Photography Photos, Pictures, Prints

Olympic National Park Photography Tour

Posted on April 5, 2010 December 8, 2012

I created this image during a private photography tour last July. The weather was overcast with a light drizzle all 5 days, which made for perfect rainforest shooting conditions. We spent each afternoon visiting the Quinault, Hoh, & Sol Duc Valleys and ended each day by shooting sunset at Ruby & Second Beach. The fastest way to improve your composition skills is to shoot in the chaos of the rainforest. If you are interested, you can join my upcoming Olympic National Park Photography our. My tour groups are small & exclusive so that I can provide my clients with personal attention. I accept a maximum of 4 photographers & have still 2 openings available for my April 22-25 tour. To sign up, please email me at .

Joshua Tree Sunrise 1

Posted on March 19, 2010 December 8, 2012

This is my favorite image from my recent shoot in Joshua Tree National Park. I sat through 4 days of bad weather, including snow, before I finally experienced these dramatic clouds at sunrise. During that non-shooting time, I scouted the park looking for interesting compositions and found this Joshua Tree lying on its side. I always look for odd numbered patterns in my images, so I especially liked the way that the 3 blooms framed the funny looking tree in the background. The low-angle light at sunrise and the yellow-gray clouds sweeping across the sky completed the scene.

Anza Borrego Barrel Cactus Sunrise 1

Posted on March 17, 2010 December 8, 2012

This is my favorite image from my recent 10 day trip to California. I spent the first half of my trip in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. The wildflowers were not blooming as I had hoped, but I still put in a few days effort scouting, hiking, & patiently waiting for something interesting to happen at sunrise. On my third day, I awoke to my ideal lighting conditions. In the pre-dawn light I could see stars over the desert to the east and the faint glow of the approaching sunrise. To the west, clouds hovered patiently over the mountains eagerly anticipating the first golden rays of sunlight. I drove up to the park visitor center, grabbed my gear, and headed straight towards the base of the hills. I spent about 20 minutes searching for the perfect foreground for the wide-angle shot that I envisioned that included the mountain & cloud background. Once I found this group of 4 barrel cactus, I had my total composition. All I had to do was wait a few more minutes for the clouds to light up, which gave me enough time to refine my tripod placement, test my depth of field, and perfectly place my Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer & 2-stop Hard Graduated Neutral Density Filter.

Pumpkin Patch 2

Posted on March 15, 2010 December 8, 2012

I visited the Pumpkin Patch during my recent visit to Anza Borrego Desert State Park in California. I was unsuccessful finding it during my first attempt last year, but this time I got directions from Ron Niebrugge. I was underwhelmed to say the least. These crazy boulders are surrounded by a fence to keep the off-road drivers out. There is only one angle that eliminates all of the motor vehicle tracks & most of the fence. (In the interest of full-disclosure, I took the small liberty of cloning the last bit of fence out of the horizon.) As the sunset turned into purple twilight, the boulders began to glow orange like pumpkins.

Outdoor Photographer April 2010 Cover

Posted on February 25, 2010 December 8, 2012

My image “Racetrack Sunset” will be the April cover photo of Outdoor Photographer! The Racetrack is a seasonally dry lake located in the northern part of Death Valley National Park and is famous for its moving rocks. With the right combination of rain and wind, the rocks move slowly across the surface of the playa, leaving a track as they go. I photographed this amazing rock at sunset during my first visit to the Racetrack in January 2006. I was enthralled with the unusual arc that it had created as it was moving. This rock was still in the same location during my recent Death Valley National Park Tour.

Mobius Arch Incredible Sunrise 5

Posted on February 25, 2010 December 8, 2012

Here is another unusually dramatic image of Mobius Arch that I photographed last month. The clouds went from pink to orange, yellow, and then white by the time the early light began to illuminate the arch. I was very happy to finally shoot the arch with a more interesting sky after several typical blue sky attempts over the years.

Piedras Blancas Coastline 1

Posted on February 24, 2010 December 8, 2012

Here’s an image that I took from the Piedras Blancas elephant seal colony near San Simeon, CA last month. The day I got this shot I was not having any luck shooting critters, so when the sun started to set I turned my attention to the landscape. The scene before me was the epitome of Big Sur: waves were crashing against the rugged coastline and heavy clouds were billowing down from the mountains towards the ocean. This spongy mat of icicle plants covering the cliffs served as the anchor point for this image of unspoiled California. (Correction-Icicle plants are an invasive species from South Africa. My bad.)

I just spent a nice week with my family camping near San Diego. We flew home yesterday, and Monday I fly back down for 10 days with some client-friends. All this while trying to balance my family responsibilities. Wish me luck!

San Elijo New Years Sunset 7

Posted on February 15, 2010 December 8, 2012

This is another dramatic image that I took on New Year’s Day at San Elijo State Beach in California. I can’t believe that I have been home for over 4 weeks and it is now time for me to start traveling again! I could stay home for the next 6 months just working on my website & new images, but how fun would that be? Tomorrow morning, my family and I are flying back down to San Diego for my daughters’ mid-winter break to use our truck & camping trailer that I stored there last month. Not too much planned, other than enjoying the nice weather with my girls.

Chilkat Bald Eagle 114

Posted on February 12, 2010 December 8, 2012

I stayed home the last 4 weeks, so I was able to accomplish some serious photo editing. It has been hard work, but also fun reliving all of last years’ amazing adventures and discovering some real gems that I missed during my initial edits, like this bald eagle portrait. I photographed this majestic bird during my Haines Bald Eagle Photo Tour last November. My 3 clients all had a great time, learned a ton, & came home with some real keepers. I already have requests from several people to go back this November. Since I will not take more than 4 clients on my trips, space will be very limited.

Lituya Bay Tufted Puffin

Posted on February 10, 2010 December 8, 2012

This is a cute tufted puffin that I photographed last June in Lituya Bay on the remote outer coast of Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. During my visit, I used my inflatable boat to explore the sea bird cliffs on the south side of Cenotaph Island. There were thousands of kittiwakes but only a few breeding pairs of tufted puffins. The puffins constantly flew back and forth from the tops of the cliffs down to the water to fish. Through my persistence, I was eventually able to drift close enough to this puffin to take its picture with my 500mm lens. I like the dark green water and pink reflection of the cliffs on the water behind it.