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Photo of the Month–February

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

January is already over, and the sun is starting to creep more and more northward in the sky every day.  Photographically, January was productive, and I’m excited to share some new images with you in the next couple of weeks.  February’s image of the month is an intimate landscape from a wildly popular location on the Utah-Arizona border.  During the first week of 2011, we traveled to Page, Arizona to visit the Paria River-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness.  Never heard of it?  Perhaps not, but I’d be willing to bet you’ve seen images from it.  The area’s crown jewel is “The Wave,” which draws huge numbers of tourists every year.

We began our trip by hiking into The Wave, and it holds up to its expectations: its stunning.  The Wave and surrounding Coyote Buttes North has some of the most striking geological formations in North America.  It should come as no surprise, then, that The Wave is also heavily photographed.  Confined to a small area, I think it would be nearly impossible to come up with a novel composition from The Wave itself.  While there, I snapped a few images, and enjoyed the surrounding area.  It may sound like heresy to some people, but I enjoyed some of the alcoves around The Wave more.  In fact, judging by the paucity of footprints, I found some fantastic locations that seem to hardly get visited just a few hundred feet away!

After enjoying this lovely area, we visited some other canyons in the area, and that’s where I found this month’s image.  One of the things I’ll blog about soon is the diversity of sandstone in this area–amazing, whimsical formations and colors abound.   I really liked the way the sandstone “windows” here contrasted with the ice below.  I hope you enjoy it too.

Also, I wanted to mention that yesterday I had the honor of being featured by David Hyde over at the Landscape Photography Blogger.  Over there, David primarily showcases the work of his father, Philip Hyde, the pioneering color landscape photographer.  Head on over and check out the feature as well as some of David’s other blog posts.  I think you’ll quickly learn that if you don’t already read regularly, you’ll want to.

Sandstone and ice in Buckskin Gulch, Paria River-Vermillion Cliffs wilderness, Utah.

Ice underneath, January 2011

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Photo of the Month–January

Saturday, January 1st, 2011

Happy New Year!  I can’t believe 2011 is already here.  While my to-do list from 2010 hasn’t gotten any shorter, I’m very much looking forward to the new opportunities, friendships and collaborations that 2011 has in store.

Over the holidays, we visited family in central Wyoming.  While there, I had the opportunity to visit Devils Tower National Monument in the northeastern part of the state.  Devils Tower (yes, the apostrophe has been eliminated from the name) is an igneous intrusion that arose when the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills were uplifted, allowing volcanic magma to leak through the earth’s crust about 65 million years ago.  The tower is the result of that leakage.

I took this image on Christmas Eve morning; one of the coldest mornings I’ve ever done photography.  The temperature was near 0°F with high humidity; in the hour or so before sunrise I had frost forming on my camera’s tripod and lens hood.  My breath caused more frost to form on my ball head.  But, once the rising sun illuminated the tower, it made the very cold wait worth it.  I thought the setting moon was an added bonus here.

I hope you enjoy this image; have a great January!  Click here to see the rest of my images from Devils Tower.

Dramatic sunrise light illuminates Devils Tower, in northeastern Wyoming

Devils Tower sunrise, December 2010

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Photo of the Month–December

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

Another year is coming to an end.  Already.  Just as the sun sets on another year, I’ll share a sunset image from our recent Sequoia National Park trip for this month’s image.  This image was taken from the top of Moro Rock, a large, exfoliated granite dome, much like those found all over the Sierra Nevada mountains.  You’re looking over hill layers toward the great central valley of California (the San Joaquin Valley); haze from the valley is contributing to the unique effect you see in this image.

Sunset as seen from Moro Rock, Sequoia National Park, California

Moro Rock sunset, November 2010

Have a great month, and see you in 2011!

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Photo of the Month–November

Monday, November 1st, 2010

I’ve been invoking many of my favorite authors’ perspectives lately: Abbey, Pirsig, and now Frost.

Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold,

Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

–Robert Frost

In choosing my November image of the month, a repeating thought I had was, “Wow, autumn seems to have just arrived…its already bending under the weight of winter in some places!”  In California, what seemed for many photographers to be a weekly rat race to the Sierra for fall color photography has come to an end; soon winter will take its extended, frigid hold on the mountains.  While it may seem like a long season ahead, it gives us time to breathe deep and take in the scenery a bit.

Fog moves into El Capitan Meadow on a January afternoon, Yosemite National Park, California

Winter sets in, January 2010

November’s image of the month comes from the final day of 2009; I enjoyed a very quiet and solitary few hours walking around El Capitan Meadow searching for images.  As sunset neared, fog started rising from the Merced River, filling the Valley floor.  This image is iconic, but really brings back memories of that afternoon.  Standing alone at the base of this magnificent monolith was the perfect way to end the year, and–I think–an ideal way to begin November.

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Photo of the Month–October

Friday, October 1st, 2010

As I wrote in my last post, fall is on its way, and I’m remembering a busy summer in the Sierra Nevada mountains very fondly.  Before this summer, it had been many years since I’d been on a proper backpacking trip, and I had forgotten how many of the day’s activities revolve around water.  Boil water for breakfast.  Filter.  Hydrate at lunch.  Filter.  Boil for dinner.  Filter.

Water really is a central theme on any backpacking trip, whether in the wet Pacific Northwest, or in the dry desert.  On our last backpacking trip, the water at the lake we camped at was especially striking–a rich turquoise blue due to high amounts of glacial silt in the water.  While shooting sunrise, I wanted to get the beautiful sunlit peaks in the frame, but I also wanted to highlight the water, as it was not only beautiful but is so central to the day’s activities.

Because the trip I took this on was sort of summer’s “final hurrah,” I’ve chosen it as October’s Photo of the Month.  Enjoy!

sunrise over mt. robinson, john muir wilderness, california

Sunrise on Mt. Robinson, September 2010

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Photo of the Month–September

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

As I learn more post-processing techniques, I’ve been enjoying going through several of my older images on this website and adding some “finishing touches” to them.  This is a nice exercise because it allows me to re-evaluate images, as well as take my own trips down memory lane.  If I combine this with the fact that several close friends have taken trips to southern Utah in the last few months, I am reminded how I feel about that place.  So, September’s photo of the month is from the summer of 2009, when I visited the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Zebra Canyon is a fantastic slot canyon located in the northern part of the monument, and is extremely photogenic.  Shooting in Zebra Canyon was something I envisioned for almost 2 months before the trip, so I was happy to finally get the chance to visit the location in August 2009.

zebra slot canyon, grand staircase-escalante National monument, utah

Zebra Canyon, August 2009

You can see all of my photos from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by clicking here.  Here’s to trips down memory lane.

Have a great month!

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Photo of the Month–August

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

We’ve just returned from our trip along the last ~1/3 of the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada.  It was pretty fantastic, and I think the “mozzies” could have been a lot worse than they were (this is good news for someone who once had the nickname “Skeeter Bait!”).  I’ll be writing a lot about this trip in the next few weeks, but I thought it only appropriate to choose an image from the Sierra for my August Photo of the Month.

This image is from our first campsite on our journey, Minaret Lake, which is behind Mammoth Lakes, California.  At dawn, I found a great little cascade to use as a foreground element while the morning light illuminated the Minarets in the background.  It certainly is rugged country up there, and I like the way this image displays that.  Hope you enjoy it!

Minaret Lake at dawn, Ansel Adams Wilderness, California

Minaret Lake Cascade, July 2010

Over the next few days, I hope to update albums with some new images–stay tuned!

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Photo of the Month–July

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

This month’s photo comes from Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, in southwestern Utah.  We visited the dunes in January; unlike other dunes I’ve visited, the sand here is full of iron oxides, giving it a brilliant red-pink color.  At sunset, the color gets even more brilliant.  The state park is an excellent place for camping and recreation, but the beauty of visiting in January is that you have the place to yourself.  Despite the brilliance of the entire dunes, I created this intimate landscape as the sun was going down, and its been one of my favorite photos of 2010 so far.

coral pink sand dunes state park, utah

Coral Pink Sand Dunes, January 2010

Hope you enjoy the photo!  To see all my shots from Coral Pink Sand Dunes, click here.

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Photo of the Month-June

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

June’s photo of the month comes from one of my favorite summer places–Mono Lake.  Located at the base of the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, Mono Lake is one of the few remnants of Ice Age lakes in the West that is still a year-round lake. The lake has persisted for more than 730,000 years, but faces an uncertain future from both natural and man-made causes. The lake is very alkaline and since 1941, has become moreso, due to the diversion of freshwater springs into the Los Angeles aqueduct. By 1982, the lake’s level had dropped 45 feet, exposing something that makes Mono unique: curious brown structures called tufa towers. Tufa towers are deposits of calcium carbonate (due to calcium present in underwater freshwater springs, and carbonate in the lake water).

Over Memorial Day weekend, we visited the eastern Sierra on a family camping trip, and I was able to sneak out to make this image Sunday night.  I haven’t done many star field shots, but this one really captures the essence of the lake for me.  A few months ago, I blogged on just how popular the lake has become with photographers.  True to form, when I arrived to set up this shot on Sunday night, there were at least 40 photographers present at South Tufa, and I got some funny looks as I started setting up while everyone else was leaving.  Soon, I had the entire place to myself, and I could contemplate the cosmos while darkness overtook the landscape.

This is one of my favorite images from the night.

Mono Lake California under a starry night time sky

The Ghost Ship, Mono Lake, May 2010

Click here to see more of my Mono Lake photos.

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Photo of the Month–May

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

Spring is in full swing in southern California; on our walk tonight, I enjoyed the Brittlebush in full bloom, and noticed several migrant and summer-resident bird species who have arrived in large numbers: black-chinned sparrows, wrentits, indigo buntings, tanagers, etc.  With all of these changes happening, its almost impossible for me not to have “senioritis” of sorts.  By this point in the school year, seniors in high school and college have already mentally checked out, looking forward to their upcoming freedom, thus suffering from senioritis.  In the same way, I’m looking forward to long hikes in the mountains, lazy summer evenings at Mono Lake, and early mornings in the sagebrush of the eastern Sierra.

One of those summer evenings is the inspiration behind May’s photo of the month.  Last summer, on an early August trip to Yosemite and Mono Lake, we enjoyed a fantastic dinner at The Mobil Mart (Whoa Nellie Deli) in Lee Vining, then headed up to Yosemite to follow the sunset out of the park.  I started at Olmsted Point, worked my way east to Tuolumne Meadows, and finally photographed the last light of the day on Mt. Gibbs, the second highest peak in the park (12773′), with the Tuolumne River as a foreground.

This is a 3-image HDR shot I processed in Photomatix.  The river and forest were already in the shade, with the beautiful pink glow left on the peak.  I wanted to preserve as much detail as possible, so I chose to process this as a high dynamic range image.

Mt. Gibbs and Tuolumne River

Mt. Gibbs and Tuolumne River, August 2009

Here’s to your senioritis.  What are you looking forward to this summer?  What great summer memories do you have?

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