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coscorrosa
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My last five posts have all had "Rainier" in the title, so I had to get creative (by stealing a lyric from Jakob Dylan, not by going to a different location! 
).
Danny Seidman (dseidman) and I headed up to Mt. Rainier (Eunice Lake/Tolmie Peak) for sunset on Friday, like last Friday when we barely made it to Ruby Beach due to ferry traffic, we barely made it to the Eunice Lake trailhead in time due to freeway traffic (OK, we left a little later than we should have, but I'll blame the traffic anyway).
When we got to the lookout at Tolmie Peak we saw the moon rise just to the left of the mountain and stunning views in all directions (we could even see Mt. St. Helens). The cloud cover and low angled light was perfect. After shooting a few shots from the peak we literally raced 500 (vertical) feet back down the trail to the perfectly still Eunice Lake to shoot Mt. Rainier's reflection. The mountain and clouds turned a brilliant pink.
After that, we drove to Paradise to shoot night shots (unfortunately there was too much cloud cover), and then sunrise, where we saw a big fat lenticular on top of Rainier and a low layer of fog and endless wildflowers in front of the Tatoosh range (like the night before, we were scrambling up and down the trail, shooting Rainier to the north and the Tatoosh to the south, the light was good in all directions).
Here are some of my favorite photos from that 12-hour period (in chronological order).
#1: Mt. Rainier and moon in the warm late afternoon side light:
#2: This should give you an idea of the view from Tolmie Peak, Eunice Lake is at the bottom:
#3: Eunice Lake at Rainier's reflection at sunset:
#4: Eunice Lake at sunset:
#5: Tatoosh range at night (4 minute exposure backlit by a nearly full moon, too much cloud cover for star shots or general night photography):
#6: Tatoosh and wildflowers (Shimon & Co. - this is what it looks like when they're at the peak!):
#7: Lenticular cloud at sunrise:
#8: Low layer of fog in front of the Tatoosh range:
).Danny Seidman (dseidman) and I headed up to Mt. Rainier (Eunice Lake/Tolmie Peak) for sunset on Friday, like last Friday when we barely made it to Ruby Beach due to ferry traffic, we barely made it to the Eunice Lake trailhead in time due to freeway traffic (OK, we left a little later than we should have, but I'll blame the traffic anyway).
When we got to the lookout at Tolmie Peak we saw the moon rise just to the left of the mountain and stunning views in all directions (we could even see Mt. St. Helens). The cloud cover and low angled light was perfect. After shooting a few shots from the peak we literally raced 500 (vertical) feet back down the trail to the perfectly still Eunice Lake to shoot Mt. Rainier's reflection. The mountain and clouds turned a brilliant pink.
After that, we drove to Paradise to shoot night shots (unfortunately there was too much cloud cover), and then sunrise, where we saw a big fat lenticular on top of Rainier and a low layer of fog and endless wildflowers in front of the Tatoosh range (like the night before, we were scrambling up and down the trail, shooting Rainier to the north and the Tatoosh to the south, the light was good in all directions).
Here are some of my favorite photos from that 12-hour period (in chronological order).
#1: Mt. Rainier and moon in the warm late afternoon side light:
#2: This should give you an idea of the view from Tolmie Peak, Eunice Lake is at the bottom:
#3: Eunice Lake at Rainier's reflection at sunset:
#4: Eunice Lake at sunset:
#5: Tatoosh range at night (4 minute exposure backlit by a nearly full moon, too much cloud cover for star shots or general night photography):
#6: Tatoosh and wildflowers (Shimon & Co. - this is what it looks like when they're at the peak!):
#7: Lenticular cloud at sunrise:
#8: Low layer of fog in front of the Tatoosh range:
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Great stuff Ron
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Lauren
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James
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"Out where the rivers like to run, I stand alone, and take back something worth remembering..."
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I didn't want you guys to think it was easy!
I think the view from Eunice Lake/Tolmie is my favorite view of the mountain in the park (Paradise might be my least favorite, but the flowers there are crazy).
Let me know when, I can show you around or point you in the general direction of the volcano
These were taken with the the Canon 24-105 f/4 and 16-35 f/2.8.
Thanks! I never regret going to Rainier, even when it's cloudy and overcast, there's so much to shoot there. The wildflowers will be around another 10 days or so probably, after that I plan on returning for some fall colors (huckleberry, mountain ash, etc.) - which I haven't shot there before.
Yeah, actually Rainier has a lot of thunderstorms compared to Seattle, but every time I see them it's at night and too dark to photograph.
Thanks - really, it's all about volume. The more often you go, the better chance something special will happen (and you learn from your previous outings of course, and can do scouting, etc.).
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I also love your night shot with the clouds. It's almost cruel that you have to lose sleep over a shot that looks like a daytime exposure.
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Ron
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This is the greatest lesson I learned from you so far: buy an SUV, sleep in your car, and keep going until you get something good.
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And I am mad you didn't give me a yell when you were goin back ... again..
Nice set. Wish I were there too!
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Yeah, but I don't have to spend any money on a 10-stop ND filter if I shoot that shot at night
Thanks!
Sounds good to me. Just need more vacation days...
That's part of the lesson, the other part is don't sleep, or just take short power naps during daylight off-peak-light hours
Size of car doesn't matter, more often than not I'm so exhausted that I'll just recline the seat backward, and not take the 6 minutes needed to fold the seats, re-arrange the gear, setup the sleeping bag....
Thanks! To be honest, there is literally zero notice on these things and very little planning. It was more like "we should shoot sunset, we haven't been to Eunice Lake in awhile" and then 2 hours later we were there
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