Turns out it was too early for wildflower photography—so I settled on Icebergs.
Scene from near the parking location. Snow still covers the valley in mid-July and only a tiny bit of the lake below (lower right corner) is free of ice. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
In mid-July, many of the hiking trails on Mt. Baker were still partly blocked by snow. The road to Artist Point was not yet open, only a portion of the Fire and Ice interpretative trail could be hiked, and much of the Chain Lakes trail was still snow-covered.
Clearly, it was too early to photograph wildflowers. It was even too early to photograph the False Hellebore, or corn lily. Perhaps in another week or two.
From the parking area, I could look down to the Bagley Lakes. Two were still frozen but one of them was beginning too thaw. Two thirds of the lake was now open water, but icebergs floated on the remaining third of the surface. I decided to hike down to that lake to check out the possibilities for photography.
Brief video of the newly-thawed lake and its remaining icebergs.
The hike was less than a mile in length but had an elevation loss of several hundred feet. Despite the snow, it was sunny and warm. Upon reaching the lake, I gently dropped my camera gear and walked around, looking for compositions.
The first composition framed the sculpted shapes of two icebergs that were nearly touching. I included the snow-covered slope on the far side of the lake and a reflection of a nearby hemlock tree.
Two icebergs with sculpted surfaces nearly touch in the small mountain lake. Click on the photograph to go to its location in the Corporate Art section of Iris Arts. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
The floating ice on the left has a slushy center—a mix of ice and water that was interesting for the forms and blue color. I took a photograph, then moved to the right a bit and made another 5 vertical side-by-side exposures that I later stitched into a panorama. The wide angle of view of the panorama does a good job of displaying the intricate surface of the iceberg. Lastly, I focused on detail and color in the "fingers" of the iceberg on the right.
Melting surface of the iceberg on the left. Click on the photograph to go to its location in the Corporate Art section of Iris Arts. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
Wide field of view, encompassing most of the iceberg on the right. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
Detail of the first three parallel ridges in the preceding photograph. The blues of the water over the submerged ice are pronounced. Click on the photograph to go to its location in the Corporate Art section of Iris Arts. Photo: © Donald J. Rommes
Although photographing ice was not at all what I expected, I am happy with the results. Any that will make the website will likely be in the Corporate section. I'll have to return for the wildflowers later.
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