Goodbye 2019 2019 began with some challenges. Treatment for a second cancer diagnosis loomed on the horizon. Cancer is a reminder of how short life is and how we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Photography has become a passion. When I look through the viewfinder of the camera, I am transported to a different world. The…
Chasing the Iconic Yucca
In almost every location, there is an iconic image to capture. In White Sands National Monument, it is the iconic Soaptree Yucca plant on the white rippled sand. On our first visit last December, I didn’t do it justice. I had my list of excuses. We had cloudy skies. I couldn’t find one that was…
Magical Monument Valley
We’ve been to Monument Valley many times, taken some very nice photos, even doing well in a contest or two. Never was there great atmospheric conditions. Either there was no clouds, too many clouds, or even a sandstorm, but nothing spectacular to complement the monuments. This time the photo gods were looking fondly upon us….
Yellow Fever
We caught yellow fever on our trip through Escalante and Capitol Reef. If you don’t know, yellow fever is a dangerous disease caused by a virus that is spread through mosquito bites. Symptoms include fever and chills among many other things. Luckily, we didn’t get this kind of yellow fever, instead we contracted a different…
The Final Wave
Our first visit to the wave started about 8 years ago when Jeff saw a photo and said, “I want to shoot that!” It was then up to me to research what it was, where it was and how to get there. Answers: “The Wave”, Northern Arizona, 44 miles outside of the nearest town, with…
I Failed at Camping 101
I may have failed at camping 101 but I did not fail at photography. I haven’t camped since college, a time when young men do stupid things. That’s not to say old men don’t do stupid things. We do. But volunteering for camping in the frigid cold at my advanced age is beyond stupid. Why…
In Search of Methuselah
Many people, when they hear the name Methuselah, think of the Biblical figure that lived for 969 years. Others such as dendrochronlogists, paleoclimatologists, arborcultrists, or tree lovers would point to a specific Great Basin Bristlecone Pine that resides in the White Mountains in the eastern Sierras. Whichever camp you belong, Methuselah, the tree, is the oldest…
Mud Flats
A year ago, just prior to our visit to Death Valley, I saw a photo by a prominent landscape photographer that inspired me. It was a photo of interesting mud flats with mountains in the background. These mud flats had fascinating geometrical shapes, knitted together in a mosaic that resembled a complex jigsaw puzzle. I…
Third time’s a charm!
Sometimes landscape photography is easy, but more often than not, it is road of discovery. Death Valley National Park offers many intriguing sights, one of which is the beauty of Badwater Basin. You have likely seen photos of it, a valley floor of hexagonal crystalline structures as vast as the eye can see. We had read…
The Many Faces of Tree
About a year ago, I was searching for a personal photography project to work on. I chose trees. Not just any tree, but solo trees that had interesting branches and twigs. I didn’t care what time of day or what kind of lighting conditions. I wasn’t that specific. Like many New Year’s resolutions, I let…
