This post picks up from the last part of my three part series on my photography expedition to Olympic National Park, Washington. Check out the first and second part if you haven’t already.

At this point in my trip, I concentrated my sunrise and sunset shots at Second Beach, a sea stack and tide pool rich shore near Forks, Washington. During the daytime, I spent time touring the interior of the park, and visiting areas that were accessible during the winter month of March. While some spectacular vistas like Hurricane Ridge were closed, there were other alpine areas that were accessible by road that I was to visit. Over this last post, you’ll see images from both the coast at Second Beach and within some of the interior areas.

This first shot is one of the many amazing tide pools that are revealed during low tides. This particular tide pool was reflecting the image of a large rock and two vibrantly colored starfish. The tide pool also reflected a brilliant blue sky, with a few nicely placed white clouds, and the trees of a nearby towering sea stack:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=”” link=”http://navinsarmaphotography.com/portfolio/starfish-reflection/”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/second_beach_starfish_reflection_tidepool.jpg[/fancy_images]

As the sun continued to rise, clouds continued to separate and give way to the sky. This next shot shows that sky, which again was reflected in a nearby tide pool. This is one of my favorite shots from the trip, because of the contrasting angles between the sky and the sea stack on the right, the balance in subjects throughout the frame, and the lines that lead out through the bottom left hand corner:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=”” link=”http://navinsarmaphotography.com/portfolio/second-beach-tidepool-reflection/”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/second_beach_sea_stack_reflection_tidepool_clouds.jpg[/fancy_images]

To this point in the beach shots at Shi Shi and Second Beach, you’ve probably noticed how violent the water is. As I looked back to the south end of the beach, I noticed that the crashing waves created a mist that was rising back into the air. That mist was nicely contained in an opening between the coast and sea stack and in front of a wooded hill. The leaning tree from the coast adds a bit more interest to the scene:

[fancy_images height=”300″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=””]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/second_beach_sea_stack_mist.jpg[/fancy_images]

As the sun started to take hold of the day, I started looking for varied subjects other than the tide pools and sea stacks. As I looked closer into the sand, I noticed fine textures that seemed to follow no clear pattern. Winding in loops and circles, these textures were the trails of wandering sea snails. This shot was taken with a macro lens and the original (not web version you see here) has some extreme detail down to individual grains of sand:

There were other interesting items on the beach, including several small rocks that carved out paths for water to dig through the sand as it receded to the sea. The angle of the carvings in the sand contrasted with the angle of the clouds in the sky brings some interest. Also, notice the snail trails from the previous image that cover nearly the entire beach:

After I took those last shots, I decided to tour the nearby areas of the park by car. On the way out from Second Beach, though, I saw a sight that was too familiar to me during my time at Olympic National Park:

Yes, that’s a chopped down tree. While I like the image, with the brilliant red-colored tree and its spilled guts framed by varied greenery in the foreground and the bokeh background, the real-life ramification is sobering. I was actually quite shocked at how many cleared forests populated the “Olympic Wilderness” as it is called. At first, I didn’t quite know what I was looking at, until I saw lumber truck after lumber truck and noticed several lumber mills. While I was out camping, I confirmed the sad state of things with a few of the locals, who recognized the forest-chopping almost with shame.

Here’s another image that put it all in perspective for me. This is a cleared forest near a road sign pointing to the Hoh, Forks and inland. In the near distance, you can see one of the culprits: a yellow bulldozer near a series of sanijohns. Then in the foreground and on far in the distance, you can see stump after stump of the remains of trees:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=””]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/olympic_national_park_cleared_forest.jpg[/fancy_images]

This sight is repeated over and over during the drives in Olympic National Park… a sad thing to report back to you. Until I stop buying myself wood tables, I’ll count myself as one person to blame for the state of things.

While there were vast areas of cleared trees, there also were more areas of still thriving forestry. This next one is of an alpine forest. This was beautiful to me for several reasons. The sun broke out through the clouds to illuminate a set of trees on the bottom part of the image, and illuminate the couple of trees near the top of the mountain. That couple of trees was made more prominent by a mist that whispered behind it. It was quite a serene moment:

As I traveled deeper into the park and up its mountains, I saw a different scene, but one that continued with the alpine forest. Much of the park was still under snowfall during the time I visited. In this shot, you can see how the weather changes as altitude declines. As your eye climbs up the mountain, you will notice layers and that snow slowly increases where the sunlight begins to shine, and has fully covered the trees and ground on the peak. If you look closely, you can also see exposed rock and boulders at the summit of the mountain. I framed the image on the left and bottom with other low-altitude trees:

While I didn’t have access to many of the lakes during the trip, I did get this one shot that was beautiful to me. It highlights the difference in color and texture of the trees of Olympic National Park, with the reds in the foreground, the greens bearing over them, and the blueish green of the forest in the distance. This scene is reflected in the water, and is framed by the gray sky and the ripples in the water:

My time wandering the roads of Olympic National Park was coming to a close. Before I made it back to my hotel to prepare for one last morning on Second Beach, I noticed again the variations between trees, especially as they peered over the winding pavement:

The next few pictures are the last of my trip. This sunrise, I hoped to get a few more compelling shots of Second Beach before I headed to the airport. God had to comply, though, and provide some intrigue by way of weather. She did not disappoint.

As the sun rose, the radiance of light began to highlight menacing clouds that were forming over the coast. The clouds seemed to be gathering quickly into rain, so I knew I had to work quickly before all of the vibrant light diminished. Using the long, flat coastline of Second Beach, the water left a thin film of moisture to create a perfect mirror of the intense sky. As the sun pushed forward, it also illuminated in orange a shower out at sea:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=”” link=”http://navinsarmaphotography.com/portfolio/second-beach-storm-reflections/”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/second_beach_reflections_sea_stack.jpg[/fancy_images]

Of course, up to this time in my tenure at Shi Shi and Second Beaches, I had been employing long exposure techniques to paint movement of the dynamic tides. This last morning, I continued a bit of that but varied it with some fast shutter images as well. This next shot is similar to the last, but trades the reflection of the sky for a misty sweep of water from a wave:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=”” link=”http://navinsarmaphotography.com/portfolio/second-beach-storm-waves/”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/second_beach_reflections_waves_sea_stack.jpg[/fancy_images]

After those shots, I decided to hone in on the intricacies of Second Beach as I had for Shi Shi Beach. As the storm that was brewing in the distance finally arrived over my head, rain droplets led to a faster exposure opportunity. In this next shot, I framed the varied textures of Second Beach to show layers leading up to the land, with raindrops falling into a tide pool, to the ridges of sand against water, to the rocks leading up to the sea stacks. This was another one of my favorite images from the trip:

Framing the subject a bit higher on the horizon, this next shot shows the gathering of several rocks leading up to the sea stacks at the shore of Second Beach. It also reminds of the violent nature of the tides, as splashes from a crashing wave fly over rocks in the distance:

As the rain dissipated a bit, I decided to capture my last two shots at longer exposure with an ND filter. In this first one, I was drawn to the vibrant color that arrived in the clouds and the green vat of still water at the base of the sea stack. Also, I was drawn to the partially hidden orange starfish and framing of the sea stacks in the distance:

In this last image, I used the ND filter to bring a bit more of the pink color of the sunrise and passing storm to the image. The long exposure settled the movement of water against the rocks so that it almost looks like a serene lake surrounding these giant sea stacks:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=”” link=”http://navinsarmaphotography.com/portfolio/second-beach-sunrise/”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/second_beach_sunrise_clouds.jpg[/fancy_images]

That marks the end of my images from Olympic National Park! I hope you enjoyed looking through the photos. Remember, most of these images are available for sale in the highest quality, professional grade prints. Look for a Facebook contest within the next couple days where you may just WIN one..!

I love hearing your comments, so please keep them coming. Thanks!

So… hopefully you’ve had a chance to look at the first part of this blog series about my photography expedition to Olympic National Park. If not, please visit the link so you can catch up on the story. 🙂

So given that I had gotten some pretty good shots of the sunset and night of the day before and the sunrise of the morning, I decided to head to the Hoh rainforest. Normally, I would reserve shooting at scenic locations for sunrise and sunset, when the sky acts like a huge softbox and doesn’t create hard to manage, dynamically lit scenes. However, the Hoh is a pretty dense forest that blocks out much of the harsh rays. Plus, the weather had called for some rain mists which would really help to control light and create a feeling of depth.

Getting to the Hoh is rather easy, but is time consuming. I wanted to get to the rainforest, shoot for an hour or so, then make the journey back to catch the sunset at Shi Shi (a sunset in the Hoh would not be nearly as photogenic given how little you can see the sky from there). Given that I had so many nights at Olympic National Park, I wanted to give the weather enough opportunities to create something special on the coasts — which were were I planned to take most of the photos on this trip.

So, I left my camping gear back at Shi Shi, and trekked back through the mud for about an hour and a half, our to the place I parked. Then, I was off on the 2 hour drive down to the rainforest.

The other photographer warned me of the difficulty of shooting the Hoh, but I had to experience it for myself to see what he was talking about. The forest has no order to it, which is beautiful in its own regard. However, it also makes composing a shot especially difficult. As a photographer, you look for patterns, leading lines, angles, and contrasts. But when everything seems to be growing from everywhere, it really throws you a loop!

The mist I hoped for never arrived, but the light was soft enough for some shooting. After a little time, I did find some interesting angles and frames that make an image. Here is the first, which shows a ray of sun bursting through a clearing in the forest, and leading to the ferns on the floor:

I continued walking around and exploring the rainforest. It was really quite a peaceful and cathartic experience; maybe some of that has to do with the fresh and fragrant air that the rainforest provides. When I inspected the moss, which is omnipresent in the rainforest, I saw a single drop of water that stayed suspended in on the moss tip. Because of the absorbent texture of the moss, the drop was held completely still, save for its bottom spinning in a circle from gravity:

As I walked further, I saw a small path in the ground. The path led through a line of mossy trees and gave a bit of organization to a section of the forest:

Then, I started inspecting the grounds where moss and other shrubs were slowly building over trees. This next one was interesting to me as is contrasted a shrub (with a point on its leaves that resembles a worm) common to the rainforest with a piece of fallen wood:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=”” link=”http://navinsarmaphotography.com/portfolio/hoh-rainforest-moss-wood/”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/hoh_rainforest_moss_wood.jpg[/fancy_images]

After I took that shot, it was already time to head back to Shi Shi for the sunset. So, I made the long drive back, hiked through the mud and marshes for another couple hours and ran back to Shi Shi to see what colors were in store for me.

It turned out to be another bluish/gray type of evening. While I didn’t have explosions of vibrant light like the morning, I was captivated by the somber hues.

This first shot shows more interesting shapes from the Shi Shi coast (including another angle of the hole through the sea stack I shot here), and offers a glimpse of Point of the Arches way in the distance. I used a long exposure to mist the waters against the other rocks:

[fancy_images height=”300″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=”” link=”http://navinsarmaphotography.com/portfolio/point-of-arches-from-shi-shi/”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/point_of_arches_from_shi_shi.jpg[/fancy_images]

I took that shot from the left side of the “King” sea stack that dominates the Shi Shi scene. I then I decided to scale all of rocks from the side I was on and get on the other side of the beach. This wasn’t easy, but was pretty exciting. Over the course of days when I was shooting this beach, I had been scaling rocks, walking over beds of mussels (for traction), jumping over large and small tide pools, dodging (or getting smacked by) waves — all to position myself for a good composition. When I scaled the left side of the beach to the right side of it, it included doing all of those things I described, but to a larger scale. I had to literally scale up a mountain to get over a wide swath of seawater, then jump down to a mussel covered rock to get into the right position. I felt pretty comfortable shooting from where I was, except that I had to remember that the tide was slowly rising and soon I may not have a path back to shore.

All that adventure was for this next shot. It shows the King from different angles than I have shown so far — and he again looks very different (and especially foreboding). I used a relatively slow shutter speed of a half second to show the water crashing up against and swirling around the rocks. In the distance, I placed the setting super full moon in a “V” shape of the rocks near the King. The size of the moon should give you an idea of how grand the King looked from this angle:

After that shot, I decided to call it a night and rise in the morning for one last try at Shi Shi. Cloud cover came over the park at night so photography was less of an option.

The next morning, I shifted compositions to try to catch something new. I’ve mentioned a few times about the low tide providing access to the shore at Shi Shi beach and its sea stacks. But low tides also give a glimpse into tide pools and the array of life in them. This next shot shows a view into the busy worlds beneath and above the water. I particularly like how the green sea anemones form a inverse column from the King sea stack. I used the pinks and greens of the kelp and sea bush to frame the anemones, and the cloud passing in the distance to frame the sea stack. This is another one of my favorites from the trip:

Here’s a close up of a sea anemone, with shadows cast on it from the sun through sea grass.

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=””]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/shi_shi_beach_sea_anemones.jpg[/fancy_images]

My last shot at Shi Shi Beach was taken when I shifted my attention away from the compelling sea stacks and towards the land and forest. In a previous shot far away from the north end of the beach, I noticed a dramatic cliff far in the distance. Up close, this cliff is much more fantastic, with its trees starkly contrasted with the  mountains in the distance. The cloud passing by add a bit of balance and framing of the image:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=”” link=”http://navinsarmaphotography.com/portfolio/all-or-nothing/”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/shi_shi_beach_cliff_mountains.jpg[/fancy_images]

After I was done shooting… I bid Shi Shi goodbye and hiked back through the trail back to my car. My next destination was Second Beach, another venue on the coast with differing sea stacks and tide pools. That area was near the town of Forks, famous for its Twilight series of vampire movies. In case you ever forgot that, just visit Forks and you’ll be reminded :).

On the way there, I passed over several bridges and small rivers. This next scene was particularly interesting to me, as a rainforest tree seemed to dip into the emerald-colored mountain water:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=””]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/hoh_rainforest_river.jpg[/fancy_images]

It took me a while to get out of Shi Shi and over to Forks. I had hoped to catch the sunset at Second Beach, but time was running out. I decided to head straight to my motel. Then, right as I was checking in, I looked outside and saw an incredible magenta and orange sunset! You can imagine how mad I was that I was not on the beach for this:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=””]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/forks_wa.jpg[/fancy_images]

I grit my teeth and decided that it was OK… I had many more chances to get conditions like that sunset and was going to start early in the morning.

When I got into my motel room, I finally stopped to look at myself. After 3 days and 2 nights of trekking in the mud, running on the beach, ducking past the waves, and scaling up mountains, I was DIRTY and WORN. The best part was my shoes and gaiters, which were caked in mud:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=””]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/Olympic National Park 392.jpg[/fancy_images]

The next morning, I headed straight for Second Beach. The hike to the beach was about 10 minutes, but that seemed like a cakewalk after my days at Shi Shi. The real challenge to getting to the beach is the heap of logs that you have to scale to get to the sand. These are trees, that over the course of time, died, fell into the water, and were washed ashore by the powerful ocean. It’s quite amazing to think about.

Once I got onto the sand, I immediately realized why photographers love that beach. During low tide, the sand usually under the water is transformed into a large, flat field. Water frequently scales far inland from the waves and slowly sweeps back into the sea. When after the water sweeps back into the ocean, the wetness creates a sheen cover on the sand that reflects the sky. These phenomena provide great opportunities for dramatic shots.

In this first shot, I captured the sweep of the water back into the sea. Pockets of foam created a “grate” shape that I find intriguing:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=”” link=”http://navinsarmaphotography.com/portfolio/streaking-water-at-second-beach/”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/second_beach_beach_wave.jpg[/fancy_images]

This next one is a view of another sea stack, with the water receding back into the ocean. However, the water moved more calmly and produced less foam, allowing it to reflect the sea stack on the sand. The the curve of the water on the beach and from the wave in the distance give the image a bit more intrigue:

After I got some images of the vista, I walked closer to the water and noticed a single rock getting slammed every few moments by the waves. During smaller waves, water simply rushed around the rock. As I got closer to the rock, I noticed a family of star fish gathered closely. I set my tripod up to shoot a long exposure of this scene, but kept getting blurred images. That was not only because the waves were crashing against the tripod, but that the sand that it stood on was sinking from my weight. Though it took quite a while and several instances of me running from the water with a camera & tripod in a vice grip, but I finally got this image of the water misting up to the family of starfish:

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=”” link=”http://navinsarmaphotography.com/portfolio/starfish-family-at-second-beach/”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/second_beach_starfish_ocean_mist.jpg[/fancy_images]

A bit more exploring up on the shore led me to more starfish families and my last image on this second of three blog posts on Olympic National Park. I was really intrigued by the intricate texture and pattern of the starfish. I was so fascinated that I kind of petted one — which felt like bumpy leather :). I took this shot to bring attention to the pattern and texture of the starfish, and their variance in color. This is a macro of four starfish grouped together; if you look closely you can see grains of sand in the ridges of the starfish that are laced with water (which is blue, reflecting the color of the sky):

[fancy_images height=”600″ width=”900″ alt=”” title=”” link=”http://navinsarmaphotography.com/portfolio/second-beach-starfish-macro/”]http://navinsarmaphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/places/northamerica/pacnw/second_beach_starfish_macro.jpg[/fancy_images]

I hope you enjoyed part 2 on this series on Olympic National Park. Remember, if you haven’t read the first entry, please check it out here. I’ll be wrapping up this series with the third and final post within the next few days.

Thanks for looking!