El Capitan emerging from clouds, Yosemite NP, California. This photo was awarded first place in the Grand Landscape category of the Natural Landscape Photography Awards in 2021. I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be a judge this year for the Natural Landscape Photography Awards! From its inception, I’ve felt that this contest’s goals align with mine: making photographs that celebrate the beauty of nature – without excessive manipulation, and where the photographer’s skill and vision behind the camera are more important than their Photoshop skills. I’ve entered this competition in each of its ..read more

Total solar eclipse, April 8, 2024, northeast Arkansas The “diamond ring” and solar flares as the sun emerges from a total solar eclipse, April 8, 2024, northeast Arkansas I started thinking about the 2024 solar eclipse right after our last one in 2017. Claudia and I, along with our friend Robert Eckhardt, viewed that eclipse from the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho, and it was such an amazing experience I immediately wanted to do it again. When I looked at this 2024 eclipse, the best part was the length – four-and-a-half minutes of totality in Mexico and Texas, compared with only a little ove ..read more

Dunes in a sandstorm at sunrise, Death Valley NP, California Death Valley is a dynamic place. While the appearance of other landscapes frequently changes because of weather and seasonal changes, in Death Valley the land itself undergoes routine transformations caused by wind and water – especially the infrequent, but highly destructive, flash floods. Last August Tropical Storm Hilary dumped over two inches of rain on Death Valley, washing out roads, closing the park for two months, and filling Badwater Basin with water – a resurrection of ancient Lake Manly. We visited Death Valley in late D ..read more

Half Dome and sunbeams, winter sunrise, Yosemite NP, California I’ve felt like a hamster on a wheel lately, running nonstop just to keep up with the most essential tasks. But I finally have a moment to breathe, and time to write a blog post! I made the photographs here in mid-February, after a weak storm moved through the Sierra. In a common pattern, it rained in Yosemite Valley during most of the storm, but the temperature dropped at the tail-end, leaving a dusting of new snow. At least that’s what I saw on the webcams early that morning. But when I arrived in the west end of the valley at ..read more

Lightning over the San Joaquin Valley from the Sierra Nevada foothills, California What elevates a photograph beyond the ordinary? Light, composition, and technical proficiency all play parts, but is there something more? I think so. The photographs that I respond to most strongly go beyond just showing what a scene looks like, and touch me on an emotional level. They suggest something bigger, more universal than the literal subject matter depicted in the image. They evoke a sense of mystery, or wonder, or awe, or surprise me by showing the world in an unexpected way. I think this is such an ..read more

Trail through redwoods in fog, northern California coast I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be joining Nic Stover’s Nature Photography Classes again for their Winter Speaker Series. This series is focused on “Discovering the Mood and Mystery in Our Images,” and includes three sessions: Franka Gabler, with “Conveying Mood and Capturing the Essence,” on February 26th; Michele Sons, with “The Art of Fog,” on March 5th; and then I’ll be presenting “A Sense of Mystery,” on March 11th. I decided to talk about mystery because I think this is an essential but often-overlooked component of successful ..read more

Half Dome above a fog layer at sunrise, Yosemite NP, California. This is actually two frames from my 50mm lens stitched together, as that lens wasn’t quite wide enough, but my next widest lens (35mm) was too wide. After photographing the trees in fog I described in this recent post, a few mornings later I went up to Yosemite Valley again as another storm was clearing. I climbed up to a different spot, with a view of Half Dome, and once again saw the valley floor covered in a shallow layer of fog, with trees poking out. But this time I also saw high clouds, and some mist wrapped around Half D ..read more

Yosemite Valley lit by the setting moon, with Jupiter above, Yosemite NP, California I’ve been working on my presentation The Magic of Moonlight for the Night Photo Summit next weekend. While going through some of my moonlit images from the past I found this set, all from the night of December 19th and 20th, 2015. Thinking about that night brings back some great memories. A winter storm started clearing around 9:00 p.m., so I headed up to Yosemite Valley, knowing that the two-thirds full moon was due to set at 1:45 a.m., and as it sank I might find some beautiful, low-angle moonlight to go a ..read more

Trees and waves of fog, Yosemite NP, California On a Sunday morning nine days ago I headed up to Yosemite Valley as a small storm was clearing. This system was on the warm side, so it rained at the valley elevation (around 4,000 feet). But there was still some snow on the ground from previous storms, and rain on top of snow is a fog-generating machine, so I figured there would be lots of fog and mist. And there was lots of mist when I arrived in the valley. I climbed up to one of my favorite off-the-beaten path viewpoints, thinking to capture a classic Yosemite clearing storm. But when I rea ..read more

  I’m happy to be joining the National Parks at Night team for the fourth annual Night Photo Summit next month! This will be my fourth time presenting at the Night Photo Summit, and the previous three have been really fun, so I’m excited to be invited back! This online conference is devoted exclusively to night photography, and I’ll be joining over 30 other distinguished instructors, including Josh Cripps, Sean Bagshaw, Jess Santos, Chris Smith, Jessica Rojas, Royce Bair, Melissa Kaelin, Lance Keimig, Tim Cooper, Chris Nicholson, Gabriel Biderman, and many more. I’ll be presenting The Ma ..read more