Category Archives: Photography

Washington Pass, North Cascades

I love the North Cascades Highway (Highway 20) in Washington for breathtaking views and a peaceful retreat. The Washington Pass Vista Point offers panoramic views of majestic mountain peaks. Take your time and appreciate the splendid viewpoints, including the Washington Pass Vista Point. It’s a must-see attraction for nature and outdoor enthusiasts, tourists, and anyone looking to retreat from everyday hustle and bustle.

Getting a drone photo from the pass has been on my must-do list for several years. Finally, this past week, I got the opportunity. There was a little smoke in the air, making the air not quite as clear as I would have liked. But still, not bad. And we got some clouds to add interest to the sky. [Note: I did check to be sure there was no aerial fire fighting or TFRs in the area to be sure I wouldn’t be interfering with fire fighting operations.]

I had taken my almost new (to me) Mavic 2 Pro drone with me just for this occasion. Three batteries were charged the night before we left for the journey. All equipment was checked and re-checked to be sure I hadn’t left something out, or forgot to charge a battery.

We drove over the pass on Thursday and camped an Klipchuck Campground, a few miles west of Mazama. We stopped at the Vista Point on our way over Washington Pass. The sun was low in the sky and the valleys were in deep shadow.

If you have not driven over the North Cascades Highway, you really should add it to your to-do list. It is a spectacular drive any time of year. Earlier in the year all of the mountains around will be snow-capped.

Below is a photo of Diablo Lake from the Diablo Lake Vista Point.

Diablo Lake from the Diablo Lake Vista Point

The next day we spent the morning having breakfast and shopping in town – or towns: Winthrop and Twisp. If you haven’t been to eqpd in Twisp, you really should check it out. They make very cool bags. After this stop, we now own more than 10 of their bags in various sizes, colors and styles. In their manufacturing facility in Twisp they have a good assortment of bags you can purchase. There are also many seconds that can be purchased at a discount. Quite often the problem with the bag is difficult or impossible to spot. One of the bags we got on this trip (the one on the left in the photo below) had a very minor defect in the pattern printed on the bag.

eqpd bags, made in Twisp, WA
eqpd bags, made in Twisp, WA

After shopping we headed back to the Washington Pass Vista Point. Scattered clouds had come in, giving an interesting sky. We walked up  to the overlook, then looked around for a place away from people to launch my drone. We found a nice flat rock, probably 15-20 feet across, several hundred feet from the main viewpoint with no trees above it to snag the drone on takeoff.

I flew my drone for almost 20 minutes, taking a number of still photos and several panorama shots. The 360° panorama below was the best of the bunch. From where the drone was you can see both sides of the pass, including the hairpin turn of the highway south of the Vista Point.

Click on the image below and move your mouse to spin the image so you can look in all directions. To view full screen, click on the [] in the upper right hand corner.

The 360° panorama above was taken with my Mavic 2 Pro (26 RAW photos), edited with Lightroom to try to tame the blown-out sky, then stitched into a 360° Panorama with PTGui, and uploaded to kuula.co for viewing.

Low Tide in Edmonds – Beachfront Aerial Photo

On September 8, 2022, Edmonds, Washington, had a low tide of -1.7 feet. That happens frequently, so it’s nothing too exciting. Except this day we had sunshine and I had my drone up in the air. Lots of people were out enjoying the beach, and it seemed like the perfect time and place for a few photos.

The ferry was at the dock. At these low tides, it is possible to walk under the ferry dock without getting your feet wet (at least not very wet – wear boots).

Update April 22, 2023:

I have moved my website to a new host, and now have additional capabilities. Before, I could not embed a 360° photo in the page and had to link to a different site to display it. Now I can embed it directly here, as below. Click and drag in the 360° photo below, use your scroll wheel to zoom in and out. Or click the small square in the upper right corner to view it full screen (which I highly recommend).

Drone Photos Without a Drone

Last year when we were in Tucson, staying at the Lazy Days KOA, I wanted to take a decent photo of our campsite. The best shot would have been from a drone, but I didn’t think the KOA would allow me to fly my drone there. Not to mention that campground is in the airspace of a commercial airport and two(!) military airbases. There really was no chance of getting permission to fly a drone there!

So, what to do? I did some searching, and found photos that looked like photos from a drone that were taken without a drone. How did they do it?

One person that had some pretty interesting photos had taken the photos with a 10′ “Selfie” stick. That’s right, 10 feet! That sounded great to me, so I purchased one. Click here to get your own from Amazon (this is an affiliate link).

OK, it’s not really 10 feet. It’s actually 3 meters, or about 9.8 feet. It’s a carbon fiber pole that extends in sections, so you don’t have to extend it to the full 3 meters. When collapsed it’s only about ~18″ long.

When holding this pole up over my head, the camera is about 16′ above ground. Perfect for many photos.

I attached my GoPro to the end of the pole and used my cell phone to control the camera. I could see what the camera was seeing through my phone, and snap the shot (or shoot a video). It takes a little practice to hold the pole steady and aim it where you want.

The pole seems to be made well. It locks into position and stays there until you want to collapse it (a slight twist at each section releases it).

Using this pole, I was able to get some pretty nice shots of our KOA campsite, as seen below.

Tucson Lazy Days KOA campsite
Tucson Lazy Days KOA campsite