Olympic Peninsula Photography Workshop with Art Wolfe
The rainy season is upon us and it’s the perfect time to catch up on long-overdue writing. In spring of 2019 I went to our sister rainforest in the Olympic Peninsula to attend this photography workshop. I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Yes, even in my spare time I enjoy photography so much that I’m happy to travel and learn from those more experienced than I. I was certainly not disappointed!
Lush green rainforest
I can’t complain about the scenery! Given that I live in a coastal rainforest anyway, I have to admit it reminds me of home. The difference being that I don’t usually go out into the forest with the specific intention of photographing the forest! With Art and team nearby to ask questions and glean inspiration, I got a lot from the visit to this area. I spent more time in the forest than I did at the actual waterfall. Oops.
Sol Duc Falls Olympic Peninsula
Due to my spending too much time at the stream and forest area, I nearly forgot to walk to the actual falls. I’m glad I did though! By the time I arrived, everyone else had already left, so I had the place to myself for which I am glad. Sometimes being late has it’s advantages! And hey, no one could argue with me getting carried away taking pictures…
Practising Long Exposures
One of the hardest things to do is expose water properly when you’re shooting a long exposure image where the surrounding area is dark. Like this one. I used a ten second exposure, no filter, but a reasonable amount of post processing with my good friend Lightroom. And yes, I could have done more, I realize I left a few water droplets on the image.
Borrowing lenses is the best!
I had the pleasure of meeting many fellow photographers and enthusiasts. One of them had an amazing Zeist 105mm macro lens that I borrowed to take this shot! It’s turned out to be one of my favourites. I don’t own a macro lens but things like this make me think I should.
Abstract Ocean
I had never taken shots like this until the workshop. Suggested by Art’s assistant Yuri Choufour, I panned sideways during a wave break at sunset at Second Beach. No, not the one in Vancouver, the one on the Olympic Peninsula!
Sunset at Second Beach
What a magical place this was, with the setting sun, the hole in the rock, and when you waited long enough, clear reflections started to show up in the wet sand. As you can imagine, there were many photographers here taking exactly the same picture, so we had to take turns going to the front of the pack to get shots with no one in them. Definitely one of those “this is what you think it’s like” vs “this is what it’s actually like” situations.
The following are just a few more images from the trip that I really liked. Some of them you will see on my Instagram account, others you can just find here. They are from the Sol Duc Falls area and the Hoh Rainforest. To see more of my travel and landscape photography click here.
