I wanted to revisit Berkeley Park because 2 weeks earlier I had been there in harsh lighting conditions that blew out most of my photographs. To my suprise, the wildflower show had changed dramatically for the worse during that time. Most of the Western Anemone, American Bistort and Magenta Paintbrush had burned out. The Arctic Lupine had lost a lot of volume from dropped petals. Subalpine Daisy and Mountain Arnica were starting to brown and droop. It just wasn't the same.
However, there was still a lot to shoot if you looked hard enough - little pockets here and there where there was more water and shade still held some specimens at their peak. In addition, the Pink Monkey-Flower is just reaching its peak now throughout MRNP and is a very photogenic species.
I arrived late so as to start shooting after the sun passed beyond the ridge to the west that leads up to Skyscraper Mountain. This dusk lighting was good enough. I'm glad to have an IS lens and be able to shoot up to ISO 1600 though. I never use a tripod. Not yet anyway.
I stuck around until dark. Even so, there were still people on the trail. It's a popular area. Walking back to Sunrise along Sourdough Ridge I was treated to a wicked lightning show to the south. I assume it was in the Tattoosh area but it's hard to tell from a distance. The storm moved in my direction and I got back to my car just as the skies opened up and started a downpour. On the drive home I noticed several people in their cars at Sunrise Point watching the lightning show as if they were at a drive-in movie. Very cool!
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