Hanging Loose, Hanging Tight
We found ourselves out in the mountains again. Observing the environment of plants, animals, humans, and machines.
The spectacular sights outside our window in the morning make it all worth the effort.
The expanse of the clouds above the mountains off in the distance as we were nestled in the privacy of the trees on an open field with the sun setting made it wonderful.
And literally taking the kitchen sink, the bed, the toilet and tub, the table, the fridge, stove and furnace, and our clothes and luggage make for an easy waking in some marvelous spots.
From a very helpful machinist we got the tip that there were three falls just a few paces off the tarmac. We investigated in a heavy downpour.
We only found two but these are a combination of human engineering and beaver damming that result in protecting the road from surely otherwise eroding away.
A bit upstream we found another falls and rapids series, and never did find the third as we were soaked and cold.
But the creamy white and the wild wet rocks played along well, as long as we could hold out.
That evening we hung the truck and camper not loose at all but very secured to the side of a decommissioned logging road. The specular light turned the green canoe (another part of the trip) into a bronze wonder.
There, on the side of the mountain the wake up out the door view was even more breathtaking and then breath giving, as the sun played with the clouds and the valleys were visible for miles and miles.
The dreamy feel comes from the fog laying low on the mountains as fresh rain evaporates to fill the air.
The vegetation is lush, framing (sometimes blocking) the views.
At our feet daisies and red paintbrush flowers created a carpet of colour.
The sky for just a moment even took on the hue of the lush lilac coloured flowers dotting the mountainside in lines and groups.
The sunsets were awesome.
The light bedazzling bringing the trees to life otherwise not there.
And that is good photography.
Some of all that can be reduplicated with ordinary photos and lots of software work, usually hdr, to try to bring out the light, but nothing works as well as finding the moment the light dances, and being ready to capture it, in order to share it.
While I was out I remembered quickly the difference the exposure time makes on water.
Creamy here.
Sharp and clear here.
A landscape with just one spot of colour.
Or a portrait to lose almost all the colour except the one rose.
And playing with the focus if you just let the camera do its thing, sometimes everything wrong is in focus and the thing out of focus.
So you have to make sure you control what is happening to get what you want.
Sometimes the great difference in light levels is just too much and something is lost.
And then multiple exposure HDR can sometimes bring the light of everything to be seen in one photo. – But with better software there are better options.