The Redwoods are a nature photographer’s dream location. Massive subject matter, great atmosphere, and some of the best moments of light you could experience, all in one place. Usually, though, those things align during specific times of the year, not necessarily during the hot, dry doldrums of late summer.
But that was when we had planned our family camping trip, early August. Temperatures were reaching 35–40°C in central California, while highs in the low twenties in the Redwoods themselves would likely leave us with little atmosphere and no great light. At least, that’s what I thought.
The first morning, I woke up before sunrise to get a jump on exploring Humboldt Redwoods State Park. As a Saskatchewan native, I knew that if you wanted good light in the forest, you needed to take advantage of the 30–60 minutes after sunrise, so I made sure I was in position for then.
How wrong I was.
The Redwoods are in hilly country (not flatland like Saskatchewan), and the canopy is so dense that direct light doesn’t really invade the forest for hours after sunrise. I spent the rest of the morning hiking around the different groves near our campground, trying to find the best compositions and figuring out how I should approach the forest the next morning with my newfound knowledge.
The next morning, I headed to Rockefeller Grove and began the hike. A few minutes in, I saw something I didn’t expect. A thin haze began to envelop the tops of the trees, and light started to dance through the canopy. Having seen images of the spectacular light rays in the Redwoods, I was still completely ill-prepared for what I was about to experience. The light rays moved through the forest as the haze ebbed and flowed. It was chaotic, constantly changing, and incredibly difficult to predict, but oh so rewarding.
I managed to capture several images of the light rays piercing through the forest. Nothing like the light you might experience during the prime season, but for late summer, I’ll take it.
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