Not the typical image you would see from the redwood forests in Northern California, but one that I have been drawn to for a long time. This is photo is one of those hidden gems from my back catalog of photos from previous trips. Taken in Redwood National Park almost nine years ago–I always loved this image but could never quite get the composition to work. That is until I changed the crop from it’s horizontal-orientation to a vertical one. […]
Reflecting on the Past Year Another year is winding down, so it’s time to reflect on the year that was. Thankfully this year was not nearly as life-changing as the previous couple of years have been. 2018 did have it’s fill of great trips including a trip through Nevada and central Utah, a very wet backpacking trip to the Big Pine Lakes in John Muir Wilderness, and fall color trip spanning both sides of the Sierra Nevada. Here are my […]
I just got back from a fantastic four-day trip through the Sierra Nevada starting in Yosemite National Park on the west and crossing over eastern side of the range to take in the fall colors. This was my view of the ever-beautiful Half Dome the first evening of the trip, and what a view it was. The trip itself was just a great time to slow down, take a deep breath, collect thoughts, and pray. It was especially invigorating being […]
Summer is one of my favorite seasons to visit the eastern side of California when you can see dramatic weather like this summer storm in the Sierra Nevada. Your morning could be completely clear and by lunchtime the day may look like this. I just got back from a backpacking trip with my brothers to the Big Pine Lakes/Temple Crag part of the Inyo National Forest. It was an incredible trip even if it was a bit soggy and mosquito-filled. […]
Capital Reef may not get the attention it’s fellow ‘Big 5’ Utah parks (Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, and Canyonlands) but it’s still a sight to behold. It’s also off the beaten path in central Utah, so it’s not one of the places you go see while going somewhere else (though that’s what we did en-route to Goblin Valley). We also experienced some dramatic spring weather on our drive to the park getting sleet and rain while driving through the mountains […]
Factory Butte in Utah stands out from it’s neighboring landmarks (Capital Reef NP and Goblin Valley) because it doesn’t have that red-hued rock permeating the landscape. In fact it’s distinctive color palette, a gray landscape highlighted with a yellow that sometimes neared a sufur-yellow, made a lot of my photos from the area look unrealistic. They look like those vintage hand-painted photos from the early 20th century. These badlands are beautiful to explore but visitors need to be aware this […]
Goblin Valley State Park has such other-worldly features it was hard to take it all in and figure how I was going to photograph it. I can only think of two other places where I have had same sense of visual overload (one being White Pocket and the other being the coastal Redwoods). From those past experiences I learned not try and take it all in, or attempt to document it all photographically. Rather just focus on a couple key […]
I just returned from a trip through Utah where we saw many many incredible sights like the striking rock formation pictured above, the Fisher Towers, near Moab. This was high on my list of places to explore in Utah and it didn’t disappoint (though I could have done without all the annoying little bugs). We were fortunate enough to get an outstanding sunset view (one of the few we got on the trip) for about five minutes just as we […]
Jackson Bentley: What is it, Major Lawrence, that attracts you personally to the desert? T.E. Lawrence: It’s clean. – Lawrence of Arabia (1962) One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies. Anyone who has been in the desert extensively, especially on sand dunes after a rain or windstorm, can understand that statement. There is something so refreshing about looking out over seemingly untouched sand dunes that have been swept clean of any footprints or other human marks. […]
This ancient skewed tree is one of my favorites in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest just east of the Sierra Nevada, in the White Mountains. I affectionately call it the Corkscrew Tree (not it’s actual name) because of it’s twisted tree trunk. These distinctively contorted trees live in one the harshest growing environments, and yet are some of the oldest known living organisms in the world. The oldest being the Methuselah tree which is over 4,800 years old.