A Year of Transition
It’s time once again to share my Top 10 photos of 2019. This year has been a year of change. Big change! This year has been focused on transitioning CrtrGrl’s and my life from the traditional 9-5 grind to a life with less things, less impact on nature, and more time.
After years of preparation, paying off debt, saving money and lowering our expenses, I walked away from my career. For the past 17 years, I’ve been working in an office with no windows in Orange County, CA, that came with a 130 mile round trip commute. It’s been an emotional transition, leaving the team I’ve enjoyed working with for almost half my life and the security of a steady paycheck. But we’re driven to do work that is meaningful and that will make a positive impact on the planet. And so we’re taking a leap…
Next, we left our beach-side home of Carlsbad Village in Southern California and followed my family to Northern California. Here in NorCal, we’re working hard to build out our skoolie, which we named Skoolie Woolie, and working on alternative ways of earning income. I’ve gone from driving ~520 miles a week for work to driving about 50 miles a week for grocery shopping and home improvement store runs. Life has a much slower pace, but we’re working just as hard as ever, investing in our future.
This was our first full day off from working on our skoolie and other projects in over a month. The Cinder Cone hike in Lassen NP was so unique and had such amazing scenery!
2019 Adventures
In 2019, we only took a few day trips and one major vacation for CrtrGrl’s birthday and as part of my transition out of working in an office. We decided to go big and go where we love, so in September, we went backpacking in Olympic National Park, WA.
We chose the lesser visited Staircase entrance along the Hood Canal. Over two days of backpacking, we hiked up the North Fork of the Skokomish River to the Home Sweet Home mountain valley camp area, with a steady rain and our clothes soaked through. It was amazingly beautiful. There we warmed up with the sounds of bugling elk serenading us to sleep. We spent another two days hiking out through many different lush mountain and forest environments.
Looking Forward
Looking ahead to the new year and new decade, we have a lot of plans that we’re really excited about! We’ll be starting to share more of the projects that we’ve been working on, including transitioning and restructuring Under Pressure Photography to our new Forest2Sea brand. More change is coming!
Top 10 Photos of 2019
And now my Top 10 favorite images of 2019 in roughly chronological order. Please let me know if you have a favorite!
Borrego Super Bloom - After good rainfall, Anza Borrego Desert State Park exploded with color. We arrived for sunrise and were treated to a desert full of flowers and life.
CrtrGrl surveys the Badlands below Fonts Point, Anza Borrego State Park, CA
Leaving Our Home - In preparation for leaving our home in Carlsbad Village, we went on a photo walk to capture the parts of our neighborhood that we would miss the most.
Mt Rainier Rises Above - View of Mt Rainier from Mt Walker along the Hood Canal, WA.
Four days of backpacking in Olympic National Park - an amazingly beautiful place that depends on stable rainfall in order to maintain it's lush, green, carpet of life. Only on underwater reefs in Indonesia have I seen the density of life that exists on land here. Moss covers everything and fungi explodes out of the earth. Changes to rainfall patterns will devastate this natural wonder, and Climate Change will wreak more and more havoc on the stable climate that human civilization has developed with.
Beauty in Nature - CrtrGrl in awe at the Staircase entrance to Olympic National Park. It's a moss covered wonderland!
The Painted Dunes in Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA.
Panoramic of Lassen Peak from the Cinder Cone in Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA
Fall Oak - The oak trees up here in Shingletown are just amazing works of art, all by themselves. Once fall hits, the leaves turn yellow, striking a complimentary color to the green moss covering the branches.
Potem Falls, CA - On Christmas Day, CrtrGrl and I took the day completely off and went out exploring. It was a cold, rainy day up here in NorCal, which made for absolutely perfect conditions to visit this magnificent waterfall and have the place all to ourselves. Please tread carefully in the beauty of nature and leave no trace. Wishing peace and joy to all on the cusp of the new decade.
That IS quite a change, Scott – it sounds like a great move (both literally, and mentally). 🙂 Beautiful photos! The “Painted Dunes” image is probably my favorite, it has such a great flow through the frame. Thanks for sharing and all the best on your new adventures, in 2020 and beyond.
Thanks Alex, I appreciate it! Best to you in 2020 as well!