Melissa’s Blog: Adventure and Lifestyle Photographer, Nelson, BC

Sometimes you’ve just got to roll with it Thursday, July 29, 2010

When you open yourself up and let go of expectations…life can take you on a wild ride. This past week I found myself on a spontaneous road trip through Washington state. It took a couple days to get the camera going, so I don’t have anything from day one and two…but here is a little collection from the rest of the trip.

This photo was taken in the magic forest. One of the most beautiful places I have ever camped in my life. I saw this tree and found myself tempted to take the trite photo up the trunk, at the sky. Unable to press the shutter, I sat there looking around for something different. I noticed the light on my arms, and immediately thought of sticking my face in the shot. When I looked at the back of the screen, my first reaction was to delete it because I was out of focus…but for some reason I couldn’t. I kept staring at it, trying convincing myself it was garbage….but yeah, in the end I decided it was cool.

Spent a day in Seattle.

The fish market was a zoo. The only thing I really saw was the back of Steve’s head.

Had plans to go over to the San Juan lslands on the Saturday, but after hearing about the 2 hour wait, we decided to go exploring. Steve found us a park on the beach, and to our photographic delight, there was this old abandoned dock down the beach. Perfect place to hide from the afternoon sun.

Steve showing off.

Keeping ourselves amused.

Named him George.

Filed some adoption paperwork and took him with us.

Cama Beach State Park. Trying to decide where to spend the night. No campsites anywhere…then we realized we didn’t see any “no overnight parking” signs in the lot….

So, we found a lovely place to lay our heads.

The magic forest. Free camping up a secret road outside of Mt. Rainier National Park. What a jem.

I can’t help take these pictures. Those of you that know me well, know I have a love affair with my tent. The Marmot Swallow. Best all around camping/backpacking tent out there. I’m sure by now I must have a good 20 or 30 of these…stay tuned for my “swallow series”

Mt. Rainier, Washington. The “I saw it” shot.

We were hiking along this trail and Steve saw a bear. He screamed, threw me to the ground and I managed to get this shot as he was running away. Turned out it was just a marmot. Some guy…

Found ourselves a beauty little park and lake to escape the 97 degree weather. Moses Lake, WA.

What’s a summer afternoon without some frisbee golf???

Last shot of the trip. We had put the gear away after leaving the park, but couldn’t help but pull over for a few more while the sun set.

Posted by Melissa Welsh on 07/29 at 02:21 PM
Adventures • Comments • Permalink

Shootin’ Dunes and Steve Z Wednesday, July 14, 2010

This year I made a promise to myself to get out and shoot for fun as much as possible. During my drive east last month, I stopped through Colorado and had the opportunity to spend some time in the Great Sand Dunes National Park. What an inspiring place! I met a good friend and fellow photographer Steve Z down there - and it wasn’t long be for we were scheming up a photo shoot - and one that didn’t involve a wedding dress!

It’s been a long time since I’ve been up before sunrise for the sole reason of shooting. Our goal was to get the highest dune, which reaches 750 feet above the trailhead at 8200 ft. In order to catch the best light, we started our hike at 5:30 that morning. I was loaded up with a backpack full of camera equipment and Steve had his snowboard gear. The air was cool, the dunes were calm and we were eager to start our mini-adventure!

I think the most amazing part was reaching the top and realizing that there wasn’t a person in sight - we had this stunning landscape all to ourselves! We quickly picked a line, Steve strapped on his board and the fun began. The lines weren’t long. Steve would get in 3 or 4 turns, before he’d find himself at the bottom. Then he’d take his board off and climb his way back up. I’m sure he must have climbed about 80 flights of stairs in the 3 hours we played! I started shooting with my 17-40mm 4.0 for a few wide shots and then switched to the 70-200mm 2.8 for mostly everything else. The most difficult images to nail were the ones where Steve was riding straight towards me. He had a particular idea for a shot, but the sun cooked me laying in the sand long before we could perfect the combo of his riding and my focus and composition!

Regardless, we got a ton of really fun images. I swear we spent most of the morning giggling like kids in a candy shop. Photography can be so fun when you have no clients, no expectations and no deadlines!

The highest dune “Star Dune”