Very well done. thumb

Pika is just digging the day. Michael

Like I mentioned before, had I known that was Aaron, I wouldn't have shown any restraint

Elaine

Stunning!!! As usual...I always look forward to your posts. My faves are 1, 4, 5 ,6, 10. clap

bryanj87

Another fantastic series, Ron. Very well done!

BBiggs

WOW what a series!!! I like photos five and ten the most out of these!!!! Excellent work!!!

sbarge

Fantastic series! 4, 5, 6 and pica are my favs but they're all great!
http://sbarge.smugmug.com

clemensphoto's

Wow!!
Excellent photos!!! I'm a little envious.:D

coscorrosa

Thanks for the comments, here's two more:

#1 (Mt. Shuksan at sunrise, this is facing east which is why it's backlit, it's much better at sunset, after I took this photo I raced up to Mt. Baker which faces west hoping to get some of the pink clouds)



#2, The Painter

CatOne

Heh. Rough. Absolutely true on crowds, though -- it's alarming how few people will walk even 1/4 mile :-)

I really like #3, #4, #5, and #7.

Though, it looks like #5 perhaps your ND grad filter slipped a bit, and there's a bit too much highlight in the white now. Hand holding those grads?

Mitchell

#4 is superb.

Nicely done!

squirl033

Shuksan at dawn... either you live someplace like Deming or Glacier, or you just got up at oh-stupid-thirty in the morning! but that's what ya gotta do to get pics like that. how did Baker turn out?

love "The Painter"...

Awais Yaqub

No i cannot believe my eyes !

GOLDENORFE

wonderfull shots Ron. like all.
do you do any saturation adjustments or is it straight from raw files?
phil
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldenorfe/

coscorrosa

CatOne wrote:

Heh. Rough. Absolutely true on crowds, though -- it's alarming how few people will walk even 1/4 mile :-)

I really like #3, #4, #5, and #7.

Though, it looks like #5 perhaps your ND grad filter slipped a bit, and there's a bit too much highlight in the white now. Hand holding those grads?

Guilty I shot that with a 2-stop because I can almost always notice a 3-stop when the horizon is not level (the effect is lessened a bit if I slowly move the filter up and down which I do sometimes). A 3 stop might have been better anyway. I tried to bring down the highlights in post a little but was lazy (I had too many photos to go through - I know that's not the right attitude, but hey!).

coscorrosa

squirl033 wrote:

Shuksan at dawn... either you live someplace like Deming or Glacier, or you just got up at oh-stupid-thirty in the morning! but that's what ya gotta do to get pics like that. how did Baker turn out?

love "The Painter"...

Oh-stupid-thirty I'm about 2.5 hours away in Bellevue. The best Mt. Baker sunrise photo from that day is #4. #5 was taken an hour or two after sunrise.

coscorrosa

GOLDENORFE wrote:

wonderfull shots Ron. like all.
do you do any saturation adjustments or is it straight from raw files?
phil
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldenorfe/

I did levels and curves on all the photos (usually just moving the white and black points around). Some of the photos are blends from three exposures (using Photomatix). Most of the saturation comes from the lighting and the fact I was using a polarizer, several of the photos I actually had to decrease the saturation in post because it was too overwhelming (even for my tastes, and I love saturated photos).