2013 - Year in Review

Another year passed by. We all got a little older - arrow of time did not change direction. Here are some images and stories to capture how I spent the year - photographically and travel-wise. With my two kids and a busy job, I did not get far from Seattle, but when you live in the midst of one of the most beautiful places on earth, you really don't need to get that far.

Instead of doing Top 10 or Top 13 - I thought that I would just pick some of the favorite images and remember the year.

Jan-Mar

Crystal Ski

Stevens Ski

2012-13 was a great year of skiing in the NW - my son Aranya (who was only 5 years old back in Jan) started doing more difficult slopes with me. It's a joy to watch for a father to see his son grow up and do all the things that can be enjoyed together. The above two shots are my favorite shots of him skiing - one in Crystal Mountain and the other one in Stevens Pass.

Spring- early summer

Rattlesnake storm clearing

With arrival of spring in NW, hiking season kicked in. Here is a shot from a warm up hike up the Rattlesnake ledge - a rather popular hike but an unique view taken with a 200m lens - a tele-landscape.

Ira Spring - Summer is here

This one from another hike up Ira Spring trail on a great day as Mount Rainier visible in the distance.

Summer

In the early July, I went to Tofino in Vancouver Island - it was a long time dream to go there, but I finally made it. Tofino did not disappoint - it's a stunning area with so much to do, so much to see and so much to photograph.

Tofino from air

Tofino sunset from air

Tofino Aerials - The above two shots are taken from a small sea plane that I chartered. This was not an easy flight to time properly - after two days of misfortune (cloudy one day and too much wind on the next), I finally lucked out on the 3rd evening and had some awesome time shooting from the air.

Mudflats, Meares Island, Tofino

Zodiac whale watching

Apart from the aerial shots, these are the other two Tofino images that are my favorite.

Summer Backpacking

I had a lot of big plans for backpacking, but only could do one single and short trip. Fortunately I made it to Goat Rocks Wilderness. What a place! On top of that, this was my son's first backpacking trip - it was a memorable trip in many ways. Incredible wildflowers, unique landscape - this area has it all.

Goat Rocks Wilderness

Starry night - Goat Rocks

Summer and Fall hiking

Apart from backpacking, I managed to squeeze out a number of day hikes in NW - I have long bucket lists of hikes that I want to do and managed to hit a number of them. Notables were Spray Park and Summerland in Mount Rainier, Ingalls Pass in Cascades and Colchuk in the outer Enchantments.

Spray Park

Summerland

Ingalls Pass and golden larches with Mt Stuart

Colchuk Lake

Oregon Coast

No year is complete without a trip to the amazing Oregon coast. This time we went to Bandon, Cape Kiwanda and Cape Perpetua. Condition was less than optimal with marine fog ruining every other sunrise and sunset, but it was a good time with friends and I did get rewarded a few times.

Cape Kiwanda layers

Bandon foggy sunset

Bandon - morning after storm

Splash - Cape Perpetua

Climbing

I tried to jump-start or resume my alpine climbing aspirations, but managed only two short trips this summer - not too bad actually! The first trup up the SilverStar peak in N Cascades near Washington Pass was a good conditioning  trip - though we missed the route and never managed to summit. On the 2nd trip, I went solo - this time on Ruth - a relatively simple and easy peak. It was a long day climb but very satisfying.

Liberty bell sunset

On the Ruth Mountain

Summit Selfie on Ruth

Thanksgiving in BC (British Columbia)

Over Thanksgiving, I checked out some of the places in BC that I want to photograph in future. Harrison Lake, Hope and nearby areas are promising. Also, I made it through EC Manning park to all the way to the BC's Okanagan wine country. Some incredible landscapes and good life - will be back for sure

Harrison lake walk

Harrison Lake light

Christmas in Silver Star Mountain, BC

Finally, we spent the Christmas in stunning Silver Star mountain village in BC. It was a superb few days of skiing - great powder, cute colorful village and also some snowshoeing for the whole family.

Christmas sunrise

Morning run

Village houses

Pow heaven

New year...

In this time, my younger son just became more and more cute and he grew up a lot! Incredible how fast they grow - he's 16 months old. Like any parents, I take a lot of shots of my kids - here is one for your enjoyment...

Happy New Year everyone

A climbing trip to the Silverstar mountain in the North Cacsades

On the first weekend of June, I attempted to climb an imposing peak in the North Cascades with my friend Todd. The peak is caller Silverstar, situated near Washington pass - around 4 miles from the hairpin bent on Sr-20. unfortunately, we did not make it to the summit, as we completely missed the route (don's ask why - I have no explanation) on Day 1 and ended up on a high ridge instead of a basin under Burgundy Col as planned. The next day, we tried to climb down the ridge and tried to go up the col and traverse to the summit, but the weather did not cooperate and I was exhausted from the long route.

It was a little frustrating - specially considering that I have not done any climbing in the last 10+ years (my last serious climb was in the Himalayas in 2001 - Manda 2 near Gangotri) and not in the best shape yet for climbing.  I was expecting at least a climber trail to follow and there was one - but we missed it and had to bushwhack all day and that drained my energy completely. I also did not pack smart - heavy camera and too much climbing equipments - probably I was too excited as I was going back after a long time. Also, I am not 20+ years old anymore - sometimes, it's good to ignore your age and fitness, but the mountains always remind you - no mercy at all. I need to do more conditioning before the next serious climb. North Cascades is not an easy place - also we probably could have chosen a more moderate approach for the season opener.

Anyway, even a bad day in the mountain is a better one than in the office. I did not take many shots as I was laboring my way up there - huffing and puffing. Here are a few images - you can still see how spectacular the area is...I can't wait to be back in better shape and go back all the way up there.

 Silverstar and Wine spires as seen from where we started from S Route -20. We were supposed to follow the creek on the left and camp below the col. But we ended up following the stream on the right and camped on the high ridge. The view was better though from the ridge - that's the only consolation. Next morning, we climbed down the steep snow slopes that you can see up there to go below the col.

D700/28-300 lens

 Bushwhacking up through the very steep terrain - it was a very long day

D700/28-300

The towering view of Liberty Bell group was amazing - you can see the road at the bottom

D700/28-300

 

 Afternoon sun warmed up the view - as we headed up the ridge and looked back.

D700/28-300

 A high perch with great views - where we set up our tent as the sun started setting.

D700/28-300

 Sunset clouds over the craggy peaks of N Cascades

D700/28-300

 Next morning we made our way down the steep slopes

D700/28-300

 The weather changed - clouds covered the col and peaks completely. We waited for some time and then decided to come back. I was too exhausted at this point

D700/28-300

As we started coming down, the beautiful rock filled basin and mountains on the other side looked gorgeous

D700/20 mm

Top 12 of 2012

Well..lets first say that I generally don't do this - publishing top photos from a year - mainly because I am terrible at selecting the best ones from my own works. But since I have not written on this blog for a while and I am planning to write more frequently in the future, I thought that I might start with a look back at the year.

There is also another reason - for this year, it's very easy to find the top images...mainly because I did not have much time for photography this year and hence the collection is small. A lot has happened in 2012 for me and my family - we moved from New York to Seattle, had a new (and exciting) job and new area to settle in and added a new member to the family (my second son was born in September this year). On top of all these, my elder son is now 5 years old (he will be 6 in February, 2013) - what that means is that he wants to come with me everywhere (and I have to admit that I don't like leaving him behind too). That's a great thing as a dad, but not so great as a wilderness photographer. But having my son with me also let me see the world in a different eye. I am now shooting a lot with him in the landscape and really excited about the new ways to incorporate human presence into the wild landscapes to make a stronger connection for the viewer.
My style has changed too. I no longer wish to limit myself in just creating those pretty, golden hour, "perfect" images. Instead, the message, the connection and the inner vision - all these have become way more important than just capturing the beauty of a scene and technicalities of a shot. Equipment-wise, I have upgraded to the excellent and incredible Nikon D800, but also acquired Lumix GF3 (for general hiking) and DMC-TS4 (for winter and water sports) cameras to inspire more spontaneity in my photography. These small cameras are either in my hands or in my pockets and help me see and capture images in a more contemplative fashion. My bias is shifting from "planning" my shots to improvizing and visualizing in the field - I am finding a more balanced approach.

Anyway, enough talking - lets look at some images.

1. Summer in Mount Rainier

2. Winter magic in the North Cascades

3. Tulips and Mount Baker, Skagit Valley

4. Mountain lakes sunset, North Cascades

5. Snowshoeing exploration in the winter wonderland, North Cascades

6. Dancing on the rock

7. Icicles, Sun Mountain Lodge

8. Lake Chelan winter morning

9. Mount Rainier walk

10. Oregon coast

11.Methow valley church in winter

12. Dusk skiing

Birds of Sanibel

As mentioned in my last post, I wanted to share some of the bird photography that I did during my last trip to Sanibel Island, Florida. Though Sanibel is known for great birding, I went there in December which is not an exceptional time to see birds (March- April is the best). During my short stay there, I ventured into the famous Ding Darling reserve area a number of times and also shot on the shores. This is my favorite bird shot from the trip, which was taken on the shore as the last rays of sun illuminated these busy terns and I was looking for a natural pattern, warm reflection on blue water and a great background...


Since I am not really a bird photographer, I tend to shoot birds more of a "part of landscape". That's the way I see most of the time and the intimate bird portraits are not-so-interesting for me. I also don't have any huge telephoto lens to shoot close up of shy birds. Here is one group portraits that I liked - as the grouping of pelicans formed a wonderful diagonal pattern and I waited for the middle pelican to do something - it eventually did spread its wings and fly away...



The other shot that I liked beacuse of the low angle of light made the tidal water so dark and helped the wading bird stand out nicely - adding a smooth reflection too. This one looks great on a large print..

The last shot was a very close encounter with a heron. It just posed for me for a long time - until another very loud photographer showed up with his large lens and irritated this guy away. Until then, we (the bird and me) were enjoying each others company. Observe how the curves of the branch mimics the gentle curves of the bird's body. Again I took advantage of the light to make the backgroun go dark and let the bird stand out.