Yikes! Where’s the time gone? Between traveling, workshops, packing to move into our new home, and a 4 & 6 year old, things are a wee bit nuts right now.
I’ve just returned from my Olympic National Park workshop in Washington state, and man what a trip! We had rain, rain, and more rain, but it made for some awesome images in the rainforest. We even lucked out on our last two days with some gorgeous sunrises and amazing light. And to top it all off, a fantastic group of photographers! Now I’m back home getting caught up on editing and getting ready for my next round of workshops here in Montana.
If you haven’t been to Olympic National Park, you should put it down on whatever list you have going and make it a point to get out here. For photographers, it’s an extra special place with the sheer diversity of environments and mind boggling compositions of the old growth rainforests.
Olympic National Park is Washington state’s largest wilderness area and is designated as an International Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site. It holds over 300 glaciers in the park’s interior, has dramatic alpine environments, temperate rainforests and beautiful rugged coastal areas. The bio diversity by itself is completely amazing, as well as the experience of going from beautiful alpine meadows, to lush rainforest, to sea stacks on the beach all within the same day.
One of the things I like best about Olympic is the old growth rainforests. These forests challenge the eye of even the most skilled photographers with all of the wandering and chaotic lines and complex arrangements. I always feel mildy frustrated when trying to capture these visually intense scenes and trying to make some sort of sense of it all. However, more often than not, I leave with something satisfying and these are always great opportunities for training your eye as a nature photographer.
Looking forward to being back out for a trip later this summer and also to next year’s workshop! Here’s a few images from last week. Now back to some image editing…
ONP is an amazing place. I think it’s one of the most underrated parks in the national parks system.
I agree with you that creating a great composition is a struggle in the rain forest. It’s like being a kid in a candy store… so much to see and photograph yet difficult to create a compelling composition.
Will be returning again for sure.
Araz
ps. I just finished my new eBook call “How To Photograph Olympic National Park” that you can find on my website http://ArazJakalian.com
Thanks Araz, yeah I would agree with you also that it’s surely one of the most underrated parks. For photographers it’s really an amazing place to shoot, given that the amount of people and traffic are nowhere near what other more well known parks are and the diversity of subject matter is phenomenal. Thanks and take care out there!