A Return to Mt. Rainier

Last Friday we took Leslie’s brother and sister-in-law to see Mt Rainier for the first time, and I performed my, nearly, annual attempt to accomplish the impossible, to capture the majesty of this mountain through a camera lens, a telephoto lens at that.

Here’s our first real glimpse of the mountain as we approached Sunrise, Leslie’s favorite approach to the mountain

Rainier from road to Sunrise

because it gives her the feeling of being on the mountain, or at least the feeling that you’re always in the mountain’s presence:

Rainier from Sunrise trail

Even though I prefer the more traditional southwestern approach from Paradise Park, I don’t mind starting from the northeast side and circling the mountain to get shots from several different angles,

Mt. Rainier

though I found it rather disorienting seeing the mountain from so many different angles.

Mt. Rainier from the South

as I’m not used to wondering which way is north and which south?

Of course all these look better on my large Cinema screen, but the real frustration is in trying to get correct exposure for the whole photograph, and trying to photomerge shots where the exposure is different.

I’m going to have to drag my tripod to the top of the mountain and shoot some shots with High Dynamic Pro so I can get the best possible exposure in the snow and the trees even though I have no illusion that you can ever capture anything as magnificent as Mt. Rainier on the page.

No, all I really hope to do is drop crumbs that will lead you to your own experience of the mountain.