During my visit to the Misool Ecoresort in Indonesia, I attempted to photograph as many landscape images as possible, but was limited by whether I had a boat available to me. On the return from one afternoon dive, Thorben showed me some fantastic rock pinnacles backed by a palm lined beach on the far end of Warakaraket Island. He offered to take me back to this location at sunrise, so for several mornings in a row, I woke up at 5am and looked out towards the eastern horizon. Almost every time, it was super cloudy and pouring rain, so I went back to bed rather than enjoy a 45 minute boat ride in the dark while getting soaked. There are some things that are just not worth doing. After 3 days of waking up early and going back to sleep, the weather finally seemed to be cooperating so we went for it. Guess what? I still got skunked and returned without the image I was hoping for. So, I decided to try one last time, but rather than the next morning I went back that afternoon. In order to get back here, I had to skip the late afternoon dive. I got dropped off at this incredible location and had it all to myself. I had a bit of a Robinson Crusoe moment when I wondered what would happen if they forgot to come back to get me. Would I carry on conversations with “Canon” like Tom Hanks did in the movie Cast Away? I enjoyed my quiet time by myself, but eventually the boat returned. I asked them if they wouldn’t mind leaving me for a few more hours until the sunset and they agreed. My buddy, Brent decided to stay with me and I think he used my camera with his memory card to take this same picture. The sunset light was a bust, but we swam around these pinnacles for an hour, chatting the entire time about life. It’s moments like these that make the memories that I cherish from my travels. I created this image using my Canon 5DmkII, Carl Zeiss 28mm f2 ZE lens, and Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer. This image required minimal processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.

In my early years as a professional nature photographer, I became enamored with Native American rock-art sites in the Southwest. I studied the photographic work of the master landscape photographers and emulated their style, if not their outright images. Since, my initial forays into the Southwest, I have visited rock-art sites in Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pacific Northwest. The photographic skills that I learned served me well when I had the opportunity to visit several Papuan rock-art sites during my recent visit to the Misool Ecoresort in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Unlike land based sites that can be hiked to, these panels overhung the water and required a boat to visit. They are located in Southeast Misool where mushroom-shaped islands jut out of the ocean and form a myriad of twisted passages and channels that any landscape photographer could devote months to exploring. Researchers have estimated that these pantings are in the neighborhood of 5000 years old. The red pigments are most likely iron-oxides which would have come from far away in central Papua. The main figures depict tuna, dolphins, and other unknown symbols. I was drawn to these paintings that included the limestone holes and erosion patterns. I created this image while precariously standing on the bow of the boat and hand-holding my Canon 5DmkII and Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.4 ZE lens. This image required minimal processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.

During my trip to the Misool Ecoresort in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, I put most of my effort into underwater photography, but also photographed landscape images whenever a boat was available. Numerous islands beckoned to be photographed, but I was especially intrigued by a series of small, rocky islands that I could see on the northern horizon. From a distance, the Palau Jam group appeared to barely be above water and crowned by only a few coconut trees. After staring at these islands for almost 2 weeks, I had an opportunity to borrow a boat for the 45 minute journey. I invited the resort’s other guests on all of my forays, and on this afternoon Thomas & Nigel from the UK decided to join me. As we approached the islands, I noticed that the largest had a magnificent sandy beach which made the turquoise water glow in the afternoon light. I composed this scene to the best of my abilities given the stormy conditions while standing in the shallow water. I tried to photograph the sunlight refraction patterns, but it was too windy to see them. However, billowing storm clouds added the required layer of drama and made this my favorite landscape photo from my trip. I created this image using my Canon 5DmkII, Carl Zeiss 28mm f2 ZE lens, and Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer. This image required minimal processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.

During my recent trip to the Misool Ecoresort in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, I focused most of my effort on underwater photography, but I also attempted to photograph landscape images. My initial forays by boat were disappointing. During one of my first attempts, I tried climbing up what was maybe an 80′ pinnacle. It was incredibly dangerous, so I quit trying to climb on the razor sharp islands and focused on the numerous white sand beaches dotted throughout the immediate vicinity of the resort. One of my objectives was this fantastic little beach that was maybe 100m across the channel from the dive jetty. I motored by it while diving everyday for a week before I had the opportunity to visit it. Before I set up my camera, I removed the ever-present plastic debris that was on the beach at the high-tide line. Unfortunately, plastic is everywhere in our oceans and remote Raja Ampat is no exception. I was initially focused on using the sandy beach as my foreground, but could not figure out how make that composition work, so I moved out into the shallow water. I was immediately captivated by the sunlight refraction patterns and set about making them the foreground leading into the tropical island. I created this image when the sun was higher in the sky than I normally photograph, because the light had to be intense enough for the refraction patterns to be visible. I named this beach in honor of Marit Miner, who is one of the owners of the resort and who’s home is also built on this island. I created this image using my Canon 5DmkII, Carl Zeiss 28mm f2 ZE lens, and Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer. This image required minimal processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.