Summer Splendor by Pcoskun

Summer Splendor- I try every year to make it up to the mountains during the summer. Early plans to visit more rugged mountains quickly changed when wildflower blooms occurred nearly two months earlier than normal. This was in places like Glacier National Park and Mount Rainier, two prime locations for summer wildflowers. Now with so many fires ravaging these areas, scrapping those plans seems like such a great idea now. I made a brief visit to this location last year for the first time and it absolutely took my breath away. I feel fortunate to have been shown this area that is now so special to me and a few others. It’s just simply one of the greatest views in this great state of Arizona. These wildflowers are only present for a very short period of time. In fact, they are probably toast by now even though this was photographed only a few days ago. Perfect timing I suppose. I spent the entire weekend up on these beautiful yellow hills thinking of how lucky I am to be able to witness something so beautiful. For someone who spends the majority of my time in the hot desert, this was a much needed getaway to the mountains, and I didn’t need to travel thousands of miles to get there. When I left this place I thought to myself even if I didn’t come back with any photographs to show for, the time spent here was good enough. Luckily, I was treated to a few beautiful shows of light that seemed to be perfectly situated for whatever composition I chose. It was one of those weekends that just rejuvenated my desire to explore and create.

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Mountain Remnants by Pcoskun

This weekend was spent enjoying fresh mountain air and beautiful wildflowers that seemed to have been timed perfectly for my visit. I met up with a few local photographers from around AZ and we spent the weekend wandering through the vast expanses of yellow sunflowers. These flowers really only bloom for a very short period of time, so I was pretty happy when I got there and saw the hills covered in gold! We endured a few nice sunsets and some typical monsoon thunderstorms. I always noticed these dead trees far up on the hillside and always wanted to get a decent photograph of them. I worked a few angles on a couple trees while the sunset started to go off. These trees reminded me of both bristlecone pines and the white bark pines that one can find in Montana. It was a nice weekend spent in the high country that was definitely much needed.

For those that knew Jeff Swanson either personally or online knows he always brought joy and laughter to all of us. He was unfortunately taken too soon by Melanoma about a year ago, but his images live on and if you happen to enjoy his images please do purchase one of his prints. All proceeds from his website will go to the Melanoma Research Foundation. http://ift.tt/1Kmy8QL

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Consolation Prize by Pcoskun

Finally, a new image recently photographed in the scorching desert! I was lucky enough to join local photographer and storm chaser Mike Olbinski on a brief chase just south of Phoenix. Mike’s knowledge of storms and weather brought us back and forth to a small cell that we had photographed earlier in the day that produced a handful of lightning strikes and some pretty interesting atmospherics. The cell quickly fell apart and nothing really looked quite interesting. Mike was just about to call it a day when we met up with a few other storm chasers who were nearby. After a little consultation and just about calling it a day, we began to return just from where we came from. The cell seemed to reconstruct itself and began to drop some rain off in the distance. By the time we got back close enough it had come and gone once again. It was just about sunset when we found a spot just off the road to wait out and see if anything would materialize again. It never really built up again like we had seen earlier in the day, but we were still out in the desert under the beautiful skies that began to light up with pinks and oranges. It was one of the better sunsets I have seen of late, and quite a nice consolation prize for not getting much in the way of good storm images.

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Canyon Flame by Pcoskun

It’s been a while since I have visited a slot canyon, and lately the urge has been making me want to return. The hordes of people in these particular canyons makes it a little unappealing, but nevertheless, the canyons are stunning. Ever since seeing the very first slot canyon image in a gallery here in the SW, I have been fascinated by the colors, textures, and shapes that these canyons contain. Regardless of how many times they have been photographed, I never tire of seeing the shades of warm and cool light contrasting with one another.

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South Rim Light by Pcoskun

I was going through some old folders as I typcially do looking for past images which I might want to reprocess or even attempt to reshoot in the near future. This was from the very first time I photographed a sunset along the grand canyons rim. I had been here numerous times before with family, but this happened to be an unplanned trip. A friend and I were in Moab wandering around arches and canyonlands national parks and got fed up with the windy and dusty conditions, so we left a day early and headed back into Arizona. I figured since we both still had a day to spend, we would go to the grand canyon and hopefully enjoy a nice sunset. It was still just as windy as it was in Moab, but there was a gap on the horizon leaving the possibility of a nice sunset. After sitting and watching the light and the canyon for an hour or so, these nice light rays began to make their way into the canyon. It ended up being a beautiful sunset and I still remember that evening pretty well. As much as I enjoy this image from a few years ago, it makes me want to try and recreate this scene or something better (or just give me a good excuse to spend some time up here). Perhaps in the next few weeks I will get that chance, but for now, this image will do.

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The Stone Path by Pcoskun

Late evening light illuminates the clouds and intricate rock formations found in south coyote buttes. The colors found in the rocks here are some of the most diverse and incredible in the southwest. Many shades of yellow, orange, and even purple. This place has been one of the highlights of my travels this year and I hope to return in the near future.

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Desert Takeover by Pcoskun

This shot may look a bit similar to another shot I posted a few months ago titled “Sonoran Burn”. I took this image just a minute before as I liked how the fallen ocotillo and glowing cholla seemed to tell a story. This area has plenty of ocotillo that are just laying flat on the ground which create some really awesome compositions and leading lines. This was no exception and the fact that the sun was poking between the clouds to light up the cacti was quite a nice compliment. I imagined that the teddy bear cholla were celebrating the defeat of this fallen ocotillo while the tall giants in the upper right were coming in for round two. There is just something about the desert that brings me so much joy and when I can find scenes like this and light like this, well, it’s just like it’s meant to be. Even in the harsh desert, there is so much beauty!

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Panther Mist by Pcoskun

A straight forward view of the incredible panther falls in the Columbia river gorge. The composition is nothing groundbreaking, but the overall scenery is pretty spectacular. This was perhaps one of the coolest waterfalls I had the privelege of viewing and photographing. I took plenty of photos of the place, but of course, many of them are a bit similar to one another. I liked the focus on cascades here surrounded by the lush greens for which the area is known for. I hope I am fortunate to return to the area next year when the water flow is a little better.

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Bears and Gumdrops by Pcoskun

After hearing the unfortunate news about the wildfires in Glacier National Park, I began to look back on the images from my trip there in 2013. This is a reprocessed version of one of my favorite photos from that trip. In fact, this was taken on the last morning I was in the park. I poked my head out of the tent in the hours before sunrise to see if there was a cloud in the sky. I was disappointed to see clear skies and thought about just sleeping in on this final morning. I really didn’t want to waste a single moment in the park, so I decided to get ready for the morning. My friend and I made our way to Logan Pass which was a spot I still hadn’t made a photograph I really liked from. Plus it had been closed off due to recent grizzly bear activity. We arrived at the parking lot and the skies were still clear. We started hiking up towards hidden lake and I stopped frequently to take photos of the wildflowers along the trail. Slowly but surely, I had noticed some clouds building up. By the time we got to the hidden lake overlook, the sky was full of clouds. So many that I thought that there might not be any break in them to get some good light. I wandered around the area looking for wildflowers for a good foreground. When I saw this pretty robust field of purple flowers (not sure the name), I was pretty excited. Just as I set up my shot, the sky began to transform into this golden stormy purplish mass that complimented the wildflowers. After getting a few shots I was happy with, I just had to stand there and enjoy the scenery. It is one of the most breathtaking places I have ever been (both literally and figuratively). It was almost dreamlike. We began to make our way back to the parking lot making friends with some photogenic marmots along the trail. I was sad to have to leave this magical place, but reality set in and my friend and I made the long journey back to the desert. Hopefully someday I will be able to visit again and that the current fires do not destroy all the beauty.

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Glacier Classic by Pcoskun

This might be the most iconic view of Glacier National Park, or at least one of the top five. I wanted to get a photograph of this area during a trip here a few years ago and I made two attempts at trying to get anything worthwhile. It rained on both attempts, but a slight opening of the sky allowed just the slightest bit of warmth through. The sky was quite dramatic looking and had dark heavy clouds surrounding ever square inch of it. With the start of the rain on this evening, the weather would literally not hold up for almost 48 hours making the next few days very wet and unproductive. I am missing the mountains, and particularly this special park. I am hoping I can make a trip into some mountains this summer.

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