I had never been to Seattle, and that’s already quite odd as someone who works in the tech industry, but its more so for a photographer as the Seattle area and Washington state is one of the most photographed places in the US, the state alone boasts 3 national parks and 8 national forests and its city was once the host of 1960 Winter Olympics and 1962 World’s Fair. And so, on the Memorial Day weekend, I booked myself a flight to SeaTac Airport, wishing to see from my own eyes whether it lives up to its name.
Packing list
Lens
- FE 24mm GM
- FE 35mm GM
- E 11mm G
- E 16-55 G
- E 70-350 G OSS
Camera
- Sony A7RV + 2 NP FZ100 batteries
Accessories
- Platypod Ultra
- PolarPro 82mm ND filter
- Delkin Devices Fat Gecko Dual-Suction Camera Mount
- Silicone lens hood
- Benro meFOTO Roadtrip tripod and ballhead
- Peak Design Capture 3 clip
For this trip to the cities, I expected to be shooting long exposures behind highly reflective glass panes, and as such I brought the suction cup mount and a silicon lens hood that would allow me to affix the camera extremely close to the glass and remove glares from indoors.
I had also started to always bring my Platypod just because it is so small and lightweight for what it can do, getting extremely low to the ground at weird angles becomes a breeze with it. So, thanks Scott Kelby for recommending this on his Youtube channel.
How I carry my camera
On this trip I also attached the PeakDesign Capture 3.0 clip to my backpack as it frees my hands (as I had to use umbrellas often) and provides maximum security for the camera in any terrain. It also makes me look less like a tourist and more a professional photographer (although I am a really just a tourist).
What was the expectation?
With just a long weekend of staying, I divided my trips to 2 days of cities exploration and 1 and half days of nature hiking. And although I half expected weather to be somewhat cloudy for the weekend – as this is Seattle we are talking about – the weather still managed to crush my expectations when I arrived. 4 days of cloudy forecast and intermittent rain probably rendered landscape photography out of the question. But on the upside, I thought, as long as the sky is not completely covered, there are still chances to make striking photographs. And, it sort of did go my way, emphasize on sort of.
A Scenic flight
As the plane slowly descended into Washington state, I saw probably the most majestic aerial landscape I had seen thus far. The high elevation of Cascade Range, as I deduced from some geography, conjured up incredible clouds. Despite its enormous volume, it showed so much detail and textures with the sunlight shined from an angle.
And just right after I took this photo, I was greeted by possibly the creator of the cloud – the Cascade Range. The bleak white snow made a nice contrast with the dark rocky mountains, together they highlighted the jugged ridges. For someone who lives in the Appalachian range with a gentle and smooth topography, such scenery is always a treat.
In the city – Market
The first stop of my travel was the renowned Pike Place Market. This is hands down the busiest place in Seattle. I can safely say it’s also the largest farmer’s market I had been in, (or should I say “fisherman’s market?”), navigating through it was already a challenge in itself, but it was a fun one due to its diversity. One minute I was watching a fisherman cut up freshly caught salmon and king crabs. Then the next came a sushi shop, a bakery, a fruit stand, and then a flower shop. This was also the place to do people watching, although I was far from New York, people from all walks of life flowed through, I stayed perhaps too long in front of a street jazz band.
And since we are in Seattle, where about 1 in every 14 are millionaires, it’s not uncommon to see a corvette parked outside my lunch spot.
In the city – Streets
Remember what I said about the weather forecast? It was quite accurate, the the day I arrived the sky was a heavy overcast, then as the day progressed, it turned to a dull, white mess. But I soldiered through, waiting for the nightfall so I could take night photos of Seattle Skyline. I used this time to wander around the city and explored the downtown area and Seattle Public Library.
A critical mistake
One often associates a city’s popularity to its nightlife, think New York City, Miami, Los Angeles. That day however, I learned it’s not always true. As I prepared to book a visit to the Skyview Observatory, I noticed something bizarre, the last visit was timed almost 2 hours before sunset. At the end of May where it was almost summer time, no observation deck in Seattle opened past 7pm excepts the Space Needle. But the thing is, I was trying to photograph the Space Needle, and how could I photograph it from inside?
After realizing the mistake in my planning, I learned that Seattle downtown simply did not have a nightlife, the office spaces simply shut down as the sun set. What a bummer! Well, after I told the staff at the observatory of this discovery, they were sympathetic to my story and said they would allow me to come back at the end of the day again. So it turned out they had this secret hour of viewing after the closing time not written on the website. So you bet I came back around sunset again to see if I could just get a chance to make the shot.
Alas, the cloud stayed til the last minute of sunset, but it mercifully left a sliver of sunshine into the city as I was about to leave empty handed. And I quickly grabbed a few shots. It was not ideal but hey, that’s the fun of travel!
After I left the Skydeck, I went to explore the piers. In contrast to the cities, the piers looked gorgeous at night when the blue hour came. The colorful neon signs made great companion to the graduated dark blue night sky. And for dinner, Seattle had plenty of authentic Asian offerings as a treat.
The Next Day
After the major fail of the first day, I hurried up and scrutinized my plan B, which is to shoot the skyline from Smith Tower, a vintage skyscraper from 1914. The tower is quite bit lower than Skydeck, but it could offer an immersive view of being in the city. And even better, it does not have glass panels on the observation deck. And on that particular day of week, they allow the visitors to stay past 9pm. It was as if all the stars had aligned, and I grabbed my chances and the result certainly did not disappoint. Oh, and I did go to the Space Needle!
Tackling the Rainier
If photographing the city is already difficult enough, photographing true natural landscape is even tougher. As there is no man made objects to compensate for the lack of light, and everything is up to mercy of weather. Again, Washington had showed me why it’s called the one of the cloudiest states in US, and it used Mount Rainier for an example.
Immediately as I drove up the national park, I could see layers of thick cloud running between the mountain peaks. Sunlight was so diffused here everything was in between some colors of gray.
I set up my tripod and waited. I couldn’t remember for how long, but the cloud just flew and flew with no intention of stopping. But not everything was lost, the waterfall was a majestic sight to see no matter the conditions. the moist and fresh air there reminded me of my time in the High Sierras. And every footstep felt like an intimate touch with forest.
And as the cloud lifted, bit by bit, it made me even more in owe of just the scale of the high soaring hemlocks and this land. The air was becoming cold and the rain started to fall. To make the 3 hour journey back to hotel, I had to bid the park goodbye.
Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
On the the last day of the trip, I ventured to one of the national forests, unlike Mt Rainier National Park, where Mt Rainier dominates the surrounding mountains, the area here is a free-for-all. It was impossible to not find a sheer cliff just feets away from your view.
Epilogue
What a wild journey it had been, while the trip did not go exactly as planned, it was fun visiting the “Rain City” across 2800 miles from Raleigh. If I could do one thing better, it would probably be working my quads muscle more for the never ending hills of the downtown here 🙂
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