Looking Back at 2025: I Was There

Galleries are better viewed on a computer than a smartphone One of my favorite things to do at year’s end is to look back at the images that made the departing year especially memorable. And each year, I think to myself, ‘Wow—this was probably my best year ever and there’s no way I’ll be able match that success next year.’ You’d think maybe I’d…

Night Vision

When it comes to natural beauty, I’ll be the first to admit that there is nothing like being there. In person we get to enjoy all the movement and simultaneous multi-sensory input that’s lost in a still image—not to mention the synergistic amplification of awe and joy that comes with witnessing a special event with others. But let’s pause for a moment to appreciate…

Breaking My Own Rules

My goal is to create images that celebrate Nature, images that allow viewers to imagine a world untouched by humankind. So it makes sense that I avoid including anything manmade in my images. But I also rail against (most) camera clubs for their rule-bound creative constipation, and those strong feelings collided earlier this year on a chilly January night Iceland. I resolved the conflict…

Shock and Awe

That night at dinner, one person in the workshop group asked if there was a chance we’d see the northern lights, or if he could safely have another beer. I laughed and told him, while I can’t predict the future, I’d be shocked if the northern lights happened this night and to just go ahead and have that beer. I’ve never been happier to…

Iceland, Weather or Not

As I’ve probably said a million times before, and likely will say a million more times, the best weather for photography is the worst weather to be outside. I mean, why else would Don Smith and I schedule a workshop for Iceland in January? Of course our number one reason for an Iceland winter trip is the northern lights, which means winter clouds aren’t…

Organic Discovery

When I sit down each week to write a new blog post, I usually have a general idea of where I want to go, but little plan for how I’m going to get there. I’ll start with a couple of relevant sentences, then just see where that leads me. Depending on the topic, and my state of mind at the time, the effort that…

Dressed to Chill

From brisk to chilly to freezing to downright frigid, we warm blooded humans have lots of labels for the discomfort imposed by low temperatures. But I’ve always felt that we need something beyond frigid, something that adequately conveys the true suffering low temperatures inflict, and would like to submit an even chillier option: stupid cold. At the risk of stating the obvious, “stupid cold”…

It’s All About the People

As I’ve made abundantly clear in earlier blog posts, 2023 started with my busiest ever workshop stretch. But I’ve finally reached enough of a lull in my schedule to start processing the fruits of all this labor—not nonstop, but maybe one or two images a day if I’m lucky. Part of me feels a little overwhelmed by how how long it could take at…

Know Your Subjects

One of my personal rules for photography is knowledge of my subjects—I simply get more pleasure from an image when I know something about what I’ve captured. Of the many potential subjects available to a landscape photographer, mountains have always been a particular draw for me. Living my entire life in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada has certainly influenced that connection, as have…

Clicking the Lights Fantastic

I woke in my hotel room this morning to find a 6-inch snow drift (I measured) on the floor beneath my window, and still more snow frosting the curtains and wall. An expanding glacial lake stretched almost to my bed. Honestly, the risk of turning my room into an ice cave is never a consideration when opening the window at bedtime back home—but this…