Snoqualmie Falls Postcard with Photo by Ed Cooper – #13987

During my research about the Real Twin Peaks of Snoqualmie Valley, Washington, I love discovering incredibly talented photographers who have been taking photographs of the region for decades. I aspire to be one of those photographers one day especially after seeing the works of Ed Cooper. He’s been taking images of the region for decades. One image of Snoqualmie Falls ended up on a postcard printed by Impact in 1992.

SNOQUALMIE FALLS POSTCARD WITH A PHOTO BY ED COOPER – #13987 | FRONT

This Snoqualmie Falls postcard features a look at the 268-foot waterfall from the base. A lovely rainbow appeared across the cascading water. The image is framed by a printed marble background that screams early 1990s. The purple logo represents a stylized Snoqualmie Falls. I believe I’ve seen it on other materials from around the same time.

SNOQUALMIE FALLS POSTCARD WITH A PHOTO BY ED COOPER – #13987 | BACK

The back of the postcard contains lots of useful information such as the inscription which reads: “Snoqualmie Falls is often seen with a rainbow, that is formed by the afternoon sun shining on the spray and mist near the foot of the falls. Photographer – Ed Cooper.”

The card was printed in Japan by Impact in 1992. It has a catalog number of #13987 / G-2487. Impact or Impact Northwest also printed postcards with photos by Craig Tuttle and John Marshall previously discussed on Twin Peaks Blog. At the time, I found little information about this company other than they may have been based in Olympia, Washington. Eventually, they might have become Impact International, which produced restaurant items for soda beverages and more.

WHO IS ED COOPER?

I was happy, however, to find lots of information about photographer Ed Cooper.  He was born in upper New York State who developed an interest mountains and nature at the age of 16. During a trip to the Western United States with his sister, he visited gorgeous destinations like Yellowstone National Park, Jackson Hole in Wyoming and the Tetons. They ended up in Washington State where they hired a guide to explore Mt. Rainier. The trip changed the direction of his life as the mountains continuously called to him.

Cooper switched colleges from Cornell University to the University of Washington to be closer to the mountains. According to his biography page on his website, he spent “almost every weekend contained a mountain adventure somewhere. In 1958 I made a climb of Mt. McKinley in Alaska. Further, I found that capturing images of my adventures became as important as the adventures themselves.”

In 1962, he purchased his first 4×5 camera, a Speed Graphic, to document his adventures in the mountains.

To fuel his passion, he got a job as a stockbroker with a Wall Street firm to which he loathed. After saving some money, he quit at age 30 and “never looked back!”

His interest in photography passed his interests in mountain climbing expeditions. He acquired additional cameras and, in the 1970s, he “jury-rigged a way to shoot powerful telephoto shots in the large format, an ability not available at that time.”

He met and married Debby Page in 1968 who assisted with sales of stock photography (probably where Impact found his photo of Snoqualmie Falls to use on their postcard). They recently celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary on December 20, 2025!

Cooper has written three books, and his photos have appeared in at least 100 more. His 1972 photo of Undine Falls in Yellowstone National Park graced the cover of National Geographic Magazine in July 1977. He started shooting using digital cameras in 2007 which is much easier on his back not having to carry heavy photo gear.

His only regret shooting in digital is the images have “nowhere near the megapixel size of the 4×5 format.” Today, he scans 4×5 images at 2400 dpi, giving an image size of about 280 megabytes. This means that you can enlarge one of my scanned images to 30×40 inches and still be at 300 dpi (dots per inch).

SNOQUALMIE FALLS IN AUGUST 1978

He has an active social media presence posting details and stories behind his photographs on Facebook at Ed Cooper Photography and Instagram at @Ed_Cooper_Photography. On June 5, 2022, he shared the Snoqualmie Falls rainbow image with the caption:

“1M4716 © ED COOPER PHOTO WASHINGTON / Snoqualmie Falls, 268′, 82m, on the west side of the Cascade Mountains, seen in August, 1978. It is a very popular tourist attraction. Taken in 4×5 film.”

He offers this photograph for sale on his website which is incredibly easy to navigate and offers many options for printing.

I’m delighted to add the Snoqualmie Falls postcard to my ever-growing postcard collection which you can find on my Flickr account – https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/albums/72177720331531617