We got up early and conditions were great for wildflower portrait photography: overcast and calm. I made a mug of instant coffee and J started a mug of tea steeping. I had a Clif Bar and sucked down some coffee before we headed out to photograph the flowers right near the RV.

There was lots of dew on the flowers from the rain last night which made the flowers even more interesting. My favorite images of the morning were of a Nettleleaf Horsemint blossom (far left) and a Dwarf Fireweed bloom (near left), both covered with dew drops.

We returned to the RV around 7:50 after it started raining steadily. I had a bowl of Post Raisin Bran to finish breakfast while I downloaded the images from this morning. Then I downselected the images in Capture One (C1).

I cleaned the UV filter and front element of my 180 Macro lens using Kodak Lens Cleaner, Residual Oil Remover, and Tiffen Lens Cleaning Paper. I use that combination for all of my lens-cleaning needs. The Tiffen lens paper is the same as the old Kodak lens cleaning paper. After blowing off the surface to clean, I take one sheet of lens cleaning pper, fold it in half, apply a drop of Kodak Lens Cleaner fluid, then wipe the surface in a circular motion starting from the center. Then I dry the surface with a second sheet of lens paper that's wadded up, moving in a circular motion from the center. Then I take another clean sheet of paper, fold it in half, apply a drop of Residual Oil Remover, and proceed as with the Kodak fluid. A dry micro-fiber cloth is probably OK to use in a pinch, but I prefer to use lens paper and lens cleaning fluid for regular cleaning.
The rain stopped and the clouds started to break up, so we left in the Jeep around 9:20 and headed up towards Daisy Pass. Poverty Gulch Road fiords Slate River then heads up towards the pass.

We stopped in a meadow filled with False Hellebore, Larkspur, Monkshood, and other species. I photographed Case's Fitweed (left) for the first time as well as Redstem Cinquefoil (below left). The wind started to pick up while I was photographing the cinquefoil, so it took a long time to capture a good image.

We continued heading up towards Daisy Pass, then took the right fork to go north of Cascade Mountain. The 4WD road switchbacked up a steep hillside, mostly going over scree that was between 4 and 8 inches (10-20cm) in the longest dimension. Then the road suddenly stopped at the creek in Poverty Gulch where it looked like an old bridge had washed away. I turned the Jeep around on the narrow road with a five-point turn being very careful not to go off the road on the downhill side but drove up the hill on the uphill side. J got out to scout wildflower shooting opportunities, and I was drawn to the rocks that had cleaved off near the end of the road. The rock face was fractured and allowed corrosion to start during the freeze-thaw cycle. After the rocks cleaved off, the wonderful patterns were exposed (below right). The image covers about 6 inches (15cm) of a rock face, and I used a polarizer to reduce the reflections and saturate the colors. I had Clif Bars for lunch while J photographed a large patch of columbine along the creek.

We returned to the RV around 1:45. I downloaded the images I took while I worked up a blog entry. Then I downselected the images from mid day in Capture One (C1).

We had dinner around 6:05 of J's Quick-Cooking Chicken with Mushrooms and Onions and broccoli and it was delicious. We talked about near-term travel plans. My mother called J, and when they were done, J handed me the phone. After we finished, I did the dishes.

We left in the Jeep around 7:10 and headed up to Paradise Divide.

We stopped near the top so J could photograph a Mule Deer doe with two still-spotted fawns crossing a meadow. They weren't too cooperative, but it was great to watch them, especially when the fawns sprung/bounded along after their mother.

We got out at Paradise Divide (11,250 ft or 3429m) and waited for something interesting to happen with the clouds. They finally lit up, but not where we had expected them to due to clouds further west. So, we scrambled to get a few images while conditions were good (left). The image was created by processing one RAW file three times to get detail in the bright sky and dark foreground then combined by hand in Photoshop.

We returned to the RV around 9:10 and I downloaded the images I took tonight then downselected them in Capture One (C1). Then I selected six images for a blog entry before finally going to bed after a long, but thoroughly enjoyable, day.