Tag: National Parks

While I was visiting Wrangell-St Elias National Park last month, a rainbow briefly appeared above this beautiful tundra pond. It is one of my favorite images from the trip. I am always on the lookout for dramatic weather, clouds, & sun-breaks. I also scout a location in advance so that I can anticipate an image like this. Most of the time I get skunked, but occasionally all the right conditions come together and I capture an amazing image.

When photographing rainbows, the biggest challenge I have found is keeping my lens & filters water drop free. I keep my camera put away or covered until it is worth risking the exposure to the rain. I usually get 1-3 images before the water drops become noticeable and ruin the picture.  At this point if it is still raining it is impossible to dry everything off to continue. My other trick for photographing wide-angle rainbow landscapes is to anti-polarize the light and use a 3-stop soft graduated neutral density filter. A rainbow is polarized light, so I can either make it totally disappear or make it really pop by rotating the polarizer. The grad filter helps balance the overall exposure. I have used this set up many time and it always works.

This is another beautiful reflection pond that I photographed in Wrangell-St Elias National Park last month. It’s right next to the road, so if you ever drive the McCarthy Road you can’t miss it. As you can see, the fall colors were are their peak during my visit. McCarthy had already closed down for the season, so there were no other people around, let alone photographers. About 99.99% of the time when I am taking pictures, there is no one else around (other than my travel companions). That is just the way I like it.

I am going backpacking the next few days into the Enchantments in the Central Cascades. The larch trees should be at their peak for fall color. It probably snowed up there the last few days, but this week it is suppose to be sunny & warm. Wish me luck!

During my recent trip to Wrangell-St Elias National Park, I spent several days in a row photographing my favorite tundra pond. Eventually I will post several spectacular sunrise images from this location, but for now I want to share these beautiful lilies. I am best know for my dramatic wild-angle landscape images, but I also enjoy photographing nature’s details when the opportunity presents itself. While I was waiting for dramatic light on the mountains, these lilies and blue sky reflection caught my attention. I normally look for groups that contain odd numbers, but these 4 lilies in a broken circle inspired me to bend the rules.

What can I say about Wrangell-St Elias National Park? I am spell-bound! It is America’s largest national park at 13.2 million acres, which is 6 times the size of Yellowstone. I did not see another photographer (or visitor!) during my entire trip. A week exploring the McCarthy Road area is not enough time, even with ideal photography conditions. I just scratched the surface. I had everything that a photographer could ask for: cobalt blue skies, brilliant golden aspen trees, crimson colored summits, mirror image reflection ponds, dramatic rainbows, and clouds the size of giant marshmallows. Above is a sample of my new images that I will be posting in the coming weeks.

I am currently in Anchorage waiting for my flight to Yakutat to visit my boat & winterize it. The weather forecast predicts unseasonably perfect conditions the next 2 days. Maybe my photo luck will continue?