Rainy Day Poppy, Sierra Foothills, California Sony a7R III Sony 100-400 GM Sony 2X Teleconverter + extension tubes ISO 1600 f/11 1/125 second According to the calendar, today is the first day of spring—so…, Happy Spring! On the other hand, here in Northern California Mother Nature is delivering very mixed signals. A few trees are blooming, and every few days the sun pops out long enough to forgo a jacket or sweater—but the rain still seems to be coming several times a week, which means (lots of) snow is still falling in the mountains. And the temperatures remain chilly enough that I’ve ..read more

Big Moon, Mt. Williamson, California Sony α1 Sony 200-600 G Sony 2x teleconverter ISO 800 f/13 1/500 second In the Alabama Hills to photograph sunrise in neck-craning proximity to the Sierra Crest, I knew precisely what time, on this date, the sun’s first rays would color the towering granite, and exactly when a 98% moon would would disappear behind the left flank of Mt. Williamson, California’s second highest peak. Clocks and calendars enable us to time some aspects of our lives, like sunrises and moonsets, to within microseconds. But when I scheduled this sunrise moonset more than a y ..read more

Swoosh, Northern Lights Over Kirkjufell, Iceland Sony a7R V Sony 12-24 GM 5 seconds F/2.8 ISO 6400 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 that rate, especially since I’m just two months into the year with many more trips ahead. But another part of me looks at the things I’ve seen and photograp ..read more

Sierra Moon, Mt. Williamson, California Sony a7R V Sony 100-400 GM ISO 100 f/8 1/125 second I was never one of those analog purists who had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the digital world. Despite a pretty extensive and carefully curated album collection, I jumped into the CD revolution early (1980) and with both feet, then embraced the transition to MP3 and subsequent digital audio formats with similar fervor. (Part of me still longs for the sound of vinyl, but since my daughter and son-in-law now have custody of my old turntable and albums, I’ve retained unlimited visitation pri ..read more

Aurora Ribbons, Dyrhólaey Coastline, Iceland Sony α1 Sony 12-24 GM 10 seconds F/2.8 ISO 3200 I just wrapped up what was no doubt the most intense work/travel stretch of my 17 years leading photo workshops. It started the second week of January with 3 weeks in Iceland leading 2 workshops with Don Smith (with no break in between). After the long flight home (that’s a story for different day), I had just one day to recover before driving nine hours to Death Valley (still very much jet lagged) for another workshop that started the next day. Returning from Death Valley, I actually had a few days ..read more

I returned last night from my Yosemite Horsetail Fall photo workshop and thought I’d briefly share my observations on this year’s experience (since so many people seem to be interested). I can confirm that our wet winter has provided enough snowpack for an at least decent flow in Horsetail Fall through the entire viewing window, which ends late February. The one wildcard in that prediction is the temperature because extreme cold can slow snowmelt and freeze the fall. We saw a little of that on Wednesday evening, when the light was good, but the flow less than what my group saw on Monday beca ..read more

Iceberg in Fog, Glacier Lagoon, Iceland Sony a7R V Sony 100-400 GM ISO 200 f/8 1/6 second Wonderland, Golden Circle, Iceland Last week’s blog image was an ultra-wide scene chockfull of beauty, ranging from nearby frosted trees and shrubs, to a sky filled with sunset pink clouds, topped with a small dot of moon. It took a bit of work, but I was eventually able to find the position and framing that allowed me to assemble these diverse elements into something coherent. But because nature doesn’t really care about what we want, photographers frequently must deal with objects we really don’t wa ..read more

Wonderland, Golden Circle, Iceland Sony a7R V Sony 12-24 GM 1/40 second F/11 ISO 200 With Horsetail Fall season about to kick off, this week I’m thinking about “trophy shots.” (My definition of a trophy shot is a commonly shared photograph of a scene captured previously by many others.) Often these are “iconic” tourist scenes, such Delicate Arch in Arches, or Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. And sometimes they’re photographer-driven scenes, like the moonbow beneath Lower Yosemite Fall each spring full moon, and the Mesa Arch sunrise sunstar in Canyonlands. With the digital-fueled p ..read more

Sapphire Cathedral, Vatnajökull Glacier Ice Cave, Iceland Sony a7R V Sony 12-24 GM .8 seconds F/18 ISO 50 Among the greatest joys of my photographer’s life is the opportunity to witness rare and exotic beauty I might otherwise have missed. An erupting volcano? Check. The dancing colors of the northern lights? Check. Shafting light in a Southwest slot canyon? Check. Southern Hemisphere night sky? Check. The view from the bottom of the Grand Canyon? Check. In my California-born-and-raised world, glaciers certainly qualify as beauty both rare and exotic. Fortunately, this photography life ..read more

Wings of Angels, Aurora Above Dyrhólaey, Iceland Sony α1 Sony 12-24 GM 10 seconds F/2.8 ISO 3200 A couple of posts back I wrote about Nature’s gifts, natural phenomena that sometimes augment the ordinary enough to defy belief. In that post I cited reflections, relatively ubiquitous phenomena that improve nearly every scene they touch. Toward the other end of the commonness spectrum are auroras, colorful lights that dance randomly in the frigid darkness high above Earth’s extreme latitudes. While everyone has seen reflections, many people live their life without ever witnessing ..read more