Ridges, Evening Light. Hurricane Ridge, Washington. August 16, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Evening light shines through broken clouds to illuminate forest-covered ridges and high peaks beyond, Olympic National Park
I have not had a lot of luck trying to photograph the Hurricane Ridge area in the past. You’ve probably seen the beautiful and iconic photographs by other photographers – lavish displays of wildflowers, striking alpine ridges holding snow fields and glaciers, spectacular cloud-filled skies. However, on the few occasions when I have tried to shoot there I have contended with wind, fog that held visibility down to mere yards, and poor seasonal timing. Since we were in the Seattle area (for something non-photographic) with a free day, I figured I might try one more time. Initially I had thought of the run up to Artist Point in North Cascades, but the weather forecast there was not at all promising, with rain expected. Initially I thought that there might be similar weather out on the Peninsula, but as we started out I got a call from my brother, who is a Seattle area photographer much more familiar with the patterns of the area, saying “go to the Olympic Peninsula. I’m looking at a web cam and it seems clear!”
In fact, by the time our ferry crossed to the west side of Puget Sound, it was looking quite clear. After some midday, lowland shooting, we figured that we would try Hurricane Ridge at the end of the day. With this in mind, it was a bit after 5:00 when we arrived there. The first look around was not too encouraging – the wildflowers were mostly spent and it was cloudy, though sun was breaking through the clouds from time to time. I decided to give it a try since I know that conditions can change quickly and because it was likely too late to get to any other interesting points in the remaining daylight. Setting up and watching the scene, I noticed that while it was cloudy and even a bit rainy, breaks in the clouds to the west were sending occasional beams of light chasing across the landscape, especially the large forest-covered ridge in the foreground of this photograph.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Nicely done! This is the Hurricane Ridge shot I failed to get 4 days before you were there. Like you said, things could have been different if the grassy slopes were still covered with blooming wildflowers. I had early afternoon clouds rapidly moving past above and below me with the sun peaking through over and over, but I couldn’t find a foreground I was happy with.
I was in the area for 3 days business in Seattle followed by 4 days of vacation in the North Cascades and Olympic Peninsula. The skies were clear while I was “stuck” in Seattle and watched the amazing alpenglow display on Mt. Rainier each night from my hotel. That was the one type of shot I really wanted, but the clouds moved in as soon as my conference ended and put an end to any mountain shots. But, the wonderful rain forests and beaches made up for it!