June in the Puget Sound is never what people think. Summer is here and with the season, thoughts of shorts, sandals, sunscreen and icy drinks. Instead our June’s are often accompanied with jeans, boots, raincoats, and hot coffee. Summer weather doesn’t warm the area, or our bones, until July 5th. But signs of our fun-loving season are everywhere from the flowering wild rhodies to the socked feet in birkenstocks.With the warmer temps are plans for adventure and creativity. Although, the spring chill and rains did not keep me home, do they ever?
My biggest accomplishment of spring was speaking at the Nature Photographer’s of the Pacific Northwest spring meeting. What a day. What a reception. In the morning I shared my ideas about personal projects and why we should find a project. The discussion afterwards was filled with ideas and self-challenges, any speaker wishes to have their audience begin thinking and discussing the ideas of their presentation. I hope the attendees are still enthused about finding their personal project. The afternoon was filled with awards and a final talk from me. I rolled out a new presentation on photographing the intimate forest. I can not tell you enough how proud I am of this talk and hope to present it again soon. The reception was just as tremendous - filled my heart with warm fuzzies.
With the show in February and these talks, I finally feel like I may be coming into my own and forests appear to be leading the way. Crazy how, for so many years, I had such a distaste of our forests and now I prefer to be in them and to photograph their beauty. Stay tuned for future accomplishments and trees.
Right after the NPPNW meeting, I visited cousins who had moved to Twin Falls on my way to Bryce Canyon with an overnight stop in Great Basin NP. I met up with some friends in Bryce and we explored this beautiful landscape together. Adventures with friends are the best. Then May happened with several exciting trips: a Mountaineers hike in the Sage Hills outside of Wenatchee, backpack up the Hoh River with my sister and her granddaughter, and a nice long weekend camping at Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park. June was a little more relaxed with another backpack with my sister and her granddaughter (that kid has some spunk - she packs and carries her own pack and sleeps in her own tent. WOW!) followed by a trip up the Duckabush with the Mountaineers.
Thinking of how to plan a backpacking trip of your own? Did you catch my blog post about trip planning? Of course there are some hints about how to plan with your camera too. Make sure you check that out. And check back occasionally as I am trying to add more to the blog.
Our photo lesson for the quarter is a simple one. It’s all about recording the small moments of life. In the above photo, my grand-niece, Ruby is enjoying the late spring adventures as only a 9-year-old can. On Mother’s Day weekend, the three of us - my sister, Ruby, & I hiked up the Hoh river to 5-mile camp. The trail is relatively flat lined by large trees and massive sword ferns. Ruby took great pride in packing her own pack and setting up her camp. After camp and lunch, it was of course time to play. There is a slower moving channel of the Hoh River near camp and Ruby made the most of the safer water. I love this image because it shows the pure joy of a girl exploring nature, free from constraints, and able to be herself. There is nothing more beautiful than this. Her grandmother and I were trying to capture the perfect moment so asked her repeatedly to kick the water to splash it over her head. She did so gladly, happy to be asked to make a mess of herself. It’s these simple moments that need to be memorialized, so please, do not put the camera away if the moment isn’t perfect, if the hair isn’t done just right, if the clothes are muddy, if your little angel isn’t being the perfect angel. Even if the photo isn’t technically perfect - the moment is. These moments of pure joy are the moments you’ll want to remember.
For the rest of the summer, I have a couple of solo backpacks coming up including a trip around Mt Hood on the Timberline Trail and a few open weekends waiting to be filled with adventure.
I hope you have an adventure-filled summer, and until the next adventure, bye.