Advice for photography vacation spot

[thekingb]

I am starting to think about planning a 10th anniversary trip. My wife and I would like to travel someplace in the continental US or Canada that would provide lots of beautiful landscape scenery to shoot as well as wildlife. I particularly enjoy shooting birds.


The trip would probably be in either August, September or October.


Ideally the location would be within a couple hours drive of an airport, as we will likely have only 4 days in total.


Ideas? Thank you in advance for your help!


Brian

[TheRoff]

My wife and I had a great mini vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine earlier this year. It is a couple of hours drive from Portland, ME. Great seacoast and Acadia National Park. That area is fantastic in the fall. My shots are here.


Larry

[thekingb]

Acadia is a great idea that hadn't even occurred to me! Thanks. Great photo album too. The "balcony perspective" photo is particularly stunning.

[Kayaker72]

Hi Brian,


I am originally from the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle/Vancouver, B.C.area that time of year typically has excellent weather. You could go a lot of different directions and ultimately get a mix of urban, scenic and wildlife photography:

1. Seattle itself is very nice with Pike's Place Market, Capital Hill, etc
2. San Juan Islands (North ~ 2 hours). A quick ferry ride, but a good mix of scenic and wildlife photography. I've only been there once, but supposedly there is a point that Orca sightings are frequent. I didn't see any on my trip, but that is wildlife for you.
3. Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens (South ~2 hrs). The devistation of Mt. St. Helens is both impressive and excellent to photograph.
4. Olympic National Park (West2.5 hrs to the start of the park and4.5 hrsto thefar side). Impressive mountains and very cool beaches.
5. Victoria, B.C.---the town itself isgreat,historic buildings, etc...but also Butchart Gardens. (Ferry from Port Angeles/Olympic NP, San Juan Islands, Seattle or Vancouver)
6. Vancouver has a number of parks/vistas to mix in with an urban setting.
7. North Cascades National Park (2-3 hrs). More scenic photography.

My general point is that in 4 days you could probably easily take on 2-3 of the above either bytraveling in a loopor by using Seattle or Vancouver as a home base.


Other suggestions:

1. Yellowstone and Grand Tetons NPs. A classic and an incredible mixture of geysers, wildlife, canyons, mountains and waterfalls. But any close airport is going to be pretty small (Jackson, WY).
2. South Utah NP (Bryce/Zion/Canyonlands). I flew into Las Vegas a few years ago and did about 4 day trips, Zion, Death Valley, Hoover Dam and Red Rocks.
3. San Francisco. Great city to photography, especially with Golden Gate Bridge/Alcatraz, etc, but head north and you have Muir Woods, Point Reyes National Sea Shore, Mount Tam, and Napa/Sonoma Valleys (if you are so inclined). Head south and you have Monterey, Big Sur, etc.East--Yosemite Valley is 3.5-4 hrs. I like flying into Oakland, but SFO, of course,works well too.
4. If you like beaches, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Block Island...all are a few hours from Boston or Providence. Weather in New England is pretty hit or miss, but Augustseems to be more consistently nice.

Ok, I want to travel now (and I am headed to Acadia at the end of the month)...but first, I need to buy more and better lenses.


Good Luck,


Brant

[Daniel Browning]

Since you particularly enjoy birds, I'd recommend Florida -- it has wider variety than any other US state. Other places can be great during spring migration season, but Florida is awesome year round.


I'll second the suggestion for the Pacific Northwest. There's a reason why our area has a more-than-average preponderance of photographers: there's a tremendous variety and beauty of nature out here. Naturally I would suggest my own area:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon





There are a tremendous variety of photographic subjects within two hours driving distance. City, ocean, mountain, waterfalls, rainforest, true desert, starry skies, and everything in between. Some people think the clouds are a problem, but actually it makes landscapes infinitely more interesting than the boring cloudless skies of the southwest. As for the rain, well, there's a price for keeping everything green. []


Another location I would highly recommend is British Columbia. I vacation regularly in Vancouver, Victoria, and Whistler precisely because the natural beauty abounds with photographic potential.

[Kayaker72]

Oregon is great as well []. Astoria, Cannon Beach, all the waterfalls (200++) coming off Mt Hood, Columbia river gorge, Oregon coast, Crater Lake, Three Sisters, etc.....Taken withmy old point and shoot (S45) about 7 years ago....


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[thekingb]

Thanks for all the great ideas and sample pics. From what people have recommended, and based on where I've been recently (Portland area), my first choice would be Acadia National Park. But unfortunately it's too much of a pain for me to get there for a short trip. So I think the next best option is Zion National Park with its proximity to Las Vegas. Time to start planning! Thanks again.


Brian