Olympic National Park

Six years ago, I traveled to a place beyond my wildest imagination. A national park where  in one day, you can be among the towering sea stacks along the Pacific Coast, then a temperate rain forest with giant sitka spruce and douglas fir trees covered in moss, and finish the day off with Glacier covered peaks in the Olympic range. Never before or since have I experienced a place like Olympic National Park.Today I leave for my favorite city Seattle, then I'll spend a full day at Mt. Rainier National Park, and then 5 days in Olympic National Park (4 of those days will be in the backcountry in the Hoh Rainforest and the alpine meadows overlooking Mt. Olympus). I'm going off season, so I will likely see more elk in rut and bears preparing for hibernation than bipeds.

"Trees are the Earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven." -Rabindranath Tagore

Lake Superior

All week, I've been trying to put my finger on what it is about Lake Superior and the upper peninsula of Michigan that has captured my spirit and imagination… Sure, Lake Superior is the biggest and cleanest of the great lakes, and has a gorgeous color, dramatic cliffs and dunes, and even has beautifully colored pebbles and stones along the shore. But there's more, the miles of pristine shores have a certain personality, a certain untouched and unspoken beauty. In a town like Marquette, you'll find 30,000 permanent residents full of pride, that live at a slower place, and don't take a single summer day for granted. I mean how could you, when the beautiful weather only lasts a few short months (I'll argue that their snowy days are beautiful, but I've never lived in frigid temperatures). Those who live in the upper peninsula are fully aware of what they have, yet somehow they manage to keep the upper peninsula one of the best kept secrets in America.

"Happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely upon what you think."- Dale Carnegie

Sarah :: Film

Nothing says nostalgia like the single coated lens of an old Rollei and a Black and White film with a high silver content. And nothing excites me quite as much as experimenting with new cameras and film. While I'm always pleased with my current film work, looking through a waist level viewfinder, shooting square format, and composing with a "mirror image", are all things I'm unaccustomed to, and forced me to look hard, think long, and only then press the shutter.

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.- Neale Donald Walsch

Beauty is Truth :: Truth Beauty

Is it simply a trained eye, or is it merely the recognition of truth? Whether it's large format slide film, hollywood cinema, or color negative film, the difference between film and digital is stark and goes far deeper than just the surface aesthetic. I've come to realize my love for film is more than nostalgia, it is an acknowledgement of something real.Regardless of where you stand on this dichotomy, you can't deny that truth has power. Perhaps Ansel Adams said it best, "The medium's true power came not by evading reality, but by embracing it. It was like the Annunciation! Suddenly I saw what photography could be - A tremendously potent pure art form - an austere and blazing poetry of the real."Sure, digital has it's advantages. It's relatively cost free, you have instant gratification, and the clarity, resolution, and tonal range in the newest high end cameras are approaching the levels of large format film. Yet, the ease comes with another cost, which I could not have said any better than Elliott Erwitt - "Anything that is very simple is apt to be sloppy, you can't be too sloppy in analog photography because it takes time, it takes effort, it takes concentration"To me, film is akin to organic food, and digital, processed food. Sure the processed food can taste good and feeds the vast majority of the population, but only one truly nourishes the body… Film feeds my soul. Film and organic food are a return to the basics, the roots, with nothing artificial added, only grain.

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is allYe know on earth, and all ye need to know."- John Keats

Dawn Mist Falls

The end of a hike is always bittersweet. You hate to leave the backcountry, but the thought of a big delicious meal and a bed weigh heavily on your mind. On our last morning, the alarm sounded at 6:00 AM, and we hastily left camp by 6:45 to embark on our 9.5 mile journey back to the trailhead. Less than a mile in, just off the trail the thunderous sound of plunging water is unmistakable. The trail is coated in a cold mist, and we get a small glimpse of Dawn Mist Falls from above. We continue another quarter mile to find a short detour to base of the falls... It's hard to put in words the beauty that Glacier holds around every corner. While five days in the backcountry may seem like awhile to be disconnected from civilization and modern comforts, I easily could've spent another week in the wilderness and seclusion of Glacier National Park.

“The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human beingcan alter his life by altering his attitude.”William James

The Journey in to the High Country

As the sun began to set on our third day in the backcountry, I sought to capture the essence of Glacier. It was one of those evenings where the warm soft light permeated the landscape. The water quietly flowed a pure bluish green, and subtle nuances of color were glowing in the slowly eroding rock. At first, this bridge merely signified one of a few footbridges we encountered. But it was also a direction in to the backcountry that ultimately leads to two trails, one to a closed tunnel, and the other to a seemingly treacherous snow covered pass. In the morning, it would become a passage to my first glimpse of the high country of Glacier National Park, on the clearest day I could possibly imagine. We opted to trek as far as we could to the tunnel… There was snow and the last mile or so was quite precarious, but if I’ve learned anything… The most valued journeys almost always requires risk.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."Lao-tzu

Glacier National Park

In May of 2002, I read an issue of Adventure Magazine titled, Secret of the Great Parks. For Glacier National Park, a singular quote has stuck with me ever since - "The Milky Way up here is nearly as bright as the moon is elsewhere".After 2 rainy nights camping in Glacier National Park, I felt the night I've anticipated for over 10 years was near. Little did I know, under the veil of clouds and rain was a night sky so dark and so densely packed with stars that I can still hardly believe my eyes. After an hour and a half of star gazing, it was time for sleep… The next day started with Yoga on the shore of this amazing lake, and then a hike of 8.8 miles with about 2,500 ft of elevation gain, up to a snow blocked pass to Ptarmigan Tunnel. I really don't think there is anything more fun than throwing snowballs at my best friends and brother at the end of June.

"Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground"Theodore Roosevelt

Pamela :: Personal

You might think not having a weekend off since February, and shooting five weddings in the last three weekends would leave me tired and burnt out. Quite the contrary, I finished my wedding season energized and excited to experiment with a new black and white film, which I have quickly come to love. On this day, I sought to capture darker scenes and little more drama than you might find in my typical work. However, in the end I knew it would be impossible to hide Pam's great smile and personality. I had the pleasure of shooting my good friend Pam about a year and a half prior, only that was a frigid winter shoot.

Rose Garden

“Two things cannot be in one place. Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow.”― Frances Hodgson Burnett