Aurora Borealis at Mount Rainier (10/10/24)

Taken at Reflection Lakes in Mount Rainier National Park.

(Note that the first two images were taken at twilight, when the Northern Lights were visible to the naked eye even before nightfall.)

Aurora Borealis from Snoqualmie Point Park (10/7/24)

It was the most grueling photo trip I'd ever taken...

Dropped off by helicopter deep in the North Cascades wilderness. Trekking for three days, much of it bushwhacking. Fording rivers while holding my precious camera backpack over my head to keep it dry. Losing half my provisions when one of my bear-proof canisters proved to be anything but. And, finally, a near-vertical scramble up a talus slope, bringing me to the shores of a crystalline alpine lake.

Only, I couldn’t find a good composition, and, anyway, the light sucked. So, I came back down, returned home, drove up to Snoqualmie Pass, pulled off at the Gold Creek Pond parking lot, walked the couple hundred feet or so to the picnic area, and captured these images. I hope you enjoy them.

Late Summer at Mount Rainier

Wildflowers bloom at wind-swept Reflection Lakes.

May Flowers

Rhododendrons, Honeysuckle, and Wood Roses at Lake Wilderness (the arboretum and forest).

Northern Lights over Pipe Lake

Obviously, these are from the solar storms on the night of May 10th.

Dalles Mountain Ranch

This is located in Columbia Hills State Park in south-central Washington, just above the Columbia Gorge. In spring, the hills come alive with wildflowers, particularly Arrowleaf Balsamroot and Lupine.


Looking toward the Columbia Gorge


Arrowleaf Balsamroot


The iconic abandoned car on Dalles Mountain


Moonrise over the Ranch

Daffodils and Sunsets

These images were taken last month at the daffodil farms in Skagit Valley. As it approached sunset, the light just kept getting better and better…















And here’s a video of the trip, complete with Wild Alpaca Chase:

Water Falling Over Things 2024 - Part I...

Weeks Falls in the Central Cascades

This is a waterfall I’ve always had a hard time photographing. The main issue is that the best conditions for waterfall photography (overcast) don’t work well, as the clear view overhead results in what Gavin Hardcastle calls “the Triangle of Pointlessness” in the upper part of the photo. I was lucky, after the rest of a photo-shoot went awry, to decide to come here as an alternative location, as I unwittingly arrived in what must be the perfect conditions for this location: a mostly-blue sky but with a few clouds, one of which blocked the sun long enough for the first photo. I took the second, detail shot after the ToP returned, making any wider shots unworkable.

Late Winter on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River