I found this little creek some time ago on one of my quick trips to the coast. It is a tucked away gem near the town of Whistler. On my most recent visit to the area I decided to make a stop and attempt to document it. This is my favourite shot I walked away with. This is actually what this forest looks like. The green in the costal forests are almost surreal. From a technical aspect photographing this area is extremely hard due to the complexity of the forest. I found by utilizing the creek, I was able to break the complexity of the forest and convey a natural path for the audience’s eyes to follow.
Stuck in the middle of nowhere deep on logging roads with a 1.5 year old changing a flat tire is how this photo came about. After changing the tire in filthy snowmelt mud, I took my daughter out and gave her lunch before we made our long trek back on questionable roads with a donut tire. As we sat on the side of the road eating lunch I noticed only this cluster of trees had a unique growth of Spanish moss covering their trunks. All in all, the trip cost me several hundred dollars in a new tire but it was still a fun trip.
Deep in the Mojave Desert there is a valley that contains some very unique sand dunes. When travelling into the Mojave Desert preserve in California, it seems as if you enter a new planet when you drop down into the valley containing Kelso Dunes. The sand dunes appear out of nowhere and are towering up to 700 feet high. This became an unforgettable experience hiking up the sand in blistering heat. What makes these dunes unique is the fact that they are known as “singing” sand dunes. The sounds that come off of the dune in certain conditions resemble the sound of a subwoofer pounding bass after each step. This is created by resonating sound caused by the friction from layers of sand sliding across each other under your feet. This is only one of few in the world that are known for this phenomenon. The first time I felt it under my feet I jumped because I thought I stepped on a snake under the sand.
