Road trip day 5: Grand Teton National Park

I set my alarm for 5am today so I could  head to the Snake River spot I found yesterday for the sunrise, it was nice and clear and after 30mins walking across the hard snow I got this, my favourite shot of the road trip so far and thankfully a nicer sunrise than yesterday.  

Afterward I explored a little and hike up to Taggart lake whilst the snow was still frozen enough to walk on, slowly it gets softer as the day warms up making it difficult to get anywhere. 

There were some interesting creeks on  the way but nothing that jumped out at me to come back for at sunrise. 

I then realised as it was such a clear day I should see about going up

In a plane, so I headed to the local airport and even though they don't do plane rides I was told to speak to some guy who said for the cost of the fuel I could go up, but only if he had time and he would call me at lunchtime  to let me know. Unfortunately he was too busy but it would have been awesome to get some aerial shots for only 20 bucks! 

I then drove through the town of Jackson just outside of the park, first I was greeted with this very easy to read sign. Yes this 1 road is actually 4 different roads!

Shortly after traffic was held up by these Deer crossing the 4 roads, right now in the valley spring is just beginning which means animals migrating to the park from their winter hide outs so this is a regular sight meaning you have to keep your wits about you on the road. 

Entering the town square you are greeted by these entrances, and I have been told they are real!

For dinner I went to the Snake River Brewpub and had an awesome meal - 

Slash & Burn Trout - Pan-seared Idaho trout served on a tomato, bacon, almond, Brussels sprouts & potato hash. Topped with sweet & sour onion relish.

I was in need of this after some of the junk I've had along the way.

   

Road trip days 3 & 4: Grand Teton National Park

It was snowing as I woke, but that soon changed once I was on my way, the sun was out for the rest of the day but all the places I planned to stop along my way to Idaho falls were closed and there wasn't much of interest I could see along the way so I ended up making it all the way to Grand Tetons national park for 6pm after almost 500 miles of driving. 

As soon as I was there I was spotting shots and got this one on the side of the road just before the sun went behind the mountains. 

I decided I wanted to get a night shot at this spot as it is a very clear night which means a night sleeping in my car, but I'll also be able to get a shot of the sunrise too in the morning. 

The night shot was taken on film on my 617 camera so we will have to wait to see how it looks, to give you an idea I took this with my gf1 but this is only 2 mins whereas on film I left it for 4 hours soothe star trails  shoul look awesome. 

After 3 hours sleep in the back of the Subaru I drove around wanting to get a sunrise shot of the mountains reflecting in a lake but they were still frozen so I settled for this as time was running out. It would be nice if there were more to it than just mountains. 

I then explored the park scouting for other great spots for tomorrows sunrise, since the mountains face east sunsets aren't so great. I found a spot by the Snake River that I will get up super early for. 

I drove across this dam spurting water from the bottom like this!

I am so tired now it will be an early night tonight. 

Road trip to new York: Day 2 Washington to Montana

I left the hotel at 10 today having found  Palouse Falls, I decided to head there even though it was a diversion of my course as it looked like it was worth the extra time, and it was.

I spent 2 hours here and hiked to the top of the falls which was actually quite scary being stood right on the edge next to the raging water. I took a video so you could hopefully get an idea of it.

There was also lots of Beavers running around the area, clearly here to enjoy the view.

Afterwards I headed for Missoula, my destination for the night, after 450 miles and lots of rain and snow as I drove though the Valley along route 12 I passed from Washington to Idaho and to Montana all in the day. The weather meant there were no more pictures to be had on the way.

Finding my motel I also spotted this place in Missoula, if only it was open when I passed it at 11.15!

Road trip to new York: Day 1 Washington

Today I headed off on my trip to new York via Yellowstone national park, Gand Tetons, Badlands and Chicago. 

My aunt was genuinely sad I was going even if she was putting this on for the camera. I will miss our good games of scabble. 

It started out a beautiful sunny day today as I was waiting to pass through the American border at 11am which took 2 hours! Lots of questions like why so much stuff in the car, how did I afford the car etc. They almost make you feel like you might be guilty of something. Welcome to America. 

Once through I headed to route 2 which went though the southern cascades which was meant to be a scenic route but unfortunately the clouds and rain spoiled any views, but there was this nice waterfall. 

The rain turned to snow as I headed over Stephens pass but once through the mountains the clouds cleared and I had a beautiful drive passing through Leavenworth, Washington's Bavarian Village. An interesting place in the middle of the states!

and got this shot before the sun went down. 

Next stop was Dry Falls which is an area that in the ice age apparently would have had an awesome waterfall. Unfortunately the sun ha already gone down so the shot wasn't worth getting on my medium format camera. 

Whilst reading about the area on the board I spotted a great looking waterfall called Palouse falls, I will have to find out where it is and if I have time to visit along the way. 


I then continued my drive to my destination for the night, Spokane motel 6, on the way stopping at Doxies for a nice greasy burger in a small town in the middle of nowhere. 

I arrived at the motel at 10.30, for  the last hours drive I was quite tired, and that wasn't helped by some of the long straight boring roads. 

It felt so good to lie in a bed after a 11 hours in a car!

.......

Almost.....

How many Km will this read in 2 months?!

USA trip day 1

USA road trip day 1

I began my epic trip across the USA today to New York at 10am.

The car is packed full of all my stuff and the weather is looking good for when I arrive in Yellowstone national park on Sunday.

I'm sat now at the USA border near Vancouver with a 1 hour wait. Fun times.

Shannon Falls

Today I went exploring around Squamish which is North of Vancouver, I just found myself driving around not finding anything that caught my eye for a great picture, I could see I am getting bored of the scenery as I have driven through this area a few times and also it is very similar to Whistler and Vancouver with trees and mountains. After most of the day wasted with not a single shot I decided to stop at Shannon Falls, I've been before in the morning but the light was terrible, and knew I needed to come back in the afternoon when the sun had come around the mountains to illuminate the water.
I arrived at the perfect time to catch this beauty, for me this is the perfect simple shot with just water and rocks as the elements and the sun shining nicely from the right at 90 degrees to the falls. A 4 second exposure gave me the lovely flow of the water.

This is what the falls look like without the smooth long shutter effect. Which do you prefer?

The weeping willow

Weeping Willow's are my favourite trees, looks wise that is, and there are plenty around Vancouver but until now I've not found one in a decent setting to photograph. The issue is that I like all my shots to be clean and clutter free which means no signs, roads, cars, horrible buildings or anything that ruins the scene. Simple and clean is what I search for and if I can't find it I won't take a picture.
I found this willow tree today in Jericho Park, finally one I could shoot with just sky in the background as that shows the greatness that is the willow, for me if there was anything behind this shot it would be ruined, I'm already slightly annoyed by the clouds at the bottom of frame!

I also decided to take another self portrait, getting in a little of the clutter of the surroundings, I don't ususally take landscapes with people in them but for certain shots like this it just helps to set the scene.
I keep thinking that I'd like to always have a theme through my shots with a girl in them with dark hair wearing a red jacket, it seems the best way to do that is to take the jacket and a wig with me wherever I go.

Rain rain and more rain

Even though it was raining all day I still managed to take a nice spring time shot inside with some of my Aunts flowers.

16km round trip hike to Norvan falls

Today I decided to hike to a waterfall in Lynn Canyon, I wanted to do this last month but there was too much snow on the ground and hiking in snow is no fun at all All in it was a 16km hike as on the way back I decided to go the long route that way I would get to see some new sites. There weren't any amazing sites that warranted my medium format kit but there where some interesting things to see that I captured on my Panasonic GF1. I'm still yet to see the bears everyone keeps going on about here.

THe area is an old logging site and mill so along the way I would see various rusting items with trees growing out of them.

There is also plenty of old growth trees that have long been cut down and mostly rotted away.

I would love to know how the tree below got like this, it was obviously cut down but then did this happen naturally?

The final destination of the Norvan falls, not that interesting as waterfalls go but a nice hike none the less.

Back to Vancouver - Spring

I'm back in Vancouver after a month in the snow of Whistler, I'm happy I got all the shots I wanted to get whilst there which is considering the weather there.

Spring is officially here and the cherry blossoms are blooming here, apparently Vancouver was designed so  cherry blossoms could be seen for the whole month appearing in stages throughout the city.

Having been around mountains for too long I wanted to venture into the city and explore there now, and too some shots in a style I started in London this year looking up the buildings, it's a style that for me makes the most out of the buildings height and repetitive features.

These have been the most interesting buildings I found in Vancouver, unfortunately it's not a city known for it's architecture, and most of the buildings are both business and residential with gives most of the buildings the residential balcony look. It's the business buildings above that interest me most.