I’m not here.

Somewhat surprisingly the budding naturalists had yet to visit the Bloedel Reserve — so visiting we went.

We were greeted with a gorgeous meadow.

A walk past the bird refuge and through the woods opens to an impressive pond in front of the visitor center, originally the Bloedel residence.

The views from the back yard are stunning. We saw an adult Bald Eagle perched on a tree and moments later a juvenile flew from nest to perch.

From the visitor center, we viewed the waterfall …

… made our way to the Japanese garden …

… and walked through the moss and reflection gardens.

During our visit we were unfortunately surrounded by loud-talking-brochure-reading biddies which spoiled the experience a bit — reflecting back the Reserve is really amazing — I’m excited for fall.

After nearly six years at Orbitz, and a lifetime of memories, I have decided to move on — my last day will be this Friday July 18th. I’d like to thank everyone for a good run and will be offering a toast of beer and tayberries Friday afternoon from my backyard. Enjoy and best wishes!

Through the generosity of some great friends at Orbitz we toasted beer and bourbon — here’s to you!

Out and about in the garden and what to my wondering eyes should appear …

I found this flower growing near the garden — I think its form and colors are striking. What is it?

Another new garden find and now a solid member on my list of favorite berries: thimbleberry.

Series: Sunset > Sunrise > Heather Park

After an early morning of shooting the sunrise I wanted to get up into the mountains and chose the Heather Park Trail as my access point because I needed something near the campsite and so I could get up, down and home for dinner.

The trail starts through the typical NW forest though this one was both younger and lacking the undergrowth typical of the woods with which I’m most familiar.

A short way up the trail I found this slime mold whose color was quite striking among the dappled light coming through the trees.

Not too far from the slime mold I saw some candystick and pinesap poking through the forest floor. These are wildflowers but they lack chlorophyll and get their nutrients from the rich humus. I was beginning to feel like I was in some enchanted forest.

About two miles into the hike I started encountering blow-down, none of which was too difficult to traverse but presented an obstacle nonetheless.

After the forest and onto the higher slopes, you start to see a really excellent wild-flower display, including one of my favorites, red columbine.

I found one of the cool parts of the hike to be these tiny little flowers growing among the rock. The heat from the sun was really intense when fully exposed and these plants were basking in it.

I stopped here to have a light lunch because the views of Mt Baker, to my left, were phenomenal and, to my right, I could hear and see a waterfall.

After lunch I started further up the trail to Heather Park, encountering my first snow pack.

Heather Park was covered in both snow and wildflowers, including these American globeflowers, but not much heather.

If you’re considering this hike be prepared for an intense workout because it’s quite steep, especially coming through the woods.

Series: Sunset > Sunrise > Heather Park

We patiently await the arrival of the sun to summit Mt Baker.

Mt Baker with the sun minutes from cresting its flanks.

Early morning light rolling through the Olympic Mountains.

I think this is perhaps my favorite photo of the set for the lighting and the concerns of the grouse as it contemplates another day — and also because I shot this from the driver’s seat.

The deer are everywhere and not at all timid among the visitors. I like how the ears of the deer are mirrored by the trees in the background.

 

The photo of the tree on the right is one of my biggest disappointments because I was too lazy to use the tripod so the shot is anything but crisp though fortunately the colors work if the image is small enough.

The wildflowers at Hurricane Hill were really incredible and I enjoyed them more in the morning than the previous evening.

Sunlight brings another beautiful clear day to the Olympics. While the rest of the Mountaineers head back for naps to rest up for the night shot I’m off to Heather Park and then home.

More photos from the morning shoot are available here. The last of the series will be from my hike to Heather Park.

Series: Sunset > Sunrise > Heather Park

This will be the first in a short series of posts displaying some of the photos I took on a recent camping and hiking overnight to Olympic National Park. I went with a loose group of Mountaineers to capture the abundant wildflowers in bloom and marvel at the sun’s dramatic visual displays on the mountains.

The first evening we headed up to Hurricane Ridge and Hurricane Hill to shoot the sunset. The sun was really bright and strong in the early evening as the first couple of photos easily demonstrate but gradually gave way to pink and orange.

While everyone else was shooting the deer I focused on the small stuff because I had the 105mm lens along. (I really enjoy shooting with this lens but my opinion hasn’t changed: it’s too expensive for me right now, bummer. Oh, and another thing, if you do own this lens, turn off VR on a tripod for sharper images — it took awhile to find this out.) This grasshopper on the lupine would have been a better photograph it the sun wasn’t so harsh.

I love the lines, less the light.

I’m a sucker for a thistle.

A classic photographic composition — shoot the odd man out — in this case a red indian paintbrush among the purple-blue lupine …

… and another with a tiger lily among the lupine.

We were fortunate to have the moon because there were few clouds to capture and highlight the sunlight.

Pretty.

Also pretty.

This shoot was a fantastic learning experience for me and looking back over these photographs I see lots of mistakes, some gems and tremendous room for improvement — my Trash is pretty is full ;)

I think the better set of photographs are from the early morning set so be sure to stay tuned.

There are more photos available here.

I’m renting a Nikon 105mm f/2.8 for the week and took some photos this evening as a trial run. So far I’m mixed on the lens, mainly because to own one would cost significantly more than I’m willing to spend for such a single purpose — albeit enjoyable — lens.