Mount Baker, Part Deux...

[regnaD kciN]

Although the height of color wasn't supposed to come until the next week or two, I took advantage of a clear Sunday to get my very own shot of the Great Northwest Calendar Cliché, Mount Shuksan reflected in Picture Lake.

(All shots: Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D, 18-70mm "kit" lens)


(1/15, f/25, 24mm)


The meadows around Picture Lake seemed in full blaze.


(1/10, f/32, 35mm)

Bagley Lakes in Heather Meadows.


(1/80, f/11, 45mm)


(1/80, f/7.1, 35mm)


(1/60, f/8, 35mm)

At Artist Point, another reflection of Mount Shuksan.


(1/25, f/32, 50mm)

Mount Baker and Artist Point


(1/20, f/16, 30mm)


(1/10, f/22, 40mm)


(1/10, f/22, 22mm)


(1/15, f/22, 18mm)


(1/60, f/32, 28mm)

Unfortunately, superconnected was busy trying to keep a major Internet search engine's servers running that day, and so this had to be a solo trip. However, that will hopefully be remedied by yet another sequel (Mount Baker, Part Drei?) next weekend, weather permitting.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Really beautiful, regnaD

I'm speechless. I may as well sell my camera and give up.

[regnaD kciN]

2. No...

I may as well sell my camera and give up.

...just head down to this part of the lower 48 once the snow begins to fly up there. That location will look just as good for you as it did for me. (But you better hurry up...by later next month, the snow will have come here, too, and the road beyond Picture Lake up to Artist Point will be closed until, usually, mid-July of the next year.)

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I'd love to come down there

but actually we've got a trip planned to NOLA and Biloxi in a couple of weeks, so my next major batch of shots are going to be something seriously different for me. I may get out here today if I can tear myself away from my work. It's clear and beautiful and my birthday, so I suppose I owe myself a day off (maybe).

[TahitiNut]

4. Awesome! For some reason, I think this one's just stunning ...

:applause:

[Blue_In_AK]

5. It looks like a fairytale

I'm looking for the gnomes. :)

[TahitiNut]

7. They'd be Hobbits, I think - it looks like Middle Earth.

It's really quite remarkable, imho -- worth framing.

[regnaD kciN]

9. Great minds think alike...

It's funny -- after I put this series up at Northwest Photographer's Forum, one of the members who had shot up there many times before described the vistas at Artist Point as "views that you'd swear came straight from Middle Earth." I hadn't really thought of it that way -- I wonder if the perceived similarity is to the New Zealand locations for Peter Jackson's film trilogy, or earlier illustrations for various book editions?

[TahitiNut]

11. My "mind's eye" visualizations of Middle Earth ...

... precede the movie by decades. I've been a Ring Trilogy and Hobbit devotee for many, many years. I formed my own mental images from the text - not the illustrations and not the movie. The color saturation and range is a key element, for me ... and the 'young world' ruggedness as well.

[regnaD kciN]

8. Thanks...

Interestingly enough, I posted this series at Digital Photography Review, and that was the one shot that drew some criticism, on the grounds that it didn't have enough depth-of-field. I almost felt like pointing out that this was intentional, that if it had more DOF, the branch in the center would have vanished against the background trees, and that, if anything, it had too much DOF (the kit lens isn't very fast). Oh, well...

[TahitiNut]

10. I agree. "if anything, it had too much DOF."

I actually think it's pretty damned close (beyond my Quibble Detector's range) to right on ... but, as you say, "if anything..."

Achieving such an image ... without flattening it ... is much of what appeals to me.



(I have a very well-tuned Quibble Detector. I'm a former Internal Auditor.)

[Maestro]

6. Friggin' amazing!

The colors, the scenery, all of it. I'm envious that you have access to this and even more upset with the horrible environmental protections (not) in place to protect these treasures long-term.

[Duppers]

12. AMAZING!

Truly professional. As I said in another thread, you should do calendars or something.

[Cobalt Violet]

13. Those are very, very beautiful photos.

The colors and everything are spectacular. :wow: