Clouds and Mount Shuksan

scole · Apr 22, 2009

The next to last weekend of the ski season at Mount Baker brought a conveyor belt of clouds streaming across the upper slopes and summit of Mount Shuksan. I made one run on the slopes before feeling compelled to hurry back to my truck to take some photos before conditions changed too much..

On my way home, I stopped off to re-shoot this. My original attempt suffered somewhat due to snow & frost which detracted from the composition. This was shot slightly underexposed intentionally since it helped define the edges of the huge cedar in the background. I did have to do some minor burning on the extreme righthand side to better define the edge of the cedar's trunk..

Lastly, sometimes old ski lift chairs find a new life..

Thanks for looking..

Steve

polymoog · Apr 22, 2009

That last mountain/cloud pic is great

And nice work with the first cedar tree pic, I think your PP worked well to bring them out

T4TURBO · Apr 22, 2009

wow the mountain pictures are awesome! where is this? (forgive me if thats an ignorant question lol)

Neophyte Photographer · Apr 22, 2009

Nice shots. I think #3 would be nicer if there was more sky and less cloud mass at the bottom of the image.

daithi33 · Apr 22, 2009

Really like the first 2 of your snowy mountain shots - very well exposed snow. It looks like a superb place to ski.

I would agree with Neophyte's opinion re: pic 3.

Overall nice set.

daithi

scole · Apr 23, 2009

Thanks for the comments. Regarding #3... there weren't any clouds above the summit area so I was concerned about having too much sky in the composition so that's why I shot it that way..

Mount Shuksan is located in Washington State near the Canadian border and is about 60 inland from the city of Bellingham. It's just 10 miles northeast of Mount Baker and that dramatic face helps produce some unique local weather and VERY deep snowpacks. The winter of 1998-99 took the record with 1,140" of snow.

When it does melt away, photographers come in droves to take their own shot of Mount Shuksan reflected in Picture Lake at Heather Meadows.