Mount St. Helens

Thank you so much to all of you who continue to follow NikonSniper. This website started less than three years ago at the prompting of my wife and kids to place photos in a place that they could see them. For years, I had taken photos and had just stored them away on hard drives and no one had access to view them. I had no idea that they would receive this much interest. Last month NikonSniper received 8,500+ hits. That's crazy! All I can say is thank you. In actuality, your comments have become the majority of the words found on this blog ... and they are so appreciated. I enjoy looking at your blogs too! I learn so much from you and your ideas. They help me to keep improving at this art.

This photo is very special to me. Here are the words I wrote on 6/21/09 after taking the photo. I wrote this while seated at the Alaska Airlines gate in Portland getting ready for a night of flight back to Chicago after a two week road trip in Washington and Oregon.

Today, I took my last sidetrip before my flight home. I drove up to Mount St. Helens to kill some time while waiting for my cheap-o flight back to the Windy City. My flight is one of those "red eyes" that departs Portland at 9pm for Los Angeles, then another jump to Dallas before I reach Chicago a little after 9am on Sunday. I am not as young as I used to be!

After checking my bags and passing through security in Portland, I saw an open power plug at my gate, plugged in and accessed the Airport wireless network. I just had to post one of these incredible photos from Mount St. Helens before I left.

Earlier today, while heading to Mount St. Helens, I stopped in the tourist information center and was told that there really wasn't much to see on the south side of Mount St. Helens. I just kept going anyway because I really didn't have enough time to go to the north side.

After seeing what I saw on the southside ... I beg to differ on the worthiness of the south view. The photos I captured there did not do justice to what I saw with my own eyes. I saw an absolutely beautiful array of violet flowers growing in the lava path from the volcano. The people at the information center said there was nothing to see. HA!

Isn't that just like SO many things we take for granted if we see them everyday? Being a flatlander from Illinois, I found this location to be truly stunning. In fact, I called home this afternoon and told my son that I may have taken the best landscape photos that I have ever seen in my life. I did wish that the sun would have popped through a bit more today while I was there but I'll take these 1000 photos anytime. I am so glad I added them to my collection.

Look at what the hand of God did and continues to do with His on-going creative power! I know that I have been fortunate to have taken some pretty cool photos in my lifetime ... but this photo had nothing to do with me. I simply held the camera, pushed a button and became the beneficiary of collecting evidence of God. The 2nd law of Thermodynamics states that things left to themselves lead to chaos! God intervened to leave this stunning fingerprint on the surface of His Earth.Hope you enjoy what you see here! Thanks Washington and Oregon for these and future memories.

NikonSniper Steve