Second Chances

As I’ve noted in the past on this blog, one of the primary advantages of photographing at nearby locations is that you can return with relative ease.

In my experience, the best photographic opportunities pertaining to a location are rarely realized on a first visit.  Exploration and growing familiarity with an area can’t be overrated when considering their impact on imagery, for a variety of reasons:

• You can better predict how certain elements will look under different lighting conditions at different times of the year.
• You have a better sense of when certain flowers or flowering trees will bloom and when fall colors will develop; or when rivers and creeks will be relatively high or low.
• Where the sun will come up and where it will set.
• Etc.

The benefits of experience are nearly limitless and the more accessible a place is to to you, the better you’ll be able to capture its essence.

But what about all of those places that aren’t nearby?  The familiarity advantage is essentially universal, but what if you can’t apply it due to the inaccessability of locations?  When it comes to distant places, we’re mostly left to consider, with much chagrin, what might have been…

But I’ve been lucky enough to have had a second chance at a number of locations that I didn’t expect to have the opportunity to revisit.  This afforded me the occasion to act on the experience of the first go-round at the same spot.

Here are my three most meaningful–and memorable–recent examples of opportunities to revisit specific, distant locations under what I hoped would be specific conditions, to experience something that I explicitly missed on the first go-round.

Lake O’Hara & the Opabin Plateau, Yoho National Park, British Columbia

Mary Lake and Lake O’Hara from the West Opabin Trail, Yoho National Park, British Columbia

The most consequential of these examples was at Lake O’Hara.  On my first visit to the Canadian Rockies, I managed to snag a single day pass to Lake O’Hara at something close to the last minute.  (Access to the area is restricted; you can read more about the details here.)  As I noted in my post covering the experience, after great anticipation, I was “treated” to absolutely miserable weather conditions (in the form of an all-day soaking rain).  If that didn’t entirely ruin the experience, it did put me knee-deep in a year-long retrospective of what might I’d been denied.

Hungabee Lake Outlet Stream, Opabin Plateau, Yoho National Park, British Columbia

I felt so strongly that I’d missed out on something truly special that I managed to finagle a return visit to the region the following year and was able to book access to the Lake O’Hara area on three separate days–a hedge against the notoriously fickle weather.  It paid off spectacularly.  I will feel forever lucky to have experienced time on the Opabin Plateau on a picture perfect Indian summer day.

Cascade Lakes Reflections, Opabin Plateau, Yoho National Park, British Columbia

Redwoods, Rhododendrons & Fog, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, California

Rhododendrons and Redwoods in Fog, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, California

During a visit to the Oregon Coast (see below) in early May a few years ago, I made a brief side trip to the coastal redwoods region of far northern California, since I’d never been there and I was so close…and who knew if I’d ever have another chance to go again?  Although I knew I was probably too early in the month, I had hoped to catch the bloom of the Pacific rhododendron that is so prolific (and beautiful) in this area.  I had also hoped to experience the redwood forest in fog (which I had been told was ubiquitous).  All three–redwoods, rhododendron blossoms and fog–would have been sublime.  But I ‘d have settled for two of three.

Coastal Trail, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, California

I got the redwoods, of course, and they were spectacular.  But I got little beyond a few rhododendron buds and saw almost no fog, despite spending parts of four days in the forest.  Amazing as the forest was, I had to admit to a bit of disappointment (though I tried to tell myself otherwise).

Damnation Creek Trail, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, California

So, when I returned to California in May of 2017–ostensibly to spend time photographing in Yosemite National Park and the Eastern Sierra, I specifically built in a few days to make the extremely long and entirely inconvenient drive all the way to Crescent City in the hopes of catching the rhododendron bloom back in redwood country.  Some fog would be the icing on the cake.  The “inconvenience” of adding far northern California to the itinerary was completely forgotten when, on the final morning of my time there, everything came together so marvelously that I couldn’t possibly have imagined anything better.  It was a transcendent experience.

Oregon Coast

China Creek Beach Sunset, Samuel H. Boardman State Park, Oregon

I had visited the Oregon Coast, as a bit of whirlwind, over parts of four days (it’s not nearly as much time as it sounds–just two full days, plus an afternoon/evening and early morning) back in 2009, at the tail end of a trip to the Pacific Northwest.  It was, in essence, a lesson in over scheduling.  When I decided to try to make up for a combination of inadequate time and subpar conditions by rescheduling a trip–limited entirely to the southern coast area–in 2015, I was absolutely committed to the idea of learning from my earlier experience:  I gave myself much more time and limited myself to a far narrower area.  This paid off.

China Creek Beach from Spruce Creek Viewpoint, Samuel H. Boardman State Park, Oregon

I timed the trip, in part, to avoid the seemingly endless Pacific summer marine layer, which had plagued me so relentlessly during my first go-round on the coast.  This ended up being a good call, as I saw very little of the mist the second time, which made for an entirely different experience on the beaches and viewpoints.  In essence, I had the opportunity to simply view–and photograph–scenes that had been entirely hidden on my first visit.

Sunset, Face Rock State Scenic Viewpoint, Oregon

These second chance opportunities have been some of my most satisfying photographic experiences, and not merely because of the opportunity to leverage the benefits of earlier times at these locations.  There’s a real sense of fulfillment that accompanies seeing something through, even if it takes years to scratch a festering itch.  These aren’t occasions to tick certain “get the the shot” items off of a list.  They are, at least for me, reflective of the chance to experience something unique and memorable and I hope to have more such opportunities in the future.