There’s something to be said for a simple composition. It can tell a story just as compelling as a detailed landscape.
In today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler is my most recent photo column, and it’s all about the beauty of a simple composition.
Click the image above and go on over to take a look.
The image here was a simple one to shoot. I wanted to emphasize the trail from it’s wide openness at the bottom of the photo to its sinuosity as it wound around Cinder Cone to the very top. You can see that lone tree growing from the volcano’s flanks (which was another simple composition in and of itself when I photographed it with my telephoto lens).
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on Photography In The National Parks: The Beauty Of A Simple Composition
It’s Trivia Tuesday folks! Did you know there are now 424 units within the National Park System? These units cover more than 85 million acres in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories. With so many units, there’s plenty to learn, which is why I pen a monthly quiz and trivia piece for the National Parks Traveler. Sure, you know a lot about your job role where ever you work, but how much do you know about national parks?
Click on the image above to go to the quiz.
The image you see here is of Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde National Park. True or False: it’s the largest cliff dwelling in the park. To find out the answer, go to the quiz and look at the bottom of the piece. But, wait, why not just test your knowledge by looking at the entire quiz first, then reading the trivia, *then* checking the answers. You might learn something new with which to impress friends, family, and co-workers.
Comments Off on National Parks Quiz And Trivia #59
Becky at the boundary line between North Cascades National Park and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area (Washington)
I originally wrote this in honor of International Women’s Day, but really, this is for any day of the year, any year, and definitely for all women of any age. When I wrote this on my Facebook photography page, it was March 8, “a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.” I may not have accomplished as much as other women (I’m pretty certain I’ll never climb Mt. Everest or photograph a mother whale and her calf beneath the ocean’s surface), yet I feel I’ve achieved quite a bit in my almost-62 years of life. At least, in certain areas. And the photos you see here prove it. This post here, is just for the ladies, as a matter of fact. No, I’m not eschewing the men in your lives, but on this particular day, here’s to the ladies. And ladies – here’s a little bit of advice: travel solo on occasion.
Becky heading into the Quinault Rainforest at Olympic National Park (Washington)
Ladies, travel ignites the sparks of learning, imagination, and creativity. Solo travel does that in addition to highlighting strengths, accomplishments, and maybe even pointing out areas needing improvement. Yes, there is always risk with solo travel. In truth, there’s risk with just about everything in life, from job to relationships to planning your future. The main thing is that at least once in your life, you should strike out on a brand new adventure all by yourself.
Becky on the Grinnell Glacier Trail in Glacier National Park – my very first photo workshop and first photo adventure back in 2008
Take me, for instance. Yeah, it’s all about me (snort), but hey, it’s my photography page and they say to always write about what you know.
To get all these images you’ve seen here, I can thank the internet. I can also thank trains, planes, and automobiles. I travel with my cameras to units of the National Park System all over the U.S. and even into Canada. Solo. And I love it. As a matter of fact, I think solo travel for women is empowering. I’ve traveled solo pretty much all my life, excluding a few group photo workshops here and there. I prefer solo travel because it allows me to do what I want, when I want, where I want, how I want. I can stop at a view area photographing for as long as I like, breathing in the beauty of the landscape or watching in awe a herd of bison navigate across a valley. I can eat whatever I want, stay where ever I want (well, where ever I can afford), and pack whatever I want (now that I drive instead of fly). I don’t have to worry about a bored traveling partner who wants to stop sooner than I like, who wants to do something other than what I want to do, who doesn’t want to eat where I want to eat – you get the gist. No, I’m not dissing group travel, which can be a rich experience in and of itself. I’ve had grand times with group photo tours. I’m simply telling you that the energizing experience of traveling includes solo travel. It’s good to strike off on your own, now and then, and do something for yourself. Do what you want to do.
Sure, solo travel can be a bit daunting, particularly for women. It doesn’t matter if you’ve traveled by yourself for years or if you are just starting out. Traveling by oneself means paying closer attention to safety and security. You need to check those rental car tires yourself. Get good locks for your luggage. Carry important items such as wallets or passports in a jacket or vest pocket on your body. Carry bear spray. Carry a whistle. Make noise when hiking. Yes, they say you should never hike alone, but when I’m traveling, I’m not going to stand around waiting to tag along with strangers who might not want a third wheel. As a solo traveler, I’m responsible for my own safety, and I have no problems changing my hiking itinerary if warranted.
As I grow older, I find myself slowing down a little more, taking more breaks along the trail, gauging my level of fitness when tackling a slightly more strenuous trail. But as long as I can continue traveling solo, with camera in hand, I’m going to do just that.
FYI – these images of myself were captured with the camera on a tripod and me holding either a wireless remote or using the camera’s 10-second self-timer.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on Women, National Parks, Solo Travel – At Any Age
What you see in this image is a part of what is known as a “sun halo.” It’s an atmospheric phenomenon, which is an event created by the interaction of sunlight or moonlight with the atmosphere, water, rain, clouds, dust, or other particulate matter. The belt of Venus, a rainbow, crepuscular rays, anticrepuscular rays, the Northern Lights – those are all atmospheric phenomena and I have written about photographing them in my latest article published today in the National Parks Traveler.
Just click on the image above to be taken to that article.
This image was captured during a hike along the Carroll Rim Trail in the Painted Hills Unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon. This trail is the longest trail (maybe a mile one-way) in this particular unit and worth the hike up to the top for a 360-degree view.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on Photography In The National Parks: Atmospheric Phenomena
It’s the last day of #volcanoweek so let’s start today off with a volcano quiz question.
Brokeoff Mountain (far right in this image) in Lassen Volcanic National Park is a remnant of the much larger and broader ___.
a) Mount Tacoma
b) Mount Tahoma
c) Mount Tehama
d) Mount Assiniboine
That’s one of the quiz questions in my latest quiz and trivia piece published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler. Why not click on the image above and go on over there to test your national parks knowledge, read the trivia, and maybe even learn a little something new.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on National Parks Quiz And Trivia #58
It’s nearing the end of #volcanoweek and it’s also #FunFactFriday . Oh, and the National Parks Traveler has published an article I wrote about volcanos and volcanic features in units of the National Park System as a Feature Story. It’s sort of a trifecta for me, I guess. Check out the article by clicking on the image above.
As for this image of Kilauea volcano, it was captured in the very late afternoon during a 2017 during a photo tour I attended. Kilauea volcano, in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, is a shield volcano, like Mauna Loa. Shield volcanoes are actually the largest volcanoes in the world, although they do not exhibit that high, conical shape of stratovolcanoes, which we tend to think of as the highest. No, shield volcanoes look like warriors’ shields – a bit convex on top where the summit is, with broad, gentle, rounding slopes fanning outward.
A Northerly View Of The Yakima River At The Umtanum Ridge Water Gap, Washington State
When is a landscape associated with the National Park Service, yet not a unit within the National Park System? When it’s a National Natural Landmark.
Today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler has published an article of mine about these very special places, designated by the NPS for their outstanding examples of a biological or geologic feature.
To read the article, click on the image above.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Comments Off on National Natural Landmarks – An NPS Designation For Very Special Places
It’s #funfactFriday folks! And today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler features a contribution from the Caldera Chronicles, a weekly feature produced by collaboration by scientists and the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
Today’s article is all about how the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone came into being. Granted, it’s not like the Grand Canyon of Arizona, but it’s a pretty cool (and colorful) place all on it’s own, “Stretching from the Lower Falls to the Tower Falls area, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is about 28 km (17 miles) long, 250–350 meters (820–1150 feet) deep, and 450–1200 meters (1500–4000 feet) across. It appears to be a surprisingly young feature of the region, having mostly formed during and immediately following the last ice age, within the past 20,000 years or so. “
To read more about this and view the video, click the image above.
These shots were captured during my autumn 2019 visit to Yellowstone National Park. I’d wanted to see the Lower Falls area back during the summer of 2018, as I made my way from TX to WA, but the crowds were horrendous and there was absolutely no place to park – seriously, every single parking space was filled. On the other hand, this visit resulting in these images was great – definitely no crowds.
The National Parks Traveler has published my latest Photography in The National Parks column. It’s the same thing every year, in keeping with a tradition I began back in 2015 when I started listing between 5 – 10 of my favorite images captured the previous year.
This month’s column is about my 10 favorite images I took during 2022, including the one you see here.
Now, I’m pretty sure you are wondering why on earth I might like an image like *this* one. Well, sometimes it’s not so much the landscape itself that makes for a favorite shot, as it is a pattern, color, texture, or memory of when / why that image was photographed. In the case of the image here, I thought the lines from the bottom of the photo leading my eye toward the Old Faithful Inn in the distance were pretty cool (aka leading lines). I liked the colors, the texture, and the parallel patterning of that thick ridge of snow and ice on the boardwalk (a good reason to be wearing traction devices on one’s boots, btw) on that very cold winter day in February 2022.
To see the rest of my 10 favorites, and to read why they are faves and how I got the shot, click on the image above.
Comments Off on Photography In The National Parks: My 10 Favorite Shots From 2022
Where’s that trail going to take you in 2023? For me, it took me along a New Year’s Day snowshoe hike at Mount Rainier National Park. I think it was the prettiest winter day I’ve seen at the park, to date (not that I’ve been up there too many times in the winter, but of those times I *have* been there, this day had to be the best).
Mount Rainier staff only open the Paradise area on the weekends, now, due to understaffing, so I thought it was going to be a zoo. When I first arrived, there were rangers out there directing traffic and helping people park (correctly), so every single parking space was taken. Really, though, the only real crowding I saw was in the parking lot, near the start of the snow climb. About a mile into the hike, there were few people. And oh, the scenery!
I gotta send a shout out to all those skiers who hiked (most on their skis, some on snowshoes) way up to a snow-covered ridge on what I believe is part of the Skyline Trail. That was a good 2-3 mile hike to get there. Those people are in very good shape, and serious about their skiing, powerhousing it up to the ridge.
Speaking of skis and snowshoes, if you decide to take a little weekend trip up to Paradise, then go early (the gate at Longmire usually opens at 9 a.m. unless weather dictates otherwise), and for goodness sake, take snowshoes or skis. I noticed some people did not have either, so they stuck close to the parking lot, or risked “post holing” (where your foot sinks waaaaay down into the snow, potentially causing an injury or at the very least, a face plant). Not even the “packed” snowshoe/ski trails were that hard-packed. I can tell you that from personal experience, because I lost one of my snowshoes (due to faulty securing on my boot) and had to back down the trail to get it, post holing a couple of times along the way, on the trail. Not so much afraid for myself, but rather for getting snow in/on the camera
Oh, and make sure you keep track of your time, because the Longmire gate closes at 4 p.m. You miss that deadline and you are stuck – seriously. Annnnd, drive slowly. Black ice (that’s ice invisible to the naked eye, more or less, so it looks like a part of the asphalt) was all over the road. One SUV ahead of me skidded completely off the road, and I skidded slightly a couple of times, even with my 4WD and great tires. I finally figured out if the road was shiny-looking, it was probably icy, and drove accordingly.
This morning, muscles hurt in areas I guess I haven’t used much. And I was exhausted yesterday once I made it back to my vehicle. But oh, what a day. Couldn’t have been a better start to the New Year for me: gorgeous scenery, great exercise, and awesome photography.
All images on these posts are the exclusive property of Rebecca L. Latson and Where The Trails Take You Photography. Please respect my copyright and do not use these images on Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat or any other business, personal or social website, blog site, or other media without my written permission. Thank you.
You can reach me at rebeccalatson@wherethetrailstakeyou.com
Where The Trails Take You Photography 
You must be logged in to post a comment.