Whippin' Up a Storm

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Last time, I talked about how the light of the late day usually makes for a more interesting picture. Weather also plays a good role. If you're hiking or biking, as I was (and also was when taking these pictures), it's a bit more of a risk. One advantage to these mountainous areas is you're able to see very long distances, and can sometimes see the storm coming. Storms can certainly catch you by surprise though, as one did to my hosts, who attempted to climb Teewinot Mountain, before being forced to turn around due to lightning and all around gnarly conditions. But a little bit of preparation, including a good look at a Doppler radar, can help. In this case, I knew the storm would be coming in from the west (as they usually do), but would probably miss me to the south. Unfortunately, the south was where my return destination was, so I had to scurry back quickly in order to stay dry.

View of the Hole

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The afternoon I chose to take pictures in Wyoming, I hopped on a bike, and rode to the aerial tram at the ski resort near Jackson. Unfortunately, my timing was off, so I had to pedal hard to make the last trip up the mountain before it closed. I made it just in time. This wasn't really by accident, though, because when you're taking pictures, it's often best to be out early and late in the day, as the sun is beginning to set. This strategy has produced some of my prouder pictures. So the last trip up the mountain is the one to get. It was still a little too early in the day to achieve anything that stunning, but an incoming storm provided a little visual drama.

My Current Desktop

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Today's picture isn't the best I've ever taken, but right now it's my computer's desktop image. I chose this picture for my desktop for specific reasons. Instead of taking a picture of the whole mountain (along with sky and surroundings), this picture captures just a piece of it. Since you're only seeing a piece of the whole scene, it's like you're looking through a window, and you have to extrapolate the rest of the mountain in your imagination. This, I think, makes the mountain seem bigger than it would it look if you saw the whole thing (which is a measly 10,000 feet high). The computer desktop really enhances the "window" effect (no pun intended).

This is, by the way, the view from Rendezvous Mountain, in the Teton Range near Jackson, Wyoming.

Welcome to Wyoming

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This summer, I visited my friend Caroline, who's smart enough to live in one of the more amazing places on this planet, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I've been out west before, and I've seen mountains, but these... these were mountains. The trip was fun; I went camping for the first time, and got to experience some local flavor (such as eating breakfast while watching a guy my age try out his new rifle, while describing how he used an ax he found to chop off the antlers from an elk). Surprisingly, though, it was a difficult trip, photographically. One of the most amazing photos I've ever seen is this picture by Ansel Adams, which pretty much sums up the stunning beauty of the region. The problem is, with pictures like that out there, how can I compete? I decided I wouldn't try, and that I would just enjoy the trip. The pictures I'll be showing over the next week all come from the one afternoon that I took my camera with me.

Big Mountain, Little Mounds

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Hikers use cairns to mark their paths. Together, they look otherworldly.

Alright, done with rocks, done with Mount Washington. Next time, moving to mountains somewhere else.

Lichens

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On the topic of rocks, here's another one on Mount Washington. This one is covered by lichens.

Last Mount Washington picture next time, I promise.

Odd Rock

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I'm a little bit of a geology buff, and so this rock near the top of Mount Washington caught my eye. It appears to be quartz, with pieces of graphite wedged in. The rest of the rock on Mount Washington is good ol' New Hampshire granite. A rock out of place is known as an 'erratic'. Normally, an erratic is taken from its home and deposited by a stream, glacier, or landslide. Gravity is involved. But at the top of the tallest mountain within thousands of miles, how did this get plopped down?

Nicer View from Mt. Washington

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Taken during a beautiful hike near the top of Mount Washington.

Structures on Mt. Washington

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Mt. Washington is the highest point in the northeastern United States. The top is known for some of the harshest weather in the world. It's also a bit of a tourist trap (which is admittedly how I got there). I've already taken pictures of Mount Washington's more scenic side. So, here's a different kind of scenery.

Covered Bridge III

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Covered bridge again, different view. This way, you see a lot more of the granite in the riverbed. If I'm posting pictures of New Hampshire, you should see granite. It's a rule.

Covered Bridge II

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Bath, New Hampshire. I spotted this scene (as if it could be missed) earlier in the day while I was biking. I knew I had to come back later, closer to sunset. You'll notice the sky is dramatically blue; it looks like I had some fun with Photoshop, though I didn't. That sky is due to a polarizing filter on the camera, which eliminates reflections. So, any haze in the atmosphere that would typically result in a less-blue sky are filtered out of this picture. Interestingly, this only works with reflections at a specific angle to the camera, as determined by the position of the filter. Because the lens used was at such a wide focal length (zoomed out), there are LOTS of angles at which light can be reflected into the camera. You can see that the right side of the sky isn't filtered the same way the left side is. I think this makes the picture look a little goofy. What do you think?