“Ordinary” Beauty

Many of the places I visit are known for their extraordinary beauty, striking features and eye-grabbing vistas that justifiably attract thousands of daily visitors and inspire millions of photographs. Stimulating scenes like these seem to be every nature photographer’s goal, but today I’d like to issue a shout-out to ordinary beauty—the simple scenes with the ability to soothe, by virtue of their subtle beauty,…

Dinner Can Wait

Among the (many) highlights of the New Zealand workshop Don Smith and I do each year is the short but steep hike to the Tasman Lake vista. Somehow the people at Aoraki / Mt. Cook National Park have managed to cram the .4 mile trail (I measured) with 334 stairs (I counted), but once you’ve caught your breath at the top of the trail,…

Variations on a Tree

I returned from New Zealand Saturday evening, a bit battered and bruised by jet lag and a brief but quite unpleasant battle with food poisoning (or norovirus), but nevertheless already missing this beautiful country that feels more like my home away from home each time I visit. I love everything about New Zealand—its unparalleled scenery, its friendly people, its tasty food, its pristine environment…

Greetings from Down Under

It’s hard enough sticking to my (self-imposed) weekly blog schedule when I’m home and just doing the daily stuff necessary to keep my business running. But for the last week Don Smith and I have been cavorting about the New Zealand countryside with a dozen awestruck photographers. So I’ve dusted off a still relevant blog post from 4 years ago, updated it, and added…

Expecting the Unexpected

Usually when you arrive at a scene you have a pretty good idea of the landscape features in store. There’s El Capitan, or the Wanaka Willow tree, or Deer Creek Fall, or any number of stationary landscape icons photographers flock to—your job is simply to find the best way to render this permanent beauty. To further assist the process, you can probably even tap…

Connections (It’s Personal)

Once upon a time, whenever I heard a photographer say, “That’s exactly what I saw when I was there,” I’d cringe (because that’s impossible). Today, given the proliferation of AI generated and enhanced images, maybe I should rethink my perspective and just be glad that the photographer was there at all. There’s a lot of buzz in the photography world about AI and its…

Eulogy for an Icon

This week I’m mourning the demise of “Outdoor Photographer” magazine. While the patient may still have a faint pulse (the website remains up, and I’ve seen no official announcement), it appears to be on life support, with no sign of brain activity, just waiting for the plug to be pulled: The OP staff has been let go, there has been no social media activity…

No Camera, No Regrets (and No Problem)

I’m not going to pretend that my version of this beautiful Japanese maple tree is unique. Just Google Portland Japanese Garden and you’ll see dozens of similar images of this very tree. And a search for “most photographed tree in the world” will surely include this tree somewhere on the list. But the story of its capture—which includes elements of discovery, insight, surprise, awe,…

Water, Water Everywhere

Spring Dogwood Bloom, Ribbon Fall and El Capitan, Yosemite Sony a7R V Sony 24-105 f/4 G ISO 400 f/16 1/125 second Photo Workshop Schedule Do you know the waterfall in Yosemite with the longest single drop? How about in the entire United States? If I said it’s in fact the same waterfall, most people would guess Yosemite Falls. Most people would also be wrong….

The Dogwood Days of Spring

In my first 14 years leading photo workshops, I never had to cancel a workshop. I have had to scramble a bit thanks to government shutdowns, hurricanes (really), closed roads, and power outages, but no cancellations. That record changed abruptly in spring 2020 when COVID-19 shut down the world, eventually costing me 14 workshops. Then, just as things started to reopen during the pandemic,…