Daily Image - Jan 2019 Archive

22 Jan 19 I had forgotten about the eclipse Sunday night but was reminded by a church friend who had called to thank us for a card we had sent her. In her comments she stated she hoped I would get a good shot of the eclipse. That jogged my memory and I located an article Jan had saved for me about it that I hadn't yet read. As I did I realized things were about to happen so I drove to a neighbor's home and took a look only to see mostly clouds so I figured I wouldn't get to see it. Returned home, had dinner, and gave things a second look. In the interim the wind had blown the clouds away and the show was already underway. Hurried to the neighbors and started shooting only to realize I needed a longer lens so went back home and got a bigger one. I then spent the next 90 + minutes shooting the eclipse while chatting with the neighbors. I gave up the shoot when I could no longer feel my hands. The neighbor kids meanwhile were running around barefoot and in t-shirts. I was freezing wearing multiple layers; they were like little bonfires. Their dad says they aren't humans but fish. Last night I could believe it! I don't own the proper equipment for getting top quality astrological images, especially something like a gyro driven Celestron scope, so I have to work with more typical landscape type images. As a result what I'm sharing can't compete with the big boy stuff you likely saw either on the tube or in the paper Monday morning, but it will give you some small idea of the show Sunday evening/night/Monday morning depending on where you reside. It took 3 x as long to put this together as it did to shoot it but at least the composite was done in the relative comfort of the studio. This is a 27 image composite plus three additional layers for a 30 layer total composite of the super blood wolf moon. I got started too late to get the entire sequence although I could have faked it using another capture. Full Lunar Eclipse Nikon D500; 80 - 400; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/250 - 1/10 sec @ f / 9.

04 Jan 19 This will be my first B&W as a macro and of a familiar subject I would think. When I first started doing macro stuff this subject was one of my first attempts. Although I showed that 35mm color slide to many folks no one could correctly identify what it was which struck me as odd seeing as how common a flower it was and is; maybe a contributing factor was that most folks consider it a weed. Some of you will likely recognize this as the seed head of the Father's Day flower. And I'll wager as kids most of you blew the seeds all over your yards likely to your father's distress. So here it is in perhaps a different perspective from that with which you are familiar. This is straight from the camera converted to B&W. White on Black Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f/ 9 with fill flash.

14 Jan 19 Our first day in Budapest was meant to be a lengthy tour of Buda Castle and parts of downtown Pest. The rains were so heavy that the Castle trip was postponed for one day and the trip downtown was a short sightseeing trip through windows that made one feel like you were behind Niagara Falls. Our second day and the last for the cruise members was considerably better so we boarded the bus to Buda Hill for another go at it. No sooner had we arrived then the weather smiled and said gotcha and the rains returned only to change to sleet, then snow again followed by just ugly at which point we boarded the bus to head into town for another musical event. Wasn't going to take the bus into town but I did only to wish I hadn't. While in town the weather did a 180 and out came the sun only to once again depart for more rain as we returned to the ship. But in between squalls while at Buda Castle I got a few frames of the Pest shoreline and the downtown area. This is an 11 frame pano and due to both my position on the castle wall and lack of proper equipment for taking panos, the Danube looks like it curves but in reality the river runs straight in this location. In 1873 the three neighboring cities of Buda, Óbuda (literally "Old" Buda), and Pest joined to form the now day Budapest. If you should visit central Europe this city is a must see in my opinion. This is an 11 frame pano which otherwise is straight from the camera. Pest from Buda Castle Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/200 sec @ f / 9.

25 Jan 19 My apology for the late mailing today but last night when I tried to send my ISP was so slow that everything was timing out before connecting so, simply stated, no service. In today's environment where words can seemingly mean anything the speaker says they mean I thought I'd have a little fun and s t r e t c h the meaning of macro/close-up to include today's submission. I was obviously quite close to the subject, in fact, about as close as I'd be allowed. The all night flight returning from Europe provided us with a brilliant sunrise set against a gorgeous blue sky that included just about every hue of blue imaginable. I obviously had a window seat right over the center of the wing and as tired as I was having slept very little on the flight I did take the opportunity to grab a few snaps as we crossed westward which gave me plenty of opportunity to capture the sunrise. This shot of the sun just breaking over the wing is one of my favorite snaps of the trip. This is basically straight out of the camera although I softened it a tiny amount. Wing Light Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 100; 1/320 sec @ f / 6.3.

11 Jan 19 Been battling some bug all day so taking the lazy way out and sharing a flower from the dahlia series that was part of the Christmas shows. It happens to be one of the creative versions and in this case the attempt was to make it look like a watercolor painting. Jan picked it out from a group of several dozen purely on color so now you know her favorite color. During the past several years I've been shooting primarily in two private gardens but this year I expanded to include a third private garden plus ours and a close relative's. Between the 5 gardens I've had lots of opportunity to capture these lovely flowers in many different weather conditions and now with Jan's garden becoming quite large and expanding, I can go out and shoot them whenever I want. Rather convenient and as they bloom for along time, several months, the opportunities abound. For those of you who like to grow flowers, if you haven't yet tried your hand with dahlias I highly recommend them to you, especially if you like to attract pollinators. Other than the obvious manipulation, this was straight from the camera. Using Watercolors Nikon D500; 18 - 2--; Aperture Priority; ISO 320; 1/800 sec @ f /11.

09 Jan 19 Back to my favorite river in Yellowstone, the Madison. Half way in from the West Yellowstone gate to Madison Junction is a section of the park known by the locals as 7 Mile Bridge Area. I've never found anything identifying the area as such, but at the 7 mile mark along the road is the only bridge on that section of road and it is also where I've seen others congregate who said go to the 7 Mile Bridge Area. I've been shooting in this section of the park on every visit and it has to be my favorite small section of the park. The river is on your left as you enter the park but crosses under that bridge at the 7 mile mark and then is on your right all the way to its headwaters, the confluence of the Firehole and Gibbon Rivers. This is a shot of the river bank roughly one mile prior to crossing the bridge. The river is perhaps one foot in depth in this area and you can see the bottom with ease. This is an early afternoon shot with bright overcast skies giving some nice saturation to the color. One of those days when you want to wet a line, even if all you have is just the line and preferably few others to keep you "company." We parked the vehicle where we could off the road and walked down to the bank. Would have stayed longer than we did but when the water started dripping from the overcast I thought it prudent to press on. Other than a little dodging and burning this is straight from the camera. Madison River Rest Stop Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/200 sec @ f / 9.

03 Jan 19 A few weeks back I shared an image of the runoff of Firehole Falls. In the vignette I mentioned that another photographer had crept along the bank against the rocky cliff to get a close up of the action. This is a shot of that adventurous individual and it should give you a feel for that which I was discussing. Now to be fair, although the water looks really dangerous, at its deepest it might be 30 inches in depth although at the place where the photographer resides it is moving reasonably fast. By the time it reaches the point from which I took the shot there is no white water and another 50 yards downstream there are a couple of fisherman standing in what looks to be almost still water where the river bed widens some. So depending on which area you point the camera you can paint whatever version of the story you want but to tell the full story you would need all three shots. For entertainment we'll go with the harrowing one for today. This is basically straight from the camera. Up Close & Personal Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

08 Jan 19 About half way from Old Faithful to West Thumb you cross the Continental Devide for the first of two times in short duration, and at this first meeting is a very small body of water known as Isa Lake. To my way of thinking it is nothing more than a small pond, but I didn't get to name it. I've visited it twice, once in 2007 and again last October. Both times I was surprised to see a relatively large portion of the surface covered in golden lily pads. I would imagine them to be green in the summer and probably showing off with pink and white flowers, but as I never visit in the summer I'll likely never know. Just prior to reaching the Divide we were driving in areas with lots of freshly fallen snow, an absolutely beautiful sight, but one hard to capture, and as such was quite surprised to not only see the lake not frozen but covered with the lily pads. There is a lot of detail in the image so zoom in some to get the better view. Other than for some cropping this is basically straight from the camera. Unexpected Winter Flora Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/160 sec @ f / 9.

30 Jan 19 The construction of the Hebgen Dam backed up the Madison river for several miles and in the process created Hebgen Lake which at its eastern end has two arms, called Grayling Arm and Madison Arm. Our condo sits on a neck of land between the two. It's a short drive to either arm and in fact not a long walk to the Madison arm side. The Grayling Arm side is host to a state campground called Rainbow Point while the Madison Arm side provides a potholed drive up a steep hillside called Horse Butte which provides for some spectacular views, especially of the Madison Arm portion of Hebgen Lake. Both sides provide access to launch your boat for some fantastic trout fishing! And while it's catch and release inside the park, it's catch and fry outside!! Today's submission is a view from the top of Horse Butte looking east toward Yellowstone National Park on the left edge of the image. It was a rather stormy day when we were visiting and we didn't stay long, but long enough to get a few nice images. This is what the camera recorded. Madison Arm Lake Hebgen Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

29 Jan 19 Go back to yesterday's location, make a 180, cross the highway, and walk about 20 yards north. Look west. This is where you will be looking and what you see will depend on the time of year and weather. This particular shot was taken 24 hours prior to the shot I shared yesterday. Hwy - 287 is that tiny gray stripe on the very right of the frame. Hwy - 191 is parallel to the bottom of the frame. The Madison river is roughly in the center of the frame running behind the few homes you can see. The Tobacco Root Mountains run left to right across the approximate center of the frame. That storm was gathering energy all day long and over night brought us that lovely white powdery snow that was the accent in yesterday's image. It just doesn't get much better than this; ask anyone who lives there! This is a 7 frame pano in which I've cropped of a wee bit on the right and the left to remove competing material. And of course I've obviously converted it to B&W, Otherwise, this is straight from the camera (multiple times ). The Building Storm Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

23 Jan 19 Back to the more mundane today with a B&W shot of Gibbon Falls. I've shared several images of this falls before but never in B&W. Not sure how this will present for you as on this mailbox it is rather drab but on my graphics box where I created it it is quite stunning! So if it is somewhat drab on your screen trying adjusting either the contrast or the highlights and shadows. Either way it should preset better. This falls is somewhat deceiving as the water in the river (Gibbon) isn't much deeper than two feet and likely not even 18 inches below the falls where it is wider than it is above. The top of the falls slices the river on an angle instead of head on like most falls so it spreads the water over a much wider area than the width of the river just above it. This results in the water being spread out over a much wider rocky face as it tumbles down to the base only once again to be forced back into a more normal channel. During the spring snow melt you can't see most of the rock surface as you can in this late fall shot. If you are one of those who save the images, look back for one I've sent from the May time frame to see the difference. I've wanted to walk down to the river's edge below the fall many times; might just attempt it this year. I've walked to the edge and along the bank above the falls a couple times, but this is a cake walk. The bottom end is a different story. Highly recommend this for your Yellowstone bucket list. This is what the camera saw except for the B&W conversion. A Brite Spot in the Forest Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

31 Jan 19 One of the things I'm hearing more and more from those who offer photographic advice is that photographers should think of themselves as artists. It is almost becoming a mantra in the "arena' of photography and to some degree a bit irritating to my way of thinking. The artist aspect definitely has it's place and, unless one is doing strictly documentary photography, should be given its due, but the emphasis being put on it is becoming a bit much from my perspective. That said, there is another adage almost universally applied to the field that goes "whatever you shoot, make it your own." That one I totally agree with and in as much as more and more folks are shooting the same shots over and over again, there is a challenge, and I think a fun one, to make your shot of something everyone else is shooting, or has shot, stand out. Not always as easy to do as to say, but at least something for which to strive. The Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is likely in the top 5 most photographed sights in the park, and getting something different is always a challenge. Today's submission is that of the falls in the autumn when there isn't all that much water flowing in the river. But that just means there is an opportunity to concentrate on the canyon walls with the falls as the icing on the cake. I've tried to sculpt the light to give the canyon walls the feeling of depth that the eye sees but the flat photo can't recreate. For this Theatrical Thursday we'll call that creative. Other than the light sculpting this is what the camera recorded. Almost 3-D Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/400 sec @ f / 9.

21 Jan 19 Don't know what was available in your area, but tonight, for those residing in my neck of the woods, there was a full lunar eclipse. The weather made it an iffy thing and when I first looked to see what opportunity might present itself it appeared to be a no show due to clouds but upon giving it a second chance it was a go so I gave it my best. As I don't have the equipment for such it was more fun looking at it than recording it. Tomorrow after I've had a bit of time to play with the images I took I'll share what I saw. Meanwhile it's time to return to the Yellowstone trip. Over the weekend I finally got around to backing up all the images to DVD (20) and realized how much there was to share, so here we go. There is an area not far from Old Faithful called Blacktail Deer and I seldom see folks there including me. But we did visit the area on the last trip and in the snow to boot. This is an eight image pano of the area and if you look carefully you will see a herd of bison over 100 strong. They are the tiny brown specs on the hillside but if you zoom in to 75 - 100% you'll not only clearly see them but also the snow that was swirling down around us. The bison were seeming oblivious to it but it got our attention, in a positive way I might add. The grey area at each end of the photo is just snow clouds almost reaching the deck. Fun time to shoot especially when you have a nice warm vehicle from which to work!! I thought about making this a nice bright contrasty image which would have given it much greater brilliance and rendered the colors much richer but that really would have been phony looking once you picked up on the snow storm, so you are seeing it muted colors and all just as did we. Besides being an 8 image pano, this is what the camera saw and recorded. Spongy Plain, Bison, & Snow Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.

28 Jan 19 At the intersection of Hwys 287 & 191 you can find small streams teasing the roadway on both sides. Along each embankment and for a distance back you find lots of water loving willows that appear more as shrubs than trees. They may in fact not be trees but willows they are. They can be quite colorful year round, but they are at their best with a fresh coat of whitewash without requiring any assistance from Tom or Huck. This is the scene we enjoyed one morning for a few hours but it was gone by late afternoon. A few weeks later (Nov) this was just a full bed of snow but during the first weeks of Oct you get to see all the detail and when you have a combination of this plus some sunlight peeking through it is simply breathing, not only because of the temps but because of its absolute beauty. This is almost straight from the camera although I did a small amount of light sculpting to force your eyes to the stream bed. Following a Fresh Snowfall Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.

02 Jan 19 Welcome to 2019! We start the new year with image number 3122; likely won't mention such again until next 31 Dec. The conclusion of 2018 and beginning of 2019 were both forecast to be beautiful blue skies and bright sunshine. But having lived here for more than half our Iives we know better than to trust the weather guessers so with a gorgeous last day of the year we took off for an afternoon drive around a section of Hood Canal. (It was the smart choice as New Year's day didn't live up to the forecast!!) We covered only a small section but in the process traveled some new roads and encountered several lovely sights. Much to my delight there were many occasions where god rays were showing off and I did my best to capture several instances of them. We left just after 1200 so our trip was afternoon sun all the way, sometimes making for a wonderful drive, sometimes not, depending on where the sun was relative to the windscreen. That low light level however really provided some dramatic lighting and the camera did its best to capture it for you. One of my favorite captures of the day was that of a creek with several trees down across it and a backdrop of alders being back lit turning them into a golden glow. Don't believe I've ever encountered something even close to this before, so I thought I'd share it as the first image of the year. This is basically what the camera saw although I did a small amount of dodging and burning to place you eye where I wanted it. Afternoon Delight Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/60 sec @ f / 9.

10 Jan 19 For today's Theatrical Thursday submission I'm sharing the creative version of Monday's color image. It's quite a different presentation and I was truly surprised that Jan likes it as much as she does since she generally doesn't like the creative versions of the images. Thus, based on her response, you get a chance to way in and make your own assessment. I happen to really like this sketchbook approach and convert about 5% of the images into the look, and if you keep them you'll likely recognize that I share 3 - 4 each year. So, one down, "X" to go. Other than the obvious conversion this is the same as Monday's submission. From an Old Sketch Book Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/800 @ f / 9.

07 Jan 19 About 5 minutes after I shot the image of the god rays I shared last week we came to a bend in the road and were presented with the view I'm sharing today. It appeared from where we were positioned off the road that a family was residing at each side of the neck of this little cove. As you drive along the shoreline of Hood Canal you come upon several of these delightful little locations but you can find them all over the greater Kitsap Peninsula area. Zoom in to 100% to see all the wildlife enjoying this lovely winter afternoon (ducks, seagulls, and fish). In the background are some of the snow capped peaks in the Olympic mountain range, our western range of mountains. We also have an eastern range of mountains that are equally beautiful, those being the Cascades. On a clear day, when we get them, we can enjoy views of both ranges, a treat not shared in most places in the world. After spending the better part of the afternoon looking at scenes like the two I've shared we topped it off with a calamari/halibut & chips dinner. Somebody has to do it! This is basically what the camera saw save for a small branch I removed from the upper left hand corner. Harmony Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

12 Jan 19 A cardinal rule for most landscape photographers is that you never take a photo that contains a contrail; you just don't! But rules as they say are made to be broken, and so I break this one for today's Saturday Night Special, something I haven't done for over a year. Walking Miss Maggie this morning we saw a rather spectacular display of two intersecting contrails which at the moment we first saw them were much narrower than they are in my capture, as the capture required our returning back home to get the camera. I know, shame on me for not having it with me. In any event, I thought you might appreciate what we saw. I had planned on sharing some other info today sans photo, but since the opportunity presented itself I've added the photo. This is straight from the camera. Blow'n in the Wind Nikon D500; 18 - 20; Aperture Priority; ISO 160; 1/1250 sec @ f / 9. Most, if not all, of you are aware of my interest in two general ares of photography, those being macro first and landscape/nature second. I find inspiration in the work of others who share similar interests and towards that end I've shared the names of a couple of photographers whose work I admire. The one you will most likely recall is that of Kathleen Clemens a Maine based photographer whose specialty is fine art flower photography although she does much more than that. Another who you may or may not recall my mentioning is Harold Davis, a California base photographer and author who does very specialized light box based flower photography and creative landscapes. There is a third whom I haven't mentioned prior and she is the reason for this narrative. Hazel Meredith is a Connecticut based photographer whose major emphasis, from my perspective, is creative photography via the application of textures. All three of these individuals are VERY accomplished artists and offer individual/group training if you should be interested via paid workshops and free webinars with Topaz Labs which is where I initially came into contact with each of them. This past week Hazel put on a Topaz webinar in which she mentioned a piece of graphic manipulation software I had never heard of before so I went looking for it and found a real bonanza. Anthropics Technology Ltd. is a London based company that offers a variety of digital editing programs all of which are very reasonably priced and HIGHLY capable, although, like many things, come with a learning curve. I want to bring your attention to the photo editing program called LandscapePro. Click the “what it does” tab to get a feel for the program. In short, unlike anything else I've ever encountered, you drag a tab on an area of the photo, say the tab “sky” in the sky area of your photo. The program can then automatically ascertain what part of your photo is sky and change it. I know this sounds a bit weird, but apparently this is some very advanced AI technology. Even if you aren't in the market for a first piece or additional piece of editing software I encourage you to give it a look. If it tickles your fancy in any way you might also like looking at Smart Photo Editor which lets you make thousands of versions of a photo with a single click. All of the Anthropics products come with a try before you buy option. Just for the record, I have NO connection to Anthropics but simply found their products interesting enough that I wanted to share.

17 Jan 19 Arriving in Rockport we did our normal eagle scouting for a grand total of two and as we were leaving Jan said "have we ever gone down this road" referring to Saulk River Road which we had once prior but as she couldn't remember when we took it again. It was a good call as we got to see some really pretty stuff much of which I tried to record, some successfully, some not so much. Today's submission is one of those that came out rather good although, I blew the best shot. As I was taking one very much like this a juvenile Bald Eagle flew through about 12 feet off the ground but I was looking in the direction it was flying so by the time I even noticed it the critter was effectively gone. Not sure how well the bird would have fit in the picture but it is fun to imagine. You of course can just imagine it in the frame as you wish. ;-) As we approached this setting I originally saw only the low lying fog but it was enough for me to want to try and capture it. Walking alongside the road on the opposite of the barrier I looked back and saw the filtered sunlight; of course I couldn't resist trying to capture it. The rays were only visible for a distance of perhaps 20 feet; on either side of that space they didn't exist. By the time I was ready to quit shooting they were all but gone. Lucky shot? Today is supposed to be a creative image but I'll just let Nature's creativity speak for itself. This is what the camera saw. Late Morning Fog Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/200 sec @ f / 9.

18 Jan 19 A few yards from where I took the image with the fog and god rays and shared yesterday Jan found a few fallen branches with a lot of white stuff sticking out of them. She immediately recognized the white stuff as ice crystals but it didn't connect for me until today when I was working up a few images. I thought it would make for a good macro/close-up candidate so that's what I'm sharing today. You'll need to zoom in to at least 50%, preferably 100%, to really get an appreciation for this hair like ice. It made for a couple really nice creative images, one I might even print and frame, but you need to see the real thing as making anything creative "destroys" the filamentous structure of the frozen water. This is straight from the camera save for some small amount of cropping for presentation. Explosion Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/320 @ f / 9

24 Jan 19 For today's Theatrical Thursday there was a choice of something from the European cruise, Yellowstone, or local. Jan said local, so here we have a shot taken from roughly the same spot as last year. This time it's a landscape vice portrait look and unlike last year's sans snow. This year's trip to the Skagit swapped snow for wind and some brilliant sunshine with totally blue skies for clouds. Given a choice, I'd prefer last year's weather but you work with what you're presented. There is a location on the Skagit at roughly the 90 mile marker - or mile post as some prefer to call it - where there are a large number of cement things in the river which for lack of a better name I'll call a log jam that serve some purpose. They are to my knowledge a relatively recent addition to the river which I'm guessing were put there for some kind of flood control. I've never found any info as to why they are located where they are but they do make for an interesting curiosity. You can see some of them at the bottom of this image. This location is not far from the town of Concrete so I thought just for fun I'd "paint" it onto concrete. The Diablo range of the Cascade mountains forms the background with the Skagit river twisting through the middle of the frame. Other than the conversion to the concrete look, I've also given the bare trees a little attention. Painted Over Concrete Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

16 Jan 19 I'll press my luck and go with a second mountain image from Monday's trip up the Skagit. This time I'm going with a B&W in part because my bride, who typically doesn't like the genre, took one look and said "that looks like an Ansel Adams print." Can't get a much better compliment than that so now you get to comment, at least to yourself. I've been told the name of this peak is Lookout Mountain but I can't find any named photos to collaborate it so I'll leave it unnamed. Driving along Hwy-20 with the Skagit River on your right, at the point in Marblemount where the road and the river make a 90 degree turn to the left, there is a bridge crossing the river. The road on the other side of the bridge is Cascade River Road. This road goes about 18 miles and dead ends. At roughly the 7 mile mark is a small pull out which provides this view. This is as far as we've taken the drive as the road is generally covered in deep snow at this point and I haven't wanted to challenge Mother Nature more than necessary. Monday the road was completely dry but we had more places to visit and didn't press on. If Hwy-20 is on your horizon do take a few minutes to drive along Cascade Rive road to enjoy this magnificent view. This is a four frame pano that I've severely cropped for best presentation. I should have taken the shot as an HDR series but failed to notice the need while I was shooting. As such the entire right hand side hillside was lost so I cropped all that away. As such you miss some of the grandeur of the location. Pano Under Harsh Lighting Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1250 sec @ f / 9.

15 Jan 19 Very late today; my apology. We got up way before the sun on Monday and headed for the North Cascades region of the state on our annual trek to that area to see what's there. It was the day after the annual Eagle Festival and apparently all the stars had checked out and gone on their way. We saw a total of 4 but as they weren't the reason for the trip it didn't matter. Had that been the number hanging out over the weekend I'm rather certain it would have been duly noted!! We were hoping for some white weather but instead were treated to lots of yellow weather and completely empty skies. That made for some challenging photography; very high contrast and nothing to counter it. But I still took couple hundred images including many from a few locations we hadn't visited in the past as well as some from areas we frequently visit. By the time we got back home we were tired, cold, and ready to crash. A few too many tasks for this morning added to the delay. But let's start with a shot that shows how we ended out shoot. I've shared shots from this spot before, but they have always been of the late afternoon type. So here is 7,853 foot Sloan Peak, not high enough to be considered a real mountain out here, just a foothill, but I'll wager a pretty good sized mountain for those of you on the right coast. The setting sun provided a subtle display of color all the way to dark; morning was just a bit more vibrant. We got to enjoy it all from before start to after finish. Kinda hard to beat a day like that and a much appreciated break from the rains. Today it is similar; tomorrow the rains are slated to return. Other than a bit of straightening, this is what the camera recorded. Sunset on Sloan Peak Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/200 sec @ f / 9.