the mountain (2023) (Patreon)

This is another shot from my upcoming transfemme lookbook; this shoot was with my friend Ari Drennen, a Subaru Crosstrek Sport loaner I had, and of course, The Mountain. 

I've obviously just gone further and further West my whole life, and so I went from the relatively flat Great Lakes region to the even-flatter swamps of Texas and then finally began to experience topography on my van trip, which was part of what made it so stunning for me, and it's a big part of why I won't go back. I feel strange when there's no mountains on the horizon to be seen. Rainier, however, stands alone even among the incredible vistas I've seen on my travels around the West, because it is so cartoonishly dominant of the landscape around it. It has over thirteen thousand feet of prominence. It looks like a child's conception of a mountain, scribbled with crayon, except it's undeniably real every time I crest the hill on I-5 headed to the airport. 

After living here I understand now why in, say, Japan, Mt. Fuji plays such a dominant role in so much art - how could you even see the rest of your landscape with this massive lone mountain standing so dramatically tall over it?

As a result, this set was extremely fun to shoot because despite being extremely deep in the mountains, it's still so visibly Seattle because the mountain dominates most of the shots. It made figuring out how to angle the shots for the lighting of the day tricky but overall I'm extremely pleased! I've been spending the last couple of days (when I'm not writing or invoicing, or, more likely, Outside) editing and finalizing copy, and I'm really close to finishing this book. I cannot wait to have this thing done.