Trip to Mt St Helens Foiled by the Clouds

I often wonder what it is that takes me back again and again to the same places. The dream of any self-respecting photographer is to capture the best he can do every time out. Unfortunately more often than not when I set out specifically to capture a subject, in this case, Mt St Helens, weather or great light makes the shoot untenable. We can push exposure to gain brightness, we can open Aperture to add light, but many times it simply isn't up to my demands.

Oh I know there are many photographers today who seem to sell by using the dark, smudgy technique, and that is a fine space to produce good work in, but for me if I need good light there simply is no substitute. On this particular trip I had heard the weather was going to be sunny as the morning progressed, so we left around 9:30 am for a 90 minute drive to the mountain. By the time we got within 6 miles of the base, we came to a screeching halt. The roads were closed to every vehicle but snow mobiles. Well not literally, if one had traction devices they could have made it another 3/4 of a mile or so, but we walked nearly a mile and found ourselves walking in 24-36" of snow. Without snowshoes or snow mobile we took what shots we could and headed back.

We never saw even the base of the mountain. The sun never appeared, the clouds never lifted. But the fog, lower down around 7 or 8 miles, lifted so we could shoot some of the valley. Still it wasn't like we had hoped for.




I guess what keeps me going back is the hope that eventually I'll get more of those incredible shots I have before. What is it that keeps you going back? And for those of you who have decided not to, what is it that would get you to try again?