In mid-May, I joined a photo workshop for five days in Olympic National Park. We camped at one of the less-visited rainforests in the park. The forest was often chaotic, with things growing in all directions. It was challenging finding and creating photo compositions, but I enjoyed the challenge and being in the forest. I was always seeking the light and letting it guide me.

One evening we went to an area beside the river. The river created an opening and allowed the late-day sunlight to filter into the forest. The first three photos are from that evening.

One of the amazing features of the rainforest are nursery logs. A fallen tree becomes a nursery when seedlings sprout on of the decaying log. As the new tree grows, its roots reach through and around the log. Eventually the fallen tree totally decomposes leaving a network of exposed roots.

To see more photos from this trip, click here.

As amazing as the redwood trees, are the plants of the understory. When I was not looking up, I found myself crouching low or using my 400mm zoom to get close to the plants and flowers.

Oxalis or Redwood Sorrel was a clover-like plant that I found in abundance throughout the forest. This plant is edible and has a tangy, lemony taste.

Another common plant that I found flowering up and down the Pacific Northwest coastal region was thimbleberry.

Here are a few other of the flowering plants.

To see more of this collection go to “Flora of the Redwood Forest.”

To view the redwood forest collection, go to “Into the Redwood Forest.”