Not Disappointing +Edit

[AlanLichty]

The Washington side of the mouth of the Columbia River has a neat little park called Cape Disappointment State Park. The name was ascribed to the location by a British fur trader who was sailing south looking for places to trade and was turned around by a storm and missed discovering the mouth of the Columbia River. This is one of the foggiest places in the continental US although this image was taken on a sunny day. While there may have been disappointment for the fur traders I haven't been disappointed by the scenery in the park.

This image was taken along a trail leading from the campground area to the North Head Lighthouse in one of the many wetlands in the park.

North Head Trail

• AlanLichty
• Jun 30, 2018

The scene along a trail in the Cape Disappointment State Park, WA.

A newer version of this...

C&C always welcome.

Edit: After reading Jim's comment about the sunlit ferns at the bottom of the frame I decided to take another pass at this to even out the light a bit and keep the focus higher up in the frame.

North Head Trail

• AlanLichty
• Jun 30, 2018

North Head Trail wetlands in Cape Disappointment State Park, WA.

 

[Douglas Sherman]

This view is surely not disappointing, Alan. Nice work.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Not dissapointed at all. I had in my mind that it was the Lewis and Clark Expedition winter headquarters and they were the ones dissapointed, Thanks for correcting my history.

 

[AlanLichty]

Not dissapointed at all. I had in my mind that it was the Lewis and Clark Expedition winter headquarters and they were the ones dissapointed, Thanks for correcting my history.

The name was ascribed to the locale in 1788 by John Meares and also noted by George Vancouver four years later. Lewis and Clark made it to the mouth of the Columbia in 1804 at a site named the Dismal Nitch. They got pinned down by some winter storms and spent a rather unpleasant week there before managing to cross the Columbia to find shelter on the south bank. There is a rest stop and historical marker for the Dismal Nitch there near the Washington end of the Megler Bridge that connects to Astoria on the Oregon side. The winter fort they built was named Fort Clatsop which is just south of Warrenton on the Oregon side of the Columbia.

 

[JimFox]

I am enjoying the history in this thread almost more then the photo.

I wonder if you toned down the brightness on the fern at the bottom? And maybe the smaller 2 that are lit up to it's left? I mentally tried cropping them, and that works, but maybe just toning them down some will help them from being a visual distraction due to their isolated brightness in that shady bottom.

 

[AlanLichty]

I am enjoying the history in this thread almost more then the photo.

I wonder if you toned down the brightness on the fern at the bottom? And maybe the smaller 2 that are lit up to it's left? I mentally tried cropping them, and that works, but maybe just toning them down some will help them from being a visual distraction due to their isolated brightness in that shady bottom.

Once you pointed out the bright ferns at the bottom I couldn't unsee them of course. I have added a new version of the scene with those ferns toned down a bit. It's actually the case that the range of light in this scene is pretty wide and I had to brighten up the whole foreground with a graduated filter in Lightroom but failed to modify the mask to drop that little bit at the bottom in direct sunlight. This brings the focal point higher into the scene where it belongs. Thanks.

 

[JimFox]

I really like the edit Alan! I know what you mean about how someone can’t point something out in a photo and then something that didn’t previously bother you now can’t be unseen no matter how hard you try.

Now I am also not disappointed...