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For many years the Pacific Northwest, and more specifically, Washington state's Olympic Peninsula has captivated my imagination.

One early memory comes from a American Wilderness TIME-LIFE series book about The Cascades, given as a gift one Christmas years ago. As a young teenager in the midwest at the time only able to dream of such far away places, hours were spent studying that book and dreaming of wilderness.

As young adult I made several trips to Seattle and beyond to B.C., Yukon and Alaska, but the Olympic Peninsula remained uncharted territory. Until 2011 when my wife provided the long-awaited opportunity to visit for my birthday.

There are things we envision in our minds that - when presented with the reality to compare - fall short. Then there are those things in life we envision that - when confronted with their reality - vastly exceed expectations. Such was the case with Olympic.

When one lives in Colorado; constantly surrounded by natural splendor, it's not easy to visually impress. But Olympic... well, that's a whole 'nother thing. The maritime influence and all accompanying attributes take the already impressive mountainous landscape and introduce to the equation unimaginable variables. Size and scale, density of life, biodiversity, geology, geographic interest, natural history... the list goes on to the point where when confronted with so many unknowns, discovery and wonder are unavoidable.

After what now is a second visit in 2017 I can't help feel I've only just begun to explore this most unique, wild and vast place. What a thing in life - to have the carrots of wonder and discovery out in front to keep the adventure fires burning.

Having recently moved back into a traditional dark room, one emerging goal is to silver print a series of images about Olympic.

This collection of images will grow over time.