These two plants were growing fairly close to each other in the upper North Fork of the Dosewallips valley in the Olympic National Park. The elderberry has been used for wine … I don’t know of any such use for devil’s club, although native peoples are said to have used the bark and roots medicinally. The thorns on the stems are a major deterrent to making any effort to force one’s way through a patch. Cross-country travel through devil’s club is virtually impossible.
The contrast between the green of the vanilla leaf and the intense purple of the trillium caught my eye. This must have been one of the latest blooming trillium in the area … it was the only one I saw with the leaves still attached.
There is a foot bridge over a small gully in the Bloedel Reserve that provides a wonderful opportunity for shooting directly down on plants such as these ferns. It provides just a slightly different perspective than the usual.
Detail of a bunker door at Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, WA.
This image didn’t do anything for me and just sat in the folder for months. I was playing around with Lightroom and happened to hit on this image as an example of an image with lots of detail. Then I reduced the exposure on the background shadows … where usually I want to bring out details. What a difference. A good example of not getting yourself locked into your routine so much that you don’t listen to what the image is telling you.