Today, I thought I’d write about one of my favorite places here in Northwest, the Olympic Peninsula. Many of you might be familiar with this location, and I’m not sure I have anything in this entry for those of you who are familiar. Those, of you who’ve never been though, you’ll want to check this out.

The Olympic Peninsula is one of the most diverse places in the United States. The western valleys are the wettest areas in the lower 48 and some of the eastern valleys are near desert. To this you can add beautiful beaches and high glaciers and snowfields. This diversity makes for wonderful photo opportunities.

Some of my favorite areas to photograph are in the forested valleys. Forests are always challenging to photograph, but the forests are what people will remember most of the Olympic Peninsula.

If I have one complaint about the peninsula, it is that to photograph Olympic National Park, the main attraction, you will need to leave the park to travel around on 101 to the various regions. This is of course, a minor complaint.

One of my favorite things to photograph on the peninsula is the Harlequin Ducks. One of the largest populations of these ducks breeds on the peninsula and provides the perfect opportunity to photograph them in locations that really speak to the sort of duck they are; lovers of rough water.

Make sure any visit you make to Washington, includes a trip to this wonderful place.

Click for a gallery of some of my favorite Northwest Landscapes.