La Jolla

In October Kim and I got away for a quick little afternoon trip to explore this iconic beach, catch sunset and dinner for a little birthday celebration. Wow, was our sunset dramatic. I throughly enjoyed exploring the beach and enjoying all the nooks and crannies I discovered in the process. See more from La Jolla.

Idyllwild

Fall colors in Southern California can appear aloof, but if you’re patient and know where and when to look you can find it. At the beginning of the month I spent the day up in the San Jacinto Mountains looking for those elusive golden leaves and I was grateful to find them. See the fall foliage here.

San Gabriels After the Storm

Our recent spat of storms blanketed our local mountains with fresh coating of snow. So I ventured up the local hills to see how the San Gabriel Mountains look after the storm. I wasn’t disappointed by what I saw. You can see all the pictures here.

I hope you enjoy this collection of my fall work. I’d love to here what you favorites were.

One more bit of news as well. My annual Holiday Sale is now live on my Etsy shop. Now through December 2, 2025 you will save 25% off all orders (including my latest work in this gallery). As always custom orders are included in the sale.

The post Autumn Highlights appeared first on Dubland Media.

Calendar Features:

• Printed on high-quality 100 lb. coated matte paper that you can easily write on.
• Sturdy spiral-bound binding.
• An 8.5 x 11 inches trim size folded (11 x 17 inches open).
• Dates of the lunar phase to help plan out outside nighttime astronomy adventures.
• Each month has a QR code linked to an article on my website telling the story behind the photo, and links to other seasonal photos (winter, spring, summer, and fall).

Photos in this year’s monthly calendar include:

• January: Sea Anemone — Corona Del Mar
• February: Above the Clouds — Santa Monica Mountains
• March: Aspirations — Death Valley National Park
• April: Sunrise in the Canyons ¬— Dead Horse Point State Park
• May: Walking Through the Dales — Yorkshire Dales National Park, UK
• June: Little Five Lakes — Sequoia National Park
• July: Seaweed at Golden Hour — Corona Del Mar
• August: Lost Canyon — Sequoia National Park
• September: Sunrise on Sawtooth Peak — Sequoia National Park
• October: Peeling Cracks — Canyonlands National Park
• November: The Slumbering Dragon Awakes — Santa Monica Mountains
• December: Morning in Canyonlands — Canyonlands National Park

These calendars are a seasonal item, so order today before they are out of stock. Message me directly for any custom and white-label options.

I personally want to thank all of you who have bought a calendar or intend to buy one this year. I can’t believe that this is my ninth calendar, which wouldn’t be here without your support. Thank you!

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This particular sunrise was taken on my most recent backpacking trip two months ago in Sequoia National Park. My first physically challenging backpack in quite a while, 29 miles over four days with over 10K ascent and descent. It felt great to be pushed physically and to simply enjoy four days in nature.

To see more from my backpack, visit my trip gallery here.

Personal Update

A sunrise image also felt fitting to break the content drought here on the site. July also marked a new chapter of my professional life. Funnily enough, it begins where my previous chapter ended. I was hired back at Tyndale House Publishers, rejoining my old team at Rose Publishing. A year ago, I could not have predicted that, but I am very grateful to be working with them again.

Now that the cloud of job uncertainty is starting to lift, I am turning my attention back to my photography. My 2026 Photo Calendar will be up for sale very soon. Along with that will be posts on my recent trips and work over the past year, and updates to my Etsy shop. Last but not least, I will offer portrait sessions again this fall. So stay tuned for those announcements!

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Without further ado, here are my 10 favorite images I photographed and processed in 2024. Like usual, this list is in no particular order. If you prefer to skip the stories and see the gallery, click here.

Shifting

In October, I was so grateful to be invited to join a trip exploring Utah’s Canyonlands region. To our great fortune, five days prior to our trip a brief rainstorm passed through the region. I was in heaven exploring the mudflow textures in all the washes we encountered.

Of all the mudflow images I captured on that trip, this one stuck the most, seeing the change in state at hand. Maybe because it resonated with how I currently feel personally in this current season of many transitions. There have been a lot of changes to life in a short amount of time. Two years ago, I shifted from being a widowed single parent to now happily re-married, and now this past year’s ebb of professional uncertainty. It has been quite the emotional rollercoaster. That said, I am learning to be grateful for present moments like these that create opportunities for me to reflect on life. And remember that this, too shall pass.

Red Rock at Blue Hour

Anyone who bought my calendar for 2025 will recognize this image. Taken about a year ago, I knew once I saw this formation I wanted to linger here and watch how the sunset and blue hour light would illuminate this scene. I was so grateful that my patience paid off with this composition. I wrote more about this piece last year in this post.

Springtime, Vasquez Rocks

Last spring I revisited a family favorite. Our wet winter made this iconic desert location the lushest I have ever seen it. In recent years, my visits have been sporadic at best, usually just seeing it from the freeway on our way to the High Desert. And knowing how recognizable the location is, I haven’t been eager to explore it photographically. However, in recent years, I have been getting an urge to revisit the area with a camera and see if I could find something interesting on the park’s fringes. Bringing my camera along this spring on our family trip seemed like a good way to scratch that itch, and I was happy I did! You can see more about this post and Vasquez Rocks here.

Adorned #3

Last winter I was invited on a trip to the desert where we had a serendipitous moment. The sandstone in the area was adorned with a whitish-blue coating—like someone had brushed on blue sidewalk chalk throughout the region. The striking, at times subtle, contrasts of the blues paired with the red rock were incredible to behold in person and a pure joy to explore visually with my camera. You can see the whole series of photos from that trip here.

Winskill Stones at Sunset

Twenty-one years ago I ventured out internationally for the first time exploring the United Kingdom and loved every minute of it. As my photographic skills refined, I longed for another opportunity to visit and explore the English landscape with my camera. Well, this past summer, that opportunity came. Kim and I were able to take the kids traveling with her dad, who doubled as our local expert. We loved every moment of our wanderings.

One of our highlights was watching the summer solstice sunset pictured above in the Yorkshire Dales. We even got to interact with the locals! You can read more about our adventures in England in this post.

Misty Morning Meal, Nairobi National Park

As of this posting, I haven’t shared this image on social media, but I have shared this piece on my blog about our family trip to Kenya last summer. While I don’t claim to be a wildlife photographer or even aspire to be one, it is a blast to do occasionally. And this particular moment was one of the highlights. Our trip to Kenya was brief and we were there to serve, but the weekend we got to have the safari experience was once in a lifetime.

Morning in Canyonlands

On my fall trip to Utah, I was eager to be amongst the many layers of the Canyonlands region for sunrise and sunset to watch the changing light illuminate the landscape. On our second morning, we quickly lost the dramatic light as the clouds soon obscured the rising sun. That said, I was quite taken by this scene in the flat, even morning light, and it is one of my favorites from this year.

Jackals on the Trail

This is another photo from our family trip to Kenya. We saw an incredible number of wildlife on our day in Nairobi National Park, and this frozen moment with the jackals on the game trail was easily one of my favorite images from that day. The detail of their wet fur from the rain adds even more texture to the composition.

Cottonwood Decay

On the last night of our Utah trip, we camped next to a fallen cottonwood tree. In the waning light of blue hour, I quickly set up my tripod and camera to get some detailed photos. The varying textures and grains made it a treasure trove subject. This particular composition was a focus stack of nine shots.

The Slumbering Dragon Awakes

Last but definitely not least, this shot is from a trip to some of our local mountains at the end of the year. These exposed sycamore roots and the rock wedged between them made me think of a dragon sleeping in his horde of fallen leaves. Maybe my girls’ fascination with dragons is rubbing off on me.

Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed this recap of my best photos of 2024. Thank you so much for investing the time to explore my recap. I am curious to hear which were your favorites! Here are my past recaps: 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

Looking ahead to 2025, I currently don’t have any trip plans set, but as always, I’ll be looking for photographic opportunities as they arise.

The post 2024 Favorites in Retrospect appeared first on Dubland Media.

Calendar Features:

• Printed on high-quality 100 lb. coated matte paper that you can easily write on.
• Sturdy spiral bound binding.
• An 8.5 x 11 inches trim size folded (11 x 17 inches open).
• Dates of the lunar phase to help plan out outside nighttime astronomy adventures.
• **NEW** Each month has a QR code linked to an article on my website telling the story behind the photo.

Photos showcased in this year’s monthly calendar include:

• January: Winter Sunrise, Mount Baldy — San Gabriel Mountains
• February: Adorned #1 — Nevada
• March: Springtime, Vasquez Rocks — Pacific Crest Trail
• April: Rainy Morning in the Dales ¬– Yorkshire Dales, UK
• May: Stock Ghyll Force Waterfall — Lake District, UK
• June: Winskill Stones — North Yorkshire, UK
• July: Misty Morning — Nairobi National Park, Kenya
• August: Busted Up — California Coastline
• September: Autumnal Morning Light — White Mountains
• October: Aspens in Morning Reflected Light — Eastern Sierra Nevada
• November: Surface Tension — Southern California
• December: Red Rock at Blue Hour — Nevada

This is my eighth calendar and I am so honored for all the support you have given me on this project over the years, Thank you!

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All orders on my Etsy site $35 or higher, including custom, qualify for Free Shipping in US.

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Twisted Live Oak

Busted Up

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These photos seemed to fit the contrasting calm and chaos of how my 2024 has gone. What seems so calm and tranquil is quickly churned and tossed around.

This year I was reminded how fast things can shift from security to uncertainty. At the beginning of the summer, I was laid off from my job of 14 years. My last official day at Rose Publishing/Tyndale House was in the middle of our family trip to England and Kenya (more on that in a future post). It was so shocking to suddenly have to say goodbye to all my colleagues, finish-up all my work, and start job-hunting all while traveling. Now, two months later, the search continues as I look for a new chapter in my career.

In the interim, I am offering my services on a freelance basis. If you are looking for some extra help with web, digital marketing, video production, or graphic design, I am available for consultations. In the same vein, if you are interested in personalized tutorials on photography or Photoshop skills, I am available for hire. The best way to reach me is through my contact form here.

Also, for the first time, I will be offering private portrait sessions this fall.

And stay tuned, there are even more announcements coming soon! As I mentioned before, I’ll be posting about some of my trips and my 2025 calendar is going to the printer next week. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the photos.

Click here to see the full gallery.

The post Tumult appeared first on Dubland Media.

The time has passed for 2024 portraits, but I will announce 2025 Fall Portrait session in September 2025.

The post Fall 2024 Portrait Sessions appeared first on Dubland Media.

Autumnal Morning Light

Anyone who has followed me for a while knows I have a soft spot for bristlecone trees. They make for such fascinating subjects. This past fall I wanted to introduce them to Kim on our trip up through the Eastern Sierra Nevada so we did a quick little early morning hike where I discovered this beautiful tree. I have probably walked past this tree 10-15 times before, but for whatever reason it caught my attention this trip, and I am grateful to have stopped. It was such a peaceful morning in the grove that I won’t soon forget.

Raucous Tranquility

This photo was part of a post from back in March of ’23 after our very wet winter. I had visited one of my favorite local spots to explore and was blown away to see so much water there. Back in 2018, I feared this location was lost during the Woolsey fire that raged through the Santa Monica Mountains. I was so grateful to see the waterfalls in this small little canyon overflowing with water last year.

Morning Frost

A memorable image from a memorable day. Smack dab in the middle of our honeymoon in Olympic National Park we were driving from the Hoh rainforest up to Port Angeles when we stumbled into the scene. One of the last winter storms was breaking up over the Olympics coating the area in a light dusting of snow.

Ascending

One of my favorite macro shots from last year. It made me think of switchbacks on a trail. One of the things I love about macro photography is all the beautiful undiscovered worlds that are out there just under our noses, sometimes from the most mundane things.

Afternoon Light in the Grove

This one was a treasured moment from one of our family adventures. Over the summer Kim and I took our girls on a “Family-moon” to celebrate our new family. I was so excited to show them some of my favorite places in Sequoia and Kings Canyon. We found this scene wandering one of the meadows in the giant forest.

Steadfast

Another favorite from our family adventures which I wrote about in a blog post last year. I fell into this scene. We were looking for the best place to watch the Perseid meteor shower when I noticed the thunderheads lining up along the saddle between two hills and perfectly framing this lone Joshua tree.

Aspens in Morning Reflected Light

From our fall trip to the Eastern Sierra Nevada. I wanted to show her the region in one of my favorite seasons. The aspens were gorgeous as they were just starting to turn color. This was one of my favorite images from one of my favorite canyons.

Alabama Hills

Yet another image from our fall adventures on the Eastern Sierra. As we were heading back home we stopped so I could show Kim the Alabama Hills. They looked quite ominous as smoke from a control burn further up the valley lingered over them as the afternoon sun was starting to set. I hadn’t intended to photograph the hills that day but I couldn’t pass up this scene.

The Ascetic

I have photographed this lone hermit of a tree several times, and none of them worked out when I worked on them in post. This time though it all worked. The clarity of the sky and water and the early morning light illuminated the tree just right.

Busted Up

Last and by no means least a favorite from one of my favorite local spots to explore. It was another serendipitous moment from 2023. I had planned a different trip up in the nearby mountains, however, that was washed away when Hurricane Hillary knocked out the road up to my destination. So instead I spent my weekend doing little day trips to some of my favorite locales. This motif is a little patch of rock at one of my favorite beaches. The intricate crack patterns keep drawing me in.

Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed this recap of my best photos of 2023. Thank you so much for investing the time to explore my recap. I am curious to hear which ones you liked! Here are my past recaps: 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

As for what 2024 has in store for me, well it seems quite a bit. That’s one of the reasons this list is so late. I had a trip in January that was quite memorable (more on that soon), and Kim and I have been quite busy planning a very big trip later this year. So stay tuned!

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