Tag Archives: Photography In The National Parks

July 19, 2022 · 3:10 am

Photography In The National Parks: My Favorite Parks For Photography – Part 1

*Painted Hills Unit Landscape Color, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (Oregon)*

In my lifetime, I’ve visited over 30 units of the National Park System. This includes national parks, national monuments, and national historic sites. This also includes a national historic trail, a national natural landmark, and a national geologic trail. Some of these places were visited B.D.C. (Before Digital Camera), which means I have no images of them (like Mammoth Cave, which I did photograph with a film camera but no longer have the prints or the film strips, unfortunately).

Most photographers will tell you they have no specific favorite park for anything. Well, while I love every single one of these units I’ve visited, I do have favorites for specific photography categories. You probably do too, although you may not have thought about it much. For instance, what are your favorite parks for photographing color? No, not autumn color, but landscape color. What is/are your favorite park(s) for photographing a sunrise or a sunset? What is/are your favorite park(s) for photographing mountains?

Today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler has published my latest Photography in the National Parks column. In this Part 1, I list my favorite parks (of the ones visited and photographed) for specific categories (sunrise/sunset, landscape color, mountainous landscape, wildlife, etc.). I don’t include the recent visits to sights along national historic or geologic trails, or the national natural landmark. So, there’s the caveat to my favorites. Future national park unit visits may change the order of my favorites. We’ll see.

For now, check out the article by clicking on the image above.

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June 21, 2022 · 4:01 am

Photography In The National Parks: Exploration Along The Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail

The National Parks Traveler has published my latest photo column. This month, it’s all about my day trip to Eastern Washington’s Dry Falls and Channeled Scablands landscape along the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail.

To read the article, click on the image above.

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Tagged as Channeled Scablands, coulee, Dry Falls, eastern Washington, Glacial Lake Missoula, Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, landscape, National Parks Traveler, photography, Photography In The National Parks, scenery, vista, Washington State, where the trails take you

April 19, 2022 · 2:37 am

Photography In The National Parks: The Lewis And Clark National Historic Trail Part 3

*Crashing Waves At Cape Disappointment Along The Lewis And Clark National Historic Trail*

It’s National Park Week and Trivia Tuesday! Wanna know what a king tide is and where to see one? Then check out my latest photography article published in the National Parks Traveler to find out the answers, in addition to tips and techniques for photographing king tides and other sights you’ll see if you travel along the Washington state portion of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

To read the article, click on the image above.

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Tagged as Cape Disappointment, Cape Disappointment State Park, Columbia River, king tide, king tides, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, national historic trail, National Park, National Park Week, Olympic Peninsula, photogaphy tips, photography, Photography In The National Parks, Waikiki Beach, Washington, Washington State

March 22, 2022 · 4:25 am

Trivia Tuesday And Photography In The National Parks: Traveling Along The Lewis And Clark National Historic Trail – Part 2

*Going up the switchbacks on the Beacon Rock Trail*

*Savoring a view of the Columbia River landscape while hiking up Beacon Rock*

It’s #TriviaTuesday ! How many of you have ever hiked up Beacon Rock at Beacon Rock State Park in Washington state? It’s a park found right along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail on the Washington side of the Columbia River. The park is centered around an eroded volcanic plug of a volcano that erupted about 57,000 years ago and where Captain William Clark first noticed the tidal influence of the Pacific Ocean (although it’s not really very noticeable now).

Beacon Rock and what you can see and photograph is the subject of my continuing photo column about traveling the Washington side of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, which has been published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler.

To read the article, click on any one of the images above.

I never thought I’d be writing and photographing something for the Traveler about this state park because – well – state vs. national park, right? But I should know better. State parks work together with national parks quite often. Just think about Redwood National and State Parks in California.

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Tagged as Beacon Rock, Beacon Rock State Park, eroded volcano, hiking, Hiking Trail, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, national historic trail, National Parks Traveler, photography, Photography In The National Parks, switchbacks, volcano, Washington, Washington State, where the trails take you

March 17, 2022 · 3:29 am

Photography In The National Parks: Yellowstone In Winter

*Paw Prints On The Shallow Terrace Surface At Midway Basin, Yellowstone National Park*

The National Parks Traveler has published my latest photo column. It’s all about photographing Yellowstone National Park in winter. If you are planning a winter trip to this national park, yourself and are taking your camera, or if you just want to look at pretty winter photos of this park, then click on the image above to be taken to the article.

As for this image here, it was taken during a snowcoach tour with four other people. Our first stop was at Midway Geyser Basin (where Grand Prismatic is located) and we had the entire place to ourselves. It was wonderful! During our walk along the snowy, mainly ice-encrusted boardwalk, we saw different hoof and paw prints on the milky white surface of the shallow terraces. This wide-angle shot shows a set of clearly-defined paw prints on the terrace and the steamy landscape in the distance. It’s actually one of my favorite shots from the entire trip.

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February 23, 2022 · 5:53 am

Photography In The National Parks: Following In The Footsteps Of Lewis And Clark

*A View Down The Columbia River Toward Horsethief Butte (center right}*

In all the hustle and bustle upon my return from Yellowstone National Park, I’d forgotten until now that the National Parks Traveler published my latest photography column. This month’s column is all about traveling along the Washington state portion of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. It’s a three-part photo column and this Part 1 is about visiting and photographing Horsethief Butte and a portion of Columbia Hills Historical State Park. You’ll learn some photography tips and techniques and a little bit of history about Lewis and Clark, too.

To read the article, click on the image above.

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Tagged as Horsethief Butte, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, National Parks Traveler, photography, Photography In The National Parks, Washington, Washington State

January 25, 2022 · 4:00 am

Photography In The National Parks: My 10 Fave Photos From 2021

*The First Kiss Of Sunrise At Tipsoo Lake, Mount Rainier National Park (Washington state)*

Everybody has a favorite photo (or two or three or more) they’ve captured in a national park, right? I certainly have mine. Today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler has published what was officially supposed to be my first Photography in the National Parks column for 2022 (but it got superseded by my Fort Clatsop article). Anyway, today’s article is a look back at my 10 fave images from 2021.

To read the photo column, see my other nine favorite photos, why I like them and how I got each shot, click on the image above.

This image, captured just at the beginning of sunrise on a frosty, snowy morning in Mount Rainier National Park, is one of those 10 favorites. For me, it was a culmination of trying to get just the right sunrise composition of this spot overlooking Tipsoo Lake, over which “The Mountain” towers. Sunrises are, of course, always gorgeous here, but they can often look waaaay oversaturated. In truth, that’s *exactly* the way sunrise looks, for maybe a minute, before the sunrlight then turns white on the snowcapped mountain. The colors for that one moment almost scream at the eye. So, for this shot, I waited for the perfect moment to photograph the composition just as the sun kissed the top of the mountain, leaving the rest of the scene looking cold in the blue/purple shadows of the morning.

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January 13, 2022 · 4:21 am

Welcome To Fort Clatsop

I will be the first to admit, visiting forts or other historical parks was never on my top things to do with my cameras. But, after a visit to this very small fort at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park in Oregon, where Lewis, Clark, and their Corps of Discovery spent a monotonous winter, I have changed my mind.

It’s one thing to read about forts and such, but it’s another thing completely to actually be standing there in the footsteps of history, exploring the nooks and crannies of what he/she/they built so many decades / centuries ago. You get a feel for what it was like to live in a place like this, out in the forest of the Pacific Northwest, near a river, during a wet, cold, dreary winter.

I included a visit to this national historical park during my photo trip along the Pacific Northwest portion of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, and my resulting article has been published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler. If you ever have a chance to explore a historic(al) site like a fort or home or battlefield, I urge you to take the time to do so, and try to imagine what life must have been like in that spot so long ago.

To read the article, just click on the image at the top of this post.

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Filed under history, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, National Parks Traveler, Oregon, Photography

Tagged as December, fort, Fort Clatsop, historical, history, Lewis and Clark, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, National Park, Oregon, Pacific Northwest, photography, Photography In The National Parks, Sony a7riv, Sony Alpha, travel, where the trails take you

November 23, 2021 · 5:31 am

Photography In The National Parks: The Faces Of Winter

*A winter storm over the red-rock landscape of Arches National Park in Utah*

*A winter evening at Kilauea Volcano, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii*

*A high winter cloud ceiling over the Tatoosh Mountains at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state*

Winter has many faces in a national park. It might be snowing, it might not. It might be freezing cold, it might be balmy t-shirt weather. My latest photo column has been published in the National Parks Traveler and it’s all about capturing the many faces of winter. If you are planning a winter trip to a national park unit, you should check out the article.

To read the article, click on any of the images above.

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October 19, 2021 · 5:52 am

Capturing The Color And Character Of Fall

*The Beginning Of Sunrise At Paradise, Mount Rainier National Park (Washington)*

The National Parks Traveler has published my latest photo column. This month, it’s all about capturing that last bit of autumn color before the monochrome palette of winter completely takes over.

To read the article, click on the image above.

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