Fall Colors Archives ~ Rambling ranger

March 17, 2023

Nature Photography — My Road Most Traveled

I’m a nature photographer. It’s what I do. I go wild for my photography.

Yellowstone National Park — I go wild for photography!

John of Journeys With Johnbo chose this week’s Lens-Artists Photography Challenge, “The Road Most Traveled”. He asks us to showcase whatever style of photography is our go-to, our favorite, our road most traveled.

I don’t think I can define a particular style as my go-to, but I can definitely define a genre. I do nature photography – to the almost total exclusion of any other kind of photography.

Nature photography in Denali National Park. — Nature photography is my genre.

I guess that makes me a bit of a one-dimensional character. Especially since being wild is almost a prerequisite for a photo of mine. Domestic flowers don’t really interest me. I have plenty of opportunities to do pet photography, being a petsitter and all, but I seldom make pictures of my charges. I also have the opportunity to stay in some lovely homes while petsitting. But I rarely take photos of these houses. There are very few farm or country landscapes in my files, and never a cityscape. Like I said, pretty one-dimensional.

Point Lobos State Park, CA — Point Lobos, California

It’s not that I don’t appreciate other types of photography. Most folks have broader interests than mine. Architecture, travel, food, portraits, street photography – I admire what other people are doing in those genres. I enjoy seeing these things through their eyes. I just don’t feel inspired to go there myself.

But if it’s wild – then my interest is limitless. Desert, mountains, seashore, I love them all. Grand vistas to teeny tiny details. Animals, plants, water, rock – I can’t get enough of them. Macro to wide-angle to zooming in, black and white, color and monochrome – all tools and techniques that help me to express my greatest love, the natural world.

Nature photography in Anza Borrego State Park, CA — Plants, animals, waters, mountains – I love them all.

There is one genre of photography that I rather regret not doing my whole life, and that’s people photography, taking pictures of friends and loved ones. I’ve photographed a few friends’ weddings, and taken pictures at 4th of July parades and a few musical events, but that’s it. I have very few photos of friends and family just enjoying life.

Coachwhip Canyon, Anza Borrego State Park — I love it when viewers can visually or mentally “walk into” one of my images.

I do understand why I don’t have many people pictures. I only take people pictures at events where my role is one of an observer more than a participant. When I’m with friends and family, I want to be totally present. Those moments are precious to me. I want to be a participant, not an observer. For me, taking pictures at that time would remove me from living in the joy of the present moment. I would be concentrating on taking a good picture instead. Weird, I know.

Moose in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve — Have you ever seen a big moose hide behind a skinny little tree? I caught this one in the act – in my front yard!

I’m certainly glad others don’t feel that way. I am eternally grateful to the friends and family who do document those moments. You know who you are, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. The older I get the more precious those people pictures are.

Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park, CA — Nature photography is my way of telling these beings,
“I see you. I honor you. Thank you for being.”

As I ponder the role photography plays in my life, I realize it’s a tool to further what seems to be my mission in life, my vocation and my avocation. In my photography, my writing, and my work as a ranger, I seem to be pursuing the same goals – turning people on to what makes a place or a subject special and unique, and encouraging others to be kind to our Mother the Earth. It’s what I do.

Matanuska Peak — Nature photography is one way I turn people on to what makes a place special and unique.

I attempt to capture a scene or a subject in such a way that a viewer can visually and mentally walk into that place themselves, to feel like they could be there even if they’ve never seen it in person. When I know I’ve done that, I feel successful as a photographer.

Nature photography is a meditation for me. It’s how I give praise to Creation. I acknowledge the other beings I share this planet with, both animate and inanimate, by practicing the art of seeing. Focusing my total concentration on a subject or a scene is a way of saying to those beings, “I see you. I honor you. Thank you for being.” I try to capture just a little of the essence of my subject. What makes that being or that landscape essential.

Redwoods National Park — Trying to capture the essence of my subject – rain forest sparkle party!

If others can discover just a little of that essence through my nature photography, then hopefully they too will acknowledge that that thing or that place is unique and essential. Perhaps they will feel inspired to care for it and keep it safe.

Monterey Bay nature photography — Hopefully my images bring a smile to your face!

If my images occasionally fill my viewers with awe for the wonders of the natural world, that makes me proud of a job well done. Or maybe my nature photography will just bring a smile to their faces or a warm feeling in their hearts. That’s a worthy goal, too.

Trillium, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park — I do love making wildflower images!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my musings on the art of nature photography. But I hope you enjoy my images of Nature even more.

Emulating Ansel Adams – Headwaters of the Susitna River, with Mounts Deborah and Hayes

January 13, 2023

Favorite Images of 2022

For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, we’ve been invited to share our favorite images of 2022. I’ve been sharing this year’s favorite images in my last two posts, so I won’t be revisiting those images here. You can go back and look at those posts if you missed them!

One of my favorite images of 2022 — The God rays are still one of my favorites!

But I would love to share some other favorites. A few of them I’ve published in earlier posts, but most are brand new. It seems my favorite images change weekly! Because of the scarcity of electricity and internet access during my summer months in Alaska, I have still not caught up with my image processing for the past year, and I discover new favorites every day.

Cascade Falls Moran State Park, WA — This is becoming my favorite abstract image for 2022.

There are so many photos I haven’t even really looked at yet, including winter in Arches and most of my fall shots from Alaska and Washington State. It’s like Christmas every day for me as I continually find new favorite images.

I saw some amazing places in 2022. One that has been on my mind continually this week is the California Coast. Most winters I spend either January or February on the California Coast. I’m not there this year, which may be a blessing. My heart goes out to all the folks struggling with too much of a good thing, with the atmospheric river and torrential flooding.

I spent the month of February 2022 housesitting in Pacific Grove on Monterey Bay. I was 4 blocks from the coast and made a point of doing photography nearly every day while I was there. That is also the batch of work I am currently processing, so a lot of my favorite images in this post are from that visit.

Another fantastic roadtrip was driving the Cottonwood Canyon Road in Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument. It was on my bucket list for years, but usually this is a road that requires 4-wheel drive. I called the ranger station to see if it would be safe to drive in just a couple of miles to do some dispersed camping and the ranger told me the road was in great shape and my little Toyota truck would make it end-to-end just fine! Quick change of plans for me, I could not miss that opportunity. The highlight was visiting Grosvenor Arch, and it was every bit as beautiful as I had imagined it would be.

I’ve also spent a lot of time in Olympic National Park this year. I haven’t processed the fall images yet, but I’ve included a spring sunset in this collection.

My last post included a lot of my favorites from the time I spent at home in Alaska, but I am revisiting my favorite flower photo from this summer.

Bog Bean flowers — I love the pattern displayed by the flowers and their shadows in this image.

My best sunset/sunrise of the year was traveling south down Canada’s Cassiar Highway. Every image in the series is so rich and so different. That sunset went through every shade a sunset could possibly have. Intense. I did a series on Instagram last week with a few of these images, 7 Shades of Sunset.

This image looks like I tweaked the color in LightRoom, but honest, it was really that red. I did not saturate the color, I even used Adobe Neutral as my color profile. I published a different swatch from that evening’s palette of hues in last week’s post, ‘cuz this one looked too over the top to me. But now I think it is my favorite.

I traveled the Mt. Baker Highway for the first time this fall. Although the conditions were less than ideal due to wildfire smoke, I was amazed at the astounding views and the easy access to hiking in the alpine. I can only imagine how stunning it must be when there’s no smoke. A new favorite place, I will definitely be checking that road out again!

And of course now, I’m on Orcas Island for the winter, where there are some lovely waterfalls. This image is a favorite.

I look forward to seeing what favorite images 2023 will bring. If you have been following my travels on Facebook, though, it seems that Facebook has not been circulating my posts much lately. I urge you to subscribe to my blog instead, so that you won’t miss a post.

Happy 2023!

North Cascades National Park — I had to include some fall color.

December 22, 2022

Below the 49th Parallel – My Favorites

Well, I couldn’t do it. This week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is Last Chance, when we’re invited to show off some of our favorite 2022 images that have not been published in a post yet this year. Since I took such a long hiatus from my blog this year, I have plenty! Too many, in fact. I can’t narrow my unpublished favorites down to one post.

Harriman State Park, OR — Oregon beach sunset

I’ve been trying, but I have lots of sweet images I’d love to share. Because I have too many, and since the Lens-Artists are taking a week off for the holidays and won’t be putting out a prompt next week, I’ve decided to divide my favorites into 2 parts. This week will be my favorites from below the 49th parallel, and next week will be my Northland favorites.

Redwood National Park — Tallest trees in the world

Last Winter’s Travels

One suggestion was to include images that would probably never be included in one of our typical posts. I pet sit in the winter but I very, very seldom include photos of my charges in my posts. Here is a favorite shot of a kitty I took care of last January.

Anacortes, WA — This kitty used to chew holes in my clothes!

I spent the month of February on a housesit in Pacific Grove, California. I envisioned this shot and was so excited, especially in post-processing when I realized I’d captured exactly what I’d envisioned!

I love visiting the redwood forest, and I love capturing abstracts. This is my favorite abstract shot for 2022. Charred bark from a previous fire and living green moss and lichens contributed to hues as bright as a peacock’s tail when looked at closely in this image.

Last Chance Photo Challenge — Rainbow Redwood

Check out this cool tree. It’s in Olympic National Park’s coastal forest, and with a burly head, fungus features, and a crown of fern leaves, it’s a people tree! I stop by and say Hello! and give it a hug every time I pass that way.

(Yawn) Another sublime Olympic sunset… The Feature is one, too. I captured this image on Rialto Beach. I love the dreamy feel of this image. The Feature shot is from First Beach. I had so many great shots from First Beach it was hard to pick just one.

This Winter’s Travels

My final image from Olympic is fall colors, maples along the Sol Duc Hot Springs Road. Olympic had by far the best fall colors I found in Washington this year.

Now I’m on Orcas Island, and I have especially enjoyed the waterfalls here. This one is called Rustic Falls.

For my final image, while hiking a local trail I saw this Big Leaf Maple leaf standing, still attached, on a tree branch – perfectly upright and all by itself, beautifully backlit. It’s getting a bit ragged, but mostly green, even though it’s December. It hasn’t let go, just keeps hanging on. This is a great inspiration for those times when I’m feeling a little raggedy! I underexposed the background because it was a bit busy and distracting. Doing this helped me to capture the way this leaf looked to me and made me feel.

Hope you, too, are still hanging in there and I wish you all a Happy Holiday season!

December 9, 2022

Photographing Fall Colors During Fire Season in the North Cascades

When I first arrived in Washington State this October I had plans to travel through the North Cascades, taking pictures of fall colors. It was a somewhat disappointing journey, but not a total loss.

Although there were a few bright spots, it was disappointing for two reasons: one, due to the continued warm temperatures caused by global climate change, very few colors were actually changing, and most importantly, two, for that same reason it was still fire season throughout the Cascade Mountains.

Highway 20

And the smoke was thick. It didn’t seem too bad down in the Skagit Valley one day, so I took a road trip up Highway 20 through North Cascades National Park.

That was a waste of a tank of gas. All the waterfalls were dried up by the ongoing drought. By the time I got to Ross Lake, the smoke was so thick that visibility was close to zero. I couldn’t even see the lake when I crossed the bridge right over it! My original plan had been to take 2 or 3 days and camp at Colonial Creek, the lovely campground situated in the old-growth forest right next to the lake. When I arrived, the smell of smoke was thick, but the air was even thicker. I couldn’t breathe, my eyes burned and instantly I got a screaming headache.

Well, that wasn’t happening! I thought about turning back, but it was still early in the afternoon. Maybe I could get up above the smoke, or maybe it would be better on the other side of the mountains. I really, really wanted to shoot a few scenes with larch trees, those conifers that turn gold with the seasons. Growing up in Colorado where all the conifers are evergreens, larch trees seem kind of magical to me. Since their main habitat is on the eastern side of these mountains, I didn’t want to give up without finding a few.

It did get better – a little. The big scenic vistas were still out – too much haze. But I found a few larch trees – very few. Most of them hadn’t changed color yet.

Mt. Baker Highway

I had a bit better luck further north on the Mt. Baker Highway. I tried to stay low at first – the skies were hazy, and there were plenty of nice spots along the river to walk and photograph. There were even a few waterfalls.

But I couldn’t stop myself. I kept going. I needed to get above treeline and check out the alpine. I’m glad I did. The fall colors up there were phenomenal!

Fall Colors Mt. Baker Scenic Byway — I found a few fall colors!

Yes, the haze was bad. I was above the Mt. Baker Ski Area and I couldn’t even find Mt. Baker! But there are a couple of good things about making photographs in fire season.

I’ve always loved those silhouetted images of ridge upon ridge, outlined against the sky, going on forever. I’ve had my best luck capturing that kind of image in the desert at sunrise or sunset. But during fire season, you can catch that shot in the middle of the day!

And then there are the sunsets. All that particulate matter in the air can lead to some spectacular sunsets. Mt. Baker even showed up right before sunset. It was just an outline. I couldn’t even tell it was glacier covered and all white. But it was there.

We stayed for the moonrise. Although the moonrise was incredible, even better than the moon was the planet Jupiter. As night fell, in concert with the moonrise, Jupiter came up right over the top of Mt. Shuksan, crowning the mountain like the star on the top of a Christmas tree, leading to a very memorable evening.

Thank you to Patti Moed for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Diagonals.

November 30, 2022

My Favorite Places

This week I’d like to share with you all some of my favorite places, ones I will miss this winter as I practice The Middle Way on Orcas Island. This week’s Lens-Artist’s Photo Challenge is Home Sweet Home. Tina Schell of Travels and Trifles asks us, ” If a foreigner were to spend a week or a month traveling your home country with you, where would you take them? What sights would you tell them to be sure to see? Where have you found some of your own favorite images? What is it you truly love about where you live, or places you’ve seen in your home country? ”

Southern Colorado — First snow in the Colorado mountains

Well, they would need at LEAST a month for all MY favorite places. Although I grew up in Colorado and now live in Alaska, I feel at home throughout the West. I’ll start with Colorado. I was raised in Colorado, and lived there for many, many years after I went out on my own. It’s probably where I’ll end up when I get too old to live deep in the wilderness in Alaska. My family is there. Colorado is always close to my heart.

Although I’m at home throughout the West, I do have a few favorite places that I try to visit whenever I have the chance. One is the Colorado Plateau. This region covers big chunks of 4 different states: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. I can’t narrow my favorite down to just one or two places in this area, it’s all so amazing. My advice to a foreign visitor might be to check out a few places that are not as well-known as iconic parks like Arches and Zion. Although I love them, too, they ARE getting loved to death and it might be good to try to spread that impact out a little. Lesser-known places such as Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Petrified Forest National Park contain wonders, too.

Another favorite place is Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico. This is the best place I’ve ever been for birds. It is the winter home for vast flocks of Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes. Over 340 different species of birds live there. It is an incredible place to observe wildlife.

Sandhill Cranes — Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

I spent 8 winters working as a ranger in Death Valley National Park. It is another desert that has captured my heart. The great thing about Death Valley is that because the altitude on the valley floor is so low (the lowest elevation in North America), the nights are seldom cold, even during the deepest darkest months of winter. Makes for great camping, and the rattlesnakes sleep in the winter! It’s an incredibly diverse park, with elevations ranging from below sea level to over 11,000 feet.

I did a little playing with LightRoom on this image. It was a daytime image and the background of bare dirt desert ground was a bit meh so I darkened it until it resembled the night sky, and tried to give a nighttime feel to the dunes, too. Since Death Valley is famed as a night sky park, and since one of my favorite things to do is to walk through the sand dunes under the full moon, I wanted to capture the feel of that experience in this image.

Mesquite Sand Dunes — I love to hike the sand dunes in the moonlight.

And then there’s the bloom. If there is rain in the desert, and if it is timed right, the wildflowers will rock your world. If it seems like it might be a good year for the flowers, I try to make a circuit that starts near the Mexican border in Anza-Borrego State Park, moving through Joshua Tree and Mojave National Preserve until I end up in Death Valley.

Anza-Borrego State Park — Love those desert wildflowers!

Further west on the California coast you will find another great wildlife phenomenon, the elephant seals at Piedras Blancas near San Simeon. Although you can find a few seals there at any time of year, December through February are the best months. Thousands of seals converge on the beaches, with the big strange-looking bulls battling it out for the right to own a piece of the beach, and all the females on it. The cows are birthing and raising their babies then, too. It’s an extraordinary spot to witness wildlife drama, so close you don’t even need binoculars to see it.

Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery — Sex on the Beach

From the campground at San Simeon I can walk to the beach and see some fantastic bird action on the sea stack that looms just offshore there. It’s an awesome place to catch the sunset.

Farther north along the California coast is Mendocino County. It’s my favorite part of the California Coast. I think the scenery is even more dramatic than Big Sur, and without the crowds. It’s got big trees, too.

Greenwood Beach — The beaches in Mendo are wild and uncrowded.

Speaking of big trees, I’ve really fallen in love with the tallest trees in the world, the redwoods, over the last few years.

Sometimes I go straight up the coast into Oregon. Other times I head for the Siskiyou country near Grants Pass and Williams. The trees there are incredibly graceful and beautiful and it’s my last chance to see wildflowers as I head north.

Pacifica — Oregon has some incredible trees!

But no matter which way I go, I try to hit the coast at Bandon. It is so much fun to shoot the sea stacks there!

The Olympic Peninsula is my next favorite place. The old-growth forests redefine green and the wild beaches are phenomenal.

And then there’s Alaska. It’s where my heart is, my community, my job, my life. My first love in Alaska was Denali National Park and I try to go there whenever I get a chance.

But home is McCarthy, in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. I truly believe it’s the most spectacular place in North America. Case in point – check out my daily commute! And the feature image was taken while I was standing on my front porch! It doesn’t get much better than this.

I hope you’ve enjoyed some of my favorite places. As Jim Morrison of the Doors said, the West is the best!

January 8, 2021January 8, 2021

Favorite Images of 2020 – A Year in Review

This week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is all about sharing some of our favorite images from 2020. I have a lot of favorites, so for this post, I’ll stick to photos I have not yet published in this blog.

It’s been a rough year. I won’t deny it. 2020 was rife with difficulties, angst, despair, and uncertainty for me. It’s been surreal and dystopian for me, just as it has been for many others. But mixed in with all the challenges were many moments filled with beauty, gratitude, love, and appreciation. I even got some traveling in before things got crazy.

Gold Point, NV — Broke down and falling apart in 2020

I started the year housesitting in New Mexico. I spent a little time hanging out with the birds at Bosque del Apache before heading west to Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.

February was the calm before the storm. I landed a dream housesit, 6 weeks in Mendocino County, California, home of redwoods and fabulous wild beaches. I’ve been doing a lot of housesitting the last 3 winters, taking full advantage of my opportunities to explore all the wonders of the West. This one was the best housesit ever. I cherished every day.

Navarro Beach, California — Sunset on a wild Mendo beach

The homeowners came back a week early due to fears about Covid. I decided to stick with my original plan and camp out in the desert for the spring. I made an end run to the Sierras to avoid California’s urban areas, where the very first cases were being reported.

Yosemite National Park — Stormy day in Yosemite

I thought I had a good plan – to stay isolated and healthy and still enjoy the flowers. Then they started to close all the public lands. I ended up in lockdown in Las Vegas. This was especially surreal for me, a woman who had scrupulously avoided urban areas her entire adult life.

Death Valley National Park — Desert Sunrise

I was desperate for a touch of nature. The parks in town were too tame and too crowded. I found my wildland fix in some of the wastelands on the edge of town, the neglected and desperate dumping grounds in the desert where people abandon old tires, refrigerators, possibly bodies ( after all, this IS Vegas we’re talking about here). I tried to look past the graffiti-covered rocks and bags of garbage, cherishing the brilliant wildflowers growing there that thrived despite the abuse of the landscape. They were lifesavers for me, helping to ground me when I was overcome with despair.

The most important lifesaver, though, was friendship. This pandemic really helped me realize that I was loved and that people cared about me, at a time when I needed that support most.

Russian Gulch State Park, CA — I’m thankful for my friends.

I headed north again in mid-April. I wasn’t sure of my destination. Some of the public lands were opening up. At least I could get out of the city. I’d been warned that my summer job was canceled due to Covid and I was torn between going north to Alaska, where I had a home and a community but no prospects for employment, or staying south where there was at least some possibility of finding work.

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, CA — Hanging out in the redwoods

I interviewed with Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in northern California and spent a couple of weeks camping in northern California and southern Oregon, waiting to hear whether or not I’d landed the job. While waiting, I got a call from my boss in Alaska. There WAS a job for me! I could go home!

Favorite Images of 2020 — I love summer in Alaska!

Summer was subdued but a wonderful respite. One thing 2020 has certainly taught me has been to appreciate every day, every moment because tomorrow is not promised. I am incredibly grateful for all the good in my life. Words cannot express how grateful I am for my home, my friends, my family, my community, and the wonderful life I’ve been fortunate enough to live.

With fall I faced the uncertainty and angst again. Should I go south where I would be more likely to find work, or stay in Alaska, where I have a safety net of friends? I hate the cold and dark, but I felt travel was irresponsible and the political chain of events I could foresee that is playing out now tipped the scales. I decided to stay.

It hasn’t been easy. I thought I’d landed a job, even filled out the hiring paperwork, then saw it canceled due to Covid. Lodging options I’d lined up fell through twice. SAD syndrome struck, and I’ve had my moments of doubt and despair.

Favorite Photos of 2020 — This image is my visual impression of 2020 – wacked -out, scattered, lost and direction-less – but with many beautiful moments, too.

But once again, the love of my friends is pulling me through. I know I’m not alone and that many of us are struggling. I’m doing much better than I was a month ago and I feel hopeful about whatever the future will bring.

Favorite Photos 2020 — We’re in this together.

I think about the lessons that 2020 has taught me. Lessons about kindness and compassion. Lessons about appreciation and gratitude. Lessons about being present in the moment. 2020 has made me realize how much I love and cherish all the wonderful people in my life. I try not to take so much for granted these days.

There have been many moments of great beauty for me this past year, despite the craziness and uncertainty. All the same, I’m happy to see the end of 2020. I hope we all find better days ahead.

Category: Fall Colors

Nature Photography — My Road Most Traveled

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Favorite Images of 2022

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