Tag Archives: mt. Rainier

Drone Launch Aerial Photography Contest 2021 Finalist!

Hello friends,

I’m so happy to report today that one of my photographs (see below) was one of the finalists in the Drone Launch Academy’s 2021 Aerial Photography Contest.

Earlier this year, I was out flying my drone in the Mt. St. Helens area attempting to find a good vantage point of the volcano while still maintaining the legal ability to do so. When I was done and working my way back home, I decided to take the scenic route and find areas to fly around and shoot some photographs and video.

When low and behold I came across a lake that I knew had an incredible view of Mt. Rainier on one side, but it was inaccessible. Fortunately for me, I had the drone and was able to position it in an area to capture the photo. Luck was on my side, too, as it was during the golden hour and the light falling on the mountain gave me an incredible site to behold.

Anyway, you can find their post on their blog at the following link: https://dronelaunchacademy.com/dla-photography-contest-2021-finalists/

As always, thank you for your support and for being my friend. And if you want to view some more our my work, visit some of my portfolio pages.

Chris

Blessings and Merry Christmas to you.

Posted in Drone Photography, Landscape and Nature Photography Also tagged , , , , , , |

Shot of the Day, October 3, 2021

Good morning Friends,

For today’s photograph of the day, I am choosing another aerial photo that I took last week.

I had some extra time to myself on Friday, so I decided to get into the car and drive. Once I loaded my car with my camera (of course) and the drone, I just set off without a destination in mind. I figured I would just let the car guide where and I was just going along for the ride.

Well, it wasn’t too long before the car decided that it wanted to head into the mountains. Headed south, it ended up near Mt. St. Helens past Randle, Wa. Well, not to belabor the point I got a chance to fly the drone on the outside of the no-fly area before heading back down and stopping at a few places along the way to get some more photographs.

One such place was at Mineral Lake. I used to fish there decades ago so I was somewhat familiar with the view, but the clouds and such were such that I knew that if conditions were such I would have a lovely view of the mountains. I launched the bird and off I flew to the other end of the lake, composed my photograph, and snapped away.

This stop did not disappoint. And the photograph didn’t disappoint either. In fact, its my favorite of the year so far (not that that is saying much with all the Covid crap going on) but still it far outranks all the others.

I hope that you enjoy this photograph as much as I do.

Blessings,

Chris.

Posted in Drone Photography, Landscape and Nature Photography, Shot of the Day Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , |

Shot of the Day, August 2 2021

Hello friends. And Happy Monday to you.

I’m not going to belabor the story here but rather keep it short and simple…I took the drone out for a few shots along the Tacoma Waterfront a few weeks back and snapped this photograph of the Port of Tacoma along Commencement Bay. The change in the water color to a carmel/brownish color is the result of glacial runoff from Mt. Rainier that comes down the Puyallup River and empties into the bay. It’s always a various shade or carmel but this time of year it gets particularly noticeable when higher temps melts more snow off the mountain and it picks up more silt as it rolls down. You can see the river about mid way up the picture in the back behind some of the building and steam stacks.

Enjoy the picture.

Chris.

Posted in Drone Photography, Shot of the Day Also tagged , , , , , , , |

My Drone over Pierce County

Hello friends,

I hope that you are well this very fine day. I know that I am!

Today, I though that I would post another video of shots of various places around Pierce County, Washington, where I live. As you know, I recently earned my FAA Part 107 Commercial Drone License so I have been on a tear to shoot video and photographs of places I visit and am able to get the bird in the air.

This video contains some shots of my neighborhood, Bradley Lake Park in Puyallup, Les Davis Pier and Dickman Mill in Tacoma, Alder Lake in rural Pierce County, and Dogwood Park in Eatonville.

There is nothing fancy here. Just some cool shots that I wanted to share.

Enjoy the video and as always..blessings.

Chris.

Posted in Drone Photography Also tagged , , , , , , , , , |

Shot of the Day, June 28 2021

Wow, two of these posts this year! What’s up with that you ask? Not sure, but perhaps this post has more to do with the outside conditions around there than anything else.

We are in the middle of a record breaking heat wave across the Pacific Northwest these last few days. It is not normal for temperatures to reach 100 degrees and for the last few days we have been well above that. In fact, the forecast today is for Puyallup to reach 115. Unheard of.

So what are people doing to stay cool? Of course, if you have air conditioning it is normal to stay indoors next to the cooler, but for the rest of us we need to get close to the water. Whether that is Puget Sound or a lake somewhere, we flock to the edge of the water in an effort to stay cool.

Yesterday, we were at a graduation party at a house on Lake Tapps, Washington, and of course I had to bring the drone along and see if I could get a few shots. I was mostly just showing friends the flight abilities of this machine, but when I could I took some video and tried to compose something photographically. The bright sunshine and super washed-out highlights of taking photographs on days like this make it challenging (underlining the need for me to get some ND filters for this drone), but it’s always worth an effort to get what you can.

So this is a photo of Mt. Rainier in the background against the eastern edge of the lake and Snag Island bridge (and a private airfield also in the foreground I believe).

Anyway, enjoy the photograph and as always blessings to you. And stay cool!

Chris

Posted in Drone Photography, Landscape and Nature Photography, Shot of the Day Also tagged , , , , , , |

Shot of the Day, April 2, 2021

Oh my goodness, do you know how long it’s been since I’ve done one of these posts? Maybe 5 years. Holy Cow!!! Time sure flies when you’re having fun. Or is it time’s sure fun when you’re having flies. Whatever. Haha.

Anyway, I have taken so many photographs of round-the-house stuff while stuck in quarantine during this pandemic. This particular photograph is of Mt. Rainier that I took a few months ago while sitting round waiting to start my day. It was a foggy kind of day and the mountain was in complete silhouette during the sunrise and the top of the it had a hint of the sunshine to come.

Enjoy and Blessings,

Chris.

Posted in Landscape and Nature Photography, Shot of the Day Also tagged , , , , , , |

Mt. Rainier Panoramic

Hi Friends,

The image below is an 8 photo panoramic I shot of Mt. Rainier taken yesterday. WAIT! You can’t see Rainier? Well neither could we (it should be in the upper right corner of this photo). But if you look closely you may see Mt. Adams off in the distance.

We got a real late start in the day and were hoping to get some sunset shots from Crystal Mountain, but it didn’t look like the clouds were going to break so we made the trek over to Sunrise in the hopes that getting closer might yield a shot or two. Well, it wasn’t to be. Perhaps next time (I will post a few others later on).

Blessings until next time,

Chris.

Posted in Landscape and Nature Photography Also tagged , , , , , , , , |

Around Washington, Part 1

Good day Friends! And happy Leap Year!

Well, I’ve been working on several projects lately, including an album (quickly turning into 2 albums) of Iceland. One of which is trying to accumulate some of my favorite various pictures from around Washington State. One of the challenges I’ve had is that I have pictures spread across 3 different computers using 3 different versions of Lightroom (which reminds me-another great big thank you to Adobe for making Lightroom and Photoshop subscription-based, I say very sarcastically). And trying to compile them to one spot without reworking a slew of pictures has become very problematic. But I digress. Another is that I haven’t really taken much landscape photographs in Washington State in the last few years (that should change this year). Most have been in Iceland, Nevada, Oregon, or somewhere in between.

Nevertheless, I post here for your enjoyment a few photographs from around Washington that I have taken in the last 2 years.

And now for the shameless plug, all photographs are available for purchase. Please email me or visit what I have on Fine Art America – Chris McKenna.

Stay tuned for Part 2 coming up with a few weeks.

Blessings,

Chris.

Posted in Architectural, General, Landscape and Nature Photography Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , |

Mt. Rainier, Part Deux

Last week, we decided to take another trip up to Mt. Rainier to hopefully get a few dramatic sunset pictures. Before we left, we looked at the sky and saw no clouds but we decided to go anyway as the mountain always gives great photo opportunities.

Enjoy, and blessings.

Chris.

 

 

Posted in Landscape and Nature Photography, Travel Photography Also tagged , , , , , , |

Mt. Rainier August, 2014 Photo Trek

Greeting my friends.

I hope that you are all enjoying your summer and the beautiful weather that we’ve been having. Honestly, while enjoying the sunshine a lot I am now ready for some cooler temperatures.

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to join Jennifer King (of Jennifer King Photography Workshops) on a workshop/trek on Mt. Rainier. The goal was to get some good shots of the wildflowers and some sunsets/sunrises on the mountain and while the weather certainly did not cooperate with us, I did manage to get a few good shots for my portfolio.  The wildflowers were incredible, the running water (i.e. waterfalls) were breathtaking, and the wildlife was heartwarming. And even though I cannot post all my pictures, I hope that you enjoy the few that I did.

Now about the workshop. Even professional photographers need some instruction and guidance from time-to-time. I have been wanting to join a professional workshop for some time and Jennifer is one of the best photographers I have run across in a long time. I really enjoyed her tutaledge and guidance and value her friendship. I look forward to joining her on another trek next year. If you are looking for some good professional training, I highly recommend Jennifer King Photo Workshops.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy my photographs and if you are interested in a purchase, please see my gallery on Fine Art America or email me and let me know what you are interested in.

Blessings,

Chris.

(click on the thumbnail to enlarge)

 

Posted in Landscape and Nature Photography, Travel Photography Also tagged , |