Ready for Horsetail Fall Fire Fall? This should be a great year, provided the weather cooperates. A few years ago I posted the times for the Horsetail Fire Fall event and discovered hundreds of people had found my blog and printed out the times! Thank you all for finding my post and taking advantage! I’ll continue to post them for each year. Scroll down for the 2024 times… Each year thousands of photographers visit Yosemite National Park in hopes of seeing the famous ”Fire Fall” event at Horsetail Fall. Horsetail Fall is a seasonal waterfall that only flows after rain or as the snow ..read more

A few years ago I posted the times for the Horsetail Fire Fall event and discovered hundreds of people had found my blog and printed out the times! Thank you all for finding my post and taking advantage! I’ll continue to post them for each year. Scroll down for the 2023 times… Each year thousands of photographers visit Yosemite National Park in hopes of seeing the famous ”Fire Fall” event at Horsetail Fall. Horsetail Fall is a seasonal waterfall that only flows after rain or as the snow melts above El Capitan. It’s located on the east side of El Capitan and can be viewed from a numbe ..read more

Sunrise over Boronda Lake. Palo Alto, California Foothills Park in Palo Alto has, for many many years, been exclusive to residents of the city of Palo Alto. Visitors were only allowed if accompanied by a Palo Alto resident, or if a Palo Alto resident was having a party at the parks picnic grounds and put your name on “the list”. As such, I had been to the park 2 or 3 times but never really explored. Recently the city opened the park up to non-residents and Willie and I ventured here, to Boronda Lake to catch reflections in the sunrise. On our first visit 2 friends arrived just as we were packi ..read more

Sunrise over fishing village. Reine, Lofoten Islands, Norway I’m often asked why I take pictures? The answer is two-fold: for myself, to remember the places I’ve been, and for others, to inspire them to see the world. Every day for 6 years I would walk by a photo of this scene in the Lofoton Islands of Norway. SmugMug had a giant panorama print of Reine — it took over the whole wall — and it was hung in one of the main hallways. Every day I’d walk by it and say “one day I’m going to go there.” After 3 trips to Iceland, Rebecca finally said to me “damnit, we’re going to Norway. I’ll plan the tr ..read more

Sunset over Sunflowers. Silicon Valley, California There’s something about these sunflower fields that make me imagine they’re all about to speak to us. I don’t quite know what they’d say, but it really looks like there’s faces on here, ready to sing their hearts out. Or maybe their seeds out? Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8: 14mm, f/11, 1/3 sec, ISO 500 Available for purchase at Aaron M Photography The post Chorus appeared first on Aaron M Photography Blog ..read more

Lightbeams and Redwoods in fog. Redwood National Park, CA Forests are a great place to photograph because there’s so many different ways to interpret the same scene. Before the sun creeps in you can photograph the peaceful forest at rest, with all the trees and leaves in their slumbering glory. In the spring, flowers bloom adding new elements to the scene. By summer they’re gone and you have just the leaves and the trees. In winter, the leaves are gone and snow can add a different element. Wait for the sun to creep in and light rays can transform the scene. Along the coast, fog can hide parts ..read more

Sorrel and Ferns in Redwood Forest. Redwood National Park, CA Willie, David, Miles and I spent a long weekend exploring the Redwood National and State Parks while trying to avoid getting COVID. We weren’t sure if the trip would happen but it turned out things were looking better and we were able to escape our homes and safely play in nature (we took as many precautions as we could. Thankfully none of us contracted COVID during the trip). There’s one particular grove that photographers flock to due to the rhododendron blooms that happen in the forest. Willie and I scouted it in the afternoon an ..read more

Aurora over mountains and frozen ice. Lofoten Islands, Norway Part of the reason for visiting the Lofoten Islands in Norway was to see the northern lights again. So when we saw the lights finally start to come out at the end of our trip, while eating dinner, we finished quickly and hopped in the car. Throughout the night we ended up nearly an hour and a half away, back near the town of Leknes. We were supposed to have our first day of backcountry skiing the next morning so we wanted to get some sleep and made our way back to the lodge. The aurora came out and went away throughout our hunting a ..read more

Aurora over mountains. Lofoten Islands, Norway Prior to 2017, I had visited Iceland 3 times: once in the summer and twice in the winter. I wanted to go back again to explore more ice-caves and see more aurora but Rebecca convinced me that I should do Norway instead. We compromised: a stopover in Iceland on our way to Norway. We invited Andy along, partially because I wanted his help actually planning the trip, but also because we thought he’d enjoy the views and the photography. Turned out he had another, even better idea: skiing. Our 7 day Norway photography trip became a 5 day one, with 2 da ..read more

Hoodoos at Sunset. Escalante National Monument, UT When Willie and I were preparing to visit Escalante National Monument in Utah we came across a photo of this scene by our friend Phil Monson. It was a beautiful picture and it inspired us to find and visit this spot. Inspiration is one of the things I love about photography. Some folks might call it “copying”, “composition stomping” or lack of creativity, but the optimist in me sees it as flattery. Someone liked what you made so much they wanted to see it with their own eyes. While I won’t take credit for the originality of this photo (thanks ..read more