351 - Diablo Lake
*Note: This adventure also features an in-field vlog.
This shoot is at Diablo Lake, but it should be called “Smoke Filled Lake Fucks Everything Up.”
Seriously tho. We showed up to the North Cascades National Park at 6AM and the view was absolutely breath-taking. The B-Roll, exceptional. But for the life of me I couldn’t get a fucking shot. And I’m slowly learning that smoke does some weird shit to the sky.
I talked about this in my last adventure at Myrtle Falls, but at that point I thought it was merely a coincidence that the dynamic range situation was so fucked up.
But two shoots in row? Nah. This was something else. My THEORY is that the smoke particles add extra luminance to particularly bright areas. Couple that with the fact that smoke darkens the shadow area details, and you’re left with a multiplying effect.
I should provide some context and say there’s a massive amount of fires in the American West right now, so there’s smoke EVERYWHERE. It’s basically impossible to avoid.
Well, long story short I didn’t come away with a solid shot in the morning photoshoot at Diablo Lake Overlook, so we decided to head over to Gorge Falls, which was right down the street. I was hoping that the sunlight wouldn’t be hitting it yet, and we could sneak in a moody morning waterfall shot.
Unfortunately, it was saturated with light by the time we arrived, and the angle was poor. There’s only one far bridge that overlooks it, so there’s only one extremely subpar composition you can come away with. So I scratched it off, two strikes!
Walking back to our van, I took account of the morning vlog. I had a fuck ton of footage walking around, but no solid photography. And if you know anything about my vlogs, I care more about getting a good photo then good footage. So I was defeated.
Haley and I took a nap, and I figured I’d just shoot something later that night at sunset.
Jump forward to sunset, we decided to do the Thunder Knob trail, which leads to a DIFFERENT vantage point of Diablo Lake. It was only a 1.8 mile hike up to the top, so we arrived pretty fast and had time to walk around and figure ourselves out.
And I started to have the same problem of the morning time… Too much blown out sky, and a fairly boring shot of the lake overlook. So I said fuck it, I’m shooting SOMETHING.
I think in the past couple shoots, I’ve gotten some absolutely insane shots. Steptoe Butte, Palouse Falls, and Myrtle Falls were all nuts. And I was able to either just shoot the ground (Steptoe Butte,) or do a sky replacement (Palouse Falls and Myrtle Falls) to add enough character for an interesting shot. In other words, I was spoiled by epic, majestic landscape shots and avoiding the smoke at the same time.
But I didn’t have that option here, and honestly I didn’t want to do a sky replacement. I have a love hate relationship with them. Part of me thinks it’s art, but the other half tells me I’m cheating. Then another half of me says that I need to learn Photoshop better. AKA I try to limit myself unless I know I can pull of something fantastic.
I settled on this diamond shot of the peak, which was being lit up the most. When in doubt, follow the light.
It’s a solid shot, I really can’t complain. I’m just a spoiled nitwit.
I looked at my prized possession of the day, and shattered the barrier I’d been putting up on myself all day. I was only looking for the epic!
Now I was in the mood to shot. I dug out my Sony 70-200mm 2.8, and found another intimate distance scene:
“Grey Death”
Sony a7rIII + Sony 70-200mm 2.8 GM
ISO 1000 ~ 142mm ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/50s
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
It’s almost mini horror photography. Now this is a concept I’ve been playing with a lot lately. HORROR LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY. Is that a thing? A new niche genre? I’m not sure. I try to visualize it, but it’s difficult to see where it leads.
On one hand, some amazing, original stuff. On the other hand, a fairly darkened mind state is needed…
So I’m going to keep that idea in the back of my head for now. I wonder if Stephen King is happy?
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
*Please note this page contains affiliate links.
