Photography, Travel
A Foggy Approach to Seattle
A response to the SNAPSHOTS technology and nature prompt
The glow followed us all the way from Bend, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. I had recently been to Alaska and had gone up in a small plane to see the Glaciers near Juneau. It had been a spectacular sight. But now I now found myself glued to the glass of the window of a commercial flight in utter awe of an equally jaw-dropping vista.
We had taken off beneath the cloud cover just as the sun was peeking up over the foggy horizon where the Three Sisters Mountains met the sky. It was like a whole other world once we were airborne. We passed peak after peak poking up through the ocean of fog and, soon, we spotted the volcanic cone of Mount Ranier muscling its way up towards the heavens.
I had been on an astrophotography retreat at Mount Ranier a couple of months before and had spent a lot of time photographing that behemoth from the ground as the sun rose behind it. To see it from the sky was an entirely different thing.
The glare off of the ocean as we approached Seattle was blinding.
It was like a sea of molten gold.
The towers of downtown were caught in the light for a few moments.
And then we swooshed over the harbor. I’m always struck by the isolation of those green islands in the distance — so close to the city but, yet, so far from civilization.
The fog still drifted through the low-lying pockets of land but it opened up enough to be able to see the warehouse area near the airport.
I took one final look back out to sea over this residential area and was struck by the congruence between nature and humanity.
Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, neurophilosopher, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).
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Story and photos ©Erika Burkhalter. All rights reserved.
Thanks to Sherry Kappel for the technology and nature prompt.
You might also enjoy some of the other SNAPSHOT challenge pieces by such talented artists as Ian Hanson, Kris Cochran, pockett dessert, Erik Smith, Dennett, Penny Grubb, Christopher Lovelace @ChristopherLovelace, Inge E. Knudsen, Sandra B, K. Barrett, Charlie Cole, Gina Pacelli Jillian Amatt, B.R. Shenoy, Anne Bonfert, Nicole Anders, Mahein Kazi, Bruce Walker, Ronald Smit, Ray Wirth, Louise Peacock, and others, who have participated in SNAPSHOTS challenges.