Autumn(?) in the North Cascades
coscorrosa
Registered Users Posts: 2,284 Major grins
Several days ago I drove up to Rainier for the sunrise and to shoot some fall color afterward. I had severely underestimated how cold it would be there, and had to leave early so that my fingers wouldn't fall off (they still hurt even when I got home 2 hours later). The good news is that the mountain was completely shrouded and I didn't get any good shots.
So... I went to the store and got some gloves that would actually keep my hands warm while allowing me to manipulate the camera, change lenses, etc., and while I was there, got some trekking poles (finally, took me longer than it should have to admit that I actually needed them, oh, hubris...), and then later that afternoon, a new ultra-light tripod (Gitzo 2531) that I had been eying for awhile.
Armed with my new stuff, I left before dawn today (Sunday) to catch some fall color in the North Cascades (mostly looking for larches, the only conifer in Washington state that changes color and loses its needles). I checked the forecast (40 miles west of the trailhead) and it looked like there would be somewhat clear skies and no precipitation.
Well, that's not exactly how it turned out. There was snow and ice all over the trail.
Without trekking poles, I wouldn't have been able to use the trail. With them, I could fly up it, why did I wait so long for these things?
Here are the results, winter and autumn, together.
#1:
#2:
#3:
#4:
This is when my camera stopped working (before I made it high enough to get to the larches!). I got the dreaded "Err 99" error. I switched batteries (to a fully charged battery), cursed, switched lenses, cursed, switched and formatted memory cards, cursed, did the pencil eraser on lens contact thing, cursed, and still couldn't get rid of error message. This has happened to me at least 3 other times, and every time, it's been cold out. This was the first time I had a spare fully charged battery which I thought would fix the problem. Nope!
When I got back to my car, I decided to drive a few miles to a viewpoint (knowing I wouldn't get any photos). It dawned on me that I should just use the car heater to warm up the camera and see if that fixed it. After about five minutes in front of the heater, the camera came back to life, and I was able to get this shot (who needs Half Dome when you have Liberty Bell?):
#5:
FWIW, most of these shots were bracketed, some merged in HDR and some imported as separate layers and then masked. I didn't think I would be able to get much detail on Liberty Bell as it was mostly backlit. Some of the others I'm not thrilled with the sky but I couldn't do much about it. I really would have liked to get some more shots, but I'll have to wait until next year.
So... I went to the store and got some gloves that would actually keep my hands warm while allowing me to manipulate the camera, change lenses, etc., and while I was there, got some trekking poles (finally, took me longer than it should have to admit that I actually needed them, oh, hubris...), and then later that afternoon, a new ultra-light tripod (Gitzo 2531) that I had been eying for awhile.
Armed with my new stuff, I left before dawn today (Sunday) to catch some fall color in the North Cascades (mostly looking for larches, the only conifer in Washington state that changes color and loses its needles). I checked the forecast (40 miles west of the trailhead) and it looked like there would be somewhat clear skies and no precipitation.
Well, that's not exactly how it turned out. There was snow and ice all over the trail.
Without trekking poles, I wouldn't have been able to use the trail. With them, I could fly up it, why did I wait so long for these things?
Here are the results, winter and autumn, together.
#1:
#2:
#3:
#4:
This is when my camera stopped working (before I made it high enough to get to the larches!). I got the dreaded "Err 99" error. I switched batteries (to a fully charged battery), cursed, switched lenses, cursed, switched and formatted memory cards, cursed, did the pencil eraser on lens contact thing, cursed, and still couldn't get rid of error message. This has happened to me at least 3 other times, and every time, it's been cold out. This was the first time I had a spare fully charged battery which I thought would fix the problem. Nope!
When I got back to my car, I decided to drive a few miles to a viewpoint (knowing I wouldn't get any photos). It dawned on me that I should just use the car heater to warm up the camera and see if that fixed it. After about five minutes in front of the heater, the camera came back to life, and I was able to get this shot (who needs Half Dome when you have Liberty Bell?):
#5:
FWIW, most of these shots were bracketed, some merged in HDR and some imported as separate layers and then masked. I didn't think I would be able to get much detail on Liberty Bell as it was mostly backlit. Some of the others I'm not thrilled with the sky but I couldn't do much about it. I really would have liked to get some more shots, but I'll have to wait until next year.
0
Comments
phil
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldenorfe/
moderator - Holy Macro
Goldenorfe’s Flickr Gallery
Goldenorfe photography on Smugmug
Phils Photographic Adventures Blog
Thanks, that's probably my favorite of the series too. I had intended for it to be just B&W, but liked the color version better. Usually I shoot in color for color, sometimes I don't like the result and try and salvage it with B&W version, and sometimes, though rarely, I shoot just for B&W, this was the rarest case, shooting consciously for B&W and then choosing the color later.
Photo Gallery | Blog | I'm Unemployed!
Thanks! I'll be sending it in for repairs after autumn, but I can't really be without it for the next two weeks (the problem only happens when it's cold and as long as I stay out of the higher elevations, or am close to my car, I should be able to get by). Good chance the Canon 5D MII will be out by the time I send this one in for repair
Photo Gallery | Blog | I'm Unemployed!