So cool .. !

So very tempting ! It seems like the tree is inviting me for a relaxing nap. So very perfect, green, calm - I can smell the grass, hear the birds ... just need a bedsheet, a pillow and a book.

In My Dreams

Apr2007-Skagit: The never ending rows of beautiful tulips feels like being in a dream ...

Mt. Rainier & its reflection

23Aug2008 Mt. Rainier in Tipsoo Lake: Any photographer is fortunate to have a peak like Mt. Rainier in vicinity. It is so majestic, beautiful and is multi-facet, that how much ever you try to capture it, it is always different. Over the last three years, I had tried to capture reflection of Mt. Rainier in one of its lakes - Reflection lake, but was never fortunate. This time, I made a try at Tipsoo Lake. I decided to reach Tipsoo Lake (near Sunrise point) by dawn and managed to reach by 6:30am (I had to start at 3:30am from my home !). I found already two professional photographers already clicking away with cameras set on tripods. I tried my luck and was satisfied. I missed the graduated ND filter as the peak with sun rays was way too much illuminated than the below trees and flowers at the lake. I managed some basic image manipulations in Picassa and this was the outcome.

Besides the river

Jul2008 Yellowstone: This is taken just above Upper Yellowstone falls along a trail which goes along the river towards the bridge. Somehow I like this shot, cannot figure out why. It has been processed for sharpness, saturation and cropped a bit.

Lake Monster

Aug2008, Lake Serene: Crystal clear lake, so still and mysterious, in midst of mountains, so much so that you need to climb about 2000ft to get to it. This fallen tree brings the mythical monster stories back to life in this ideal dwelling spot.

Colorful drop

16Aug2008 - Lake Serene: Today I had been to Lake Serene - this is a Glacier lake. I was surprised to find snow even at this time of the year. This shot is of tree leaves fallen into the water near the bank. At time of taking this shot, I did not notice the whirlpool due to some drop, but was pleasantly surprised when I downloaded this pic. It has been processed for sharpness, saturation and cropped. I will post some more snaps Lake Serene later.

The Guardian

May2008-Glacier National Park: This picture strikes multiple notes and thus am confused as what to name it. Just look and it gives a feeling of fresh rain on thirsty tree. Keep looking and it seems the lone tree has overcome a struggle and now rising among the lowely twigs or other way round seems to be the guardian of the small twigs. The flower in the background speaks of new life amongst the dried twigs.
Technically - I liked the bokeh and the DOF. Seems a bit underexposed- tried to increase brightness, but was losing the background effect, hence left as-is.

Looming Storm

May2008, McDonnald lake, Glacier National Park: It was our last day at Glacier National Park. We had camped at Sprague Creek campground and we had to leave the park by afternoon back home. The morning plan was to visit Bowman lake. So early morning we started and were rushing towards Bowman lake. As I was driving along the Going-to-the-sun road, I noticed reflection of clouds in McDonnald lake the trees and we just took the next turnout to land at a picnic spot. The view was astounding, even with lot of time constraint we did not even notice how 20mins went by. This is a crop shot, with b/w processing. I could not get details of the mountains due to cloudy sky and opposite direction, hence the color shot misses details. Posting the b/w version as I feel it does not need those details ;)

Lost in the woods

Mt. Si in Mar'08: After long winter hibernation, I was looking out for a hiking trail without snow. The winter was unusually long and most of the trails in Snoqualmie had snow. Picking Mt. Si as the first hiking trail of the season proved to be difficult. After about 2.5mi we got snow on the trail and the trail was also climbing steeply. 50% of group stayed behind and 50% continued. The trail was a bit boring for a photography trip - all the while it went through pine trees and no open view of the mountains and just no colors. This was one shot I was happy about - specifically since I was experimenting with DOF and f values on newly acquired 30D.

Lenticular cloud

Midst of winter (Jan'08) - generally a long hibernation time in Seattle. Was longing to go out and got just perfect day to visit Rainier. We had started late and kind of reached around 12:00 noon - just on time to go for a snowshoeing walk with the NPS rangers on the Nisqually Vista Trail (http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/winter-recreation.htm#CP_JUMP_142395). The tour was just perfect with first experience of snowshoeing, and being on Rainier when being graced with the cloud cap - which I found is named as Lenticular cloud. I had just got my Canon 30D and the sole 17-50mm lens. This was my first outdoor with the camera. On that day I was the only one carrying an SLR on the tour and kind of got some stares from the group. I remember one of the person started talking to me about the advantage of using a point-and-shoot and not much being the difference between an SLR and a point and shoot. I did not cross him much as I did not want to spoil his trip or mine. Towards afternoon 3:00pm - or rather evening considering the season - I captured the above snap. The visitor center on the right nearly buried under snow and cloud on the left gave an out-of-world look. This is unprocessed shot and straight out of camera.

Keeping together

Shenendoah national park - in April'08. This cluster of trees without much leaves looked interesting.

Tulips

In April'08 had been to Tulip festival at Skagit valley - north of Seattle. It was a warm sunny day. At the time I had just one 17-50mm lens and was looking for a shot which was more like macro/close-up. All the previous shots were "big-picture" shots and were missing the flower details. After walking along the fields for long I felt like sitting for a while and fortunately I sat just by the flowers when this composition clicked. I got scoldings from my wife for spoiling my cargos. After looking at the shot back now, it felt worthwhile and so does my wife.

Skydiving adventure

Date: 20th May 2008
Day: Sunday
Place: Mulalla, OR - Oregon Skydiving

After a long time the plan was finally made - 11 people landed at Mulalla to experience the first skydiving adventure of their lives - and me was one. After our registration and weired waivers - don't even ask what they were, just go and you will know - we had our small training and orientation. The waivers as I recalled in the end were the most frightening thing in the whole episode !




Myself and Srikanth opted to go first in the group as we all wanted a video and the outfitters could carry only two video recorders. So it was - we went in and got our change of dress - well extra harness, a cap and the goggles. As we came out, the rest of the group was all excited and it showed.











After the brief meeting with the group we started to the airplane. The feeling was quite mixed - excitement, apprehension of doing it, staying up to expectations - not me only - the whole group who had joined! Well, the foremost thing that occupied my mind was to ensure that I get attached to the parachute - it is carried by the instructor who jumps with you in the tandem jump!

Getting into plane was easy. The plane was not as i thought - did not have all the seats and interior we are used to seeing. It had just a pair of benches running along the length of the plane. Me being the first to enter, ended up sitting just behind the pilot - well the co-pilot (I doubt if there was one) - back-to-back. I noticed the pilot also had a parachute. This was a booster to my confidence on the plane !

Everyone got into the craft and we started our ascent. People started getting smaller, the huge farms started shrinking to rectangular patches and after sometime into a collage. I thought we had reached enough height to jump - when my instructed showed me the altimeter strapped to his wrist - 3000ft. Well we still had 11000 ft to climb!

What it seemed to be like a long time - was spent in seeing the scenery around - Mt Hood, Helens and Adams graced the horizon. Occasionally my video person just checked up with me as how I felt. My instructor thought I was getting nervous and gave me instructions on how to breath slowly in case I panic.


What I really was concentrating was on ensuring I get attached to the parachute. Still the instructor had not made a move (at least I did not get to know) to attached my harness to the parachute or at least to him!

Altimeter check again - 10000ft - just 4000ft more to go. Instructor attached the my harness clips to his and tightened the straps. I felt the tension in the straps and finally was relieved that I was attached to the parachute or the instructor as now it did not matter - unless the instructor wanted to JUST jump - but then he seemed to be sane. I don't know if he thought the same of me ... at least I did not :-)

It was time. The plane was in nose-up position. The door opened. One by one the other folks just went to the door, looked down, climbed out and just dropped off! They made it look so simple.





Me and my instructor started to move to the door.






14000 ft and I was looking down from the aeroplane door with feet dangling down! I imagine that and it gives me shivers - but then I did just that.

After that it was just too fast. I only regret that I did not have control on when to jump - like what we do in Bungee jumping - here the instructor controlled all. The last minute thumping of heart beat was missing.

And then we jumped! Everything started spinning - including me. I did not have any sense of direction for a few moments.













I could hear my instructor murmuring "arch .. arch". I regained my senses and moved to form the arch position - just arching the back with hands stretched forward and legs stretched with knees bent.


The fall stabilised.










As we fell, I was looking all the time downward. The ground was in no hurry to rush towards us ... we seemed to be floating. The only sense of fall was air hammering on my cheeks.



The instructor caught hold of my head and lifted it upward for the video shot. I had totally forgotten about the video guy. Then i posed with the usual thumbs up. I also gave a good shout, but the air gushed in and all my mouth with inner nostrils and throat went dry. After that i did not shout. The thumbs up was my only was of communicating the excitement and enjoyment.




Then I heard my instructor shouting "Hold-on" and something to signal that he was going to open the parachute.
The parachute opened with a jerk and noticed our camera-man fall as a piece of lead and we got pulled up.













The canopy ride was also cool. The instructor gave a feel of a few maneuvers like left turn, right turn, stop and the rotations. He handed me the controls for a few minutes.

I enjoyed the smooth canopy ride back with views of the horizons, the biggies of cascades in the horizon and patchy ground below with other jumpers floating down.

The landing was smooth and no causalities. The cameraman was waiting and my instructor just landed in front of him.

I did not notice any of the other folks - I was just shouting and could not contain my excitement.











Srikanth was already down. He approached and we hi-fi'ed on the accomplishment.

In our excitement we blabbered something at the video.










And that was the end of our adventure. We changed and joined our friends back. Two had left for the next ride and others were very inquisitive on how we felt and was it too scary. We kept the secret to ourselves and told them to experience it first hand to enjoy fully!

Full video at:

Mt. Hood in Trillium lake

We had camped at Hood river and I had wanted to photograph Mt. hood since long time. My previous two visits to the area Mt Hood had evaded me with cloudy skies. In fact, during the previous trip in the evening as we were returning back it kind of mocked me with clear view from very far off as I could see in my rear-view mirror. This time, the weather predicted was very clear. I made it a point to get up by 5:00am and rush towards Trillium lake. No breakfast, no fresh-up .. just packed the tent and rushed to the lake. As we got into Trillium area, we had to pay to get into the picnic area. I cursed as my yearly Golden Eagle was not accepted. We started towards the lake and as we approached the lake I was apprehensive if I could get clear view. Through the trees, I could see the lake was covered with mist and I cursed that again I was going to miss the view. As I got to the lake, I was spell-bound - there was mount Mt. Hood with clear-skies and perfectly reflected in Lake. The mist hanging gave another ambiance with few folks fishing standing on the deck.