The Path

I always enjoy seeing the beautiful things that nature can make. This waterfall is located on the Columbia river gorge is a short but worth while hike. Bring your camera and a lens cloth or two.

Blue Moon

Early morning at Cannon Beach, the moon was shining brightly as the ocean tide came in. The wind was calm and the air was crisp with the fresh smell of rain overnight and the salty scent of the ocean. Although this image looks like a double exposure, a couple of waves had come in during the exposure. The white dots are bubbles from the first wave, which were covered by the second. The waves were illuminated brightly by the full moon.

Kiwanda Tide

I only had one morning at cape Kiwanda and woke early to a torrential downpour at 4am. I was determined to make the best of it, so I drove to my destination, parked the car, and went to get the camera bags out of the back. The wind was blowing sand and rain sideways, I was drenched by the time I made it to the trunk of the car. Knowing that I would be unable to shoot in the weather, I waited until the storm front passed, then went for it. This place is much bigger than it looks in the picture. If you look carefully you can see some 4 foot fence posts in the middle/right of the image. The long exposure made the best of what I missed out for sunrise. I would love to shoot here again if I had the chance.

Ray of Happiness

In order to hike to this waterfall, you must climb down a vertical cliff. The cliff is an easy climb when it is dry, but it had been raining all morning and for most of the week, making the rock slippery. I decided that the risk was worth it, and decided to climb down despite the rain and dreary conditions. Every photographer knows, the photo's are only good when the light is there. I took pictures anyway, and on my way back out, I noticed a viewpoint that I had not noticed while climbing down. The place I wanted to photograph from was on the cliff face. I took my photo backpack off and set my tripod up. I had to steady my tripod and camera with my hand in order to keep them from falling. I snapped a few shots, and it turned out that the sunshine popped through the clouds for only a couple of seconds, and went away. I was stoked to be at the right place at the right time.

Giant Sinkhole exploration.

Just a cool little video of me exploring a giant sinkhole in southern Utah
(Link to Youtube)

Big Island

Nothing better than a walk on the beach at sunset.

Papakōlea Beach One of only two green sands beaches in the world.  It gets its distinctive coloring from the mineral olivine, found in the enclosing cinder cone.

This waterfall is located in the Hawaii tropical botanical gardens near Hilo.

A great sunset near Kona Hawaii. Bring your headlamp for the hike back if you ever visit Keawaiki beach (Lone palm beach)

A long exposure of Hawaii's Rainbow falls at high water. I used an 8 stop ND filter for the long exposure

I had to push through 10 foot tall bushes and hang off of a cliff in order to take this shot.

Another beautiful sunset on an Hawaiian black sand beach.

I light painted this turtle sleeping on the beach for the night. It was well after sunset but the sky still had a hint of color.

Lava reflecting off of mist.

Indian ruins are a fun link to the past although hard to find sometimes. Although a tough hike in the wintertime, this turned out to be well worth the hike. "Fallen Roof Ruin"

False Kiva at night lit by three different flashlights and the moon in the background as light sources. This shot was difficult to set up. Expose your light too long, and the shot is overexposed, too short and it does not turn out. 

You have to have a little fun when you do photography. 

My friend David Swindler (Picture the journey.com) snapped this shot of me goofing off.

This grainery is named house of fire as it looks like it is on fire. The ruin is an easy mile or so walk from the road.

Mesa arch at sunrise.

More fooling around at False kiva as we were waiting for the sun to go down.

This is from the valley of the gods.

The moon behind a cloud makes for an interesting "comet" in an other worldly foreground.

Bryce Canyon

 As amazing as Bryce canyon is, you will never get the "best picture" because no matter how cold, hot, nasty etc it is outside, you will still be standing shoulder to shoulder with someone else. On this day it was -8F and at this spot there were about twelve of us.

 Here the beauty and silence of Bryce canyon really shines... at night. I believe this is one of the only times that you can experience the canyon the way it was meant to be seen... as a wilderness, without crowds.

 Thor's hammer lit by the moon and a small flashlight.

 This area is called "Wall Street" as beautiful as it is in the day, (below) I believe that the night version was even more amazing. (above lit by the moon and flashlight)

For a long time I have wanted to travel to Death valley and see the Racetrack. For those who don't know, the Racetrack is a playa or a dry lake bed where the rocks move, leaving "tracks" where they have been. The Racetrack is dry for most of the year. I have never even seen a picture of it wet. Unfortunately when I arrived, it was really wet. The scenic rocks were in the middle of the playa, and walking through the mud was not an option. The mud is thick and builds on itself; within a few steps you would have several inches of mud stuck to your boots and leave damage to the playa for years to come.

Although beautiful in its own way, the photo's were definitely not what I was hoping for. That night I camped on the dry part of the playa and enjoyed it for what it was.

 That night was extremely cold. I had not expected the freezing weather with a 60 degree day. I awoke early the next morning and headed back towards the racetrack area. Once I arrived I could not believe what I saw; the Racetrack had frozen solid over night. I skated out and waited for sunrise.

Once sunrise hit, the true race began. I ran/slid from rock to rock to utilize as much of the gorgeous light as I could.

 It is amazing how far the rocks have gone over time.

I searched the area and found one small rock on the dry playa. This photo is similar to what I would have had without ice. Lucky me, I ended up with the best of both!

 Mono Lake is a extremely salty shallow lake located in Mono County California. The salinity is due to the lake having no outlet. The inlet is fresh water but Los Angeles diverted water from it causing evaporation and lack of inlet flow to lower the lake level.

 Once the lake was lowered, these tufa's showed up. The tufa's are formed when freshwater springs containing high carbonate levels mix with the salt water creating stalagmite formations.

 Some of the formations are small, but many are 10-12' in height.

 A sand tufa is lit by the moon while airline traffic flies overhead.

 Alpenglow at sunset.

 The blue hour after sunset

 A quarter moon illuminates the foreground while stars shine brightly.

 This is a sand tufa at Mono Lake. Some are so delicate that even a touch will cause them to crumble. Above is a black and white image looking down on a sand tufa — 

A flashlight creates shadows on sand tufa's just before sunrise.

Oregon

Morning at Punchbowl falls. The water was cold but oh so worth getting in, as the view was great.

Dog Mountain had quite the breathtaking view for the name. I have never seen so many wildflowers. The storm that was rolling in had people running down the mountain. I froze with the howling wind in minutes, and retreated half way down the mountain for warmth reasons. After this I always had a hat, jacket, and gloves.

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Another view of Fairy falls. The light seemed to dance with the falling water. Great day for waterfalls.

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Tunnel falls was a great experience. The whole experience was incredible. I couldn't keep from thinking about Indiana Jones. Great stuff.

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The trail was pretty but a fall would have been deadly. It was over a hundred feet to the bottom straight down in some places.

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Sea Stars (Starfish) are really neat creatures. Sea stars have a tough covering on their upper side, which is made up of plates of calcium carbonate with tiny spines on their surface. A sea star's spines are used for protection from predators, which include birds, fish and sea otters.

 

This waterfall required a climb over a slippery log jam that I just about fell off. We were warned that a man had died last year from falling into the log jam. Then once we neared the falls we were required to climb the slippery rock, or wade neck deep through freezing water while carrying our camera's over our heads. Although nerve racking, the climbing worked out.

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Ocean Waves roll over a stone in this long exposure near Canon Beach Oregon

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Punchbowl falls. I really want to kayak this someday.

I did not think that this one would be even worth seeing due to the size. The scenery at the bottom was great.

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I noticed this tiny spider in one of the wildflowers. I think that spiders are the coolest looking insects.

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Sea stars move using hundreds of tube feet, which are located on their underside. The tube feet are filled with sea water, which the sea star brings in through the sieve plate, or madreporite, on its top side. Sea stars can move more quickly than you might expect. If you ever get a chance, try visiting a tide pool or aquarium and take a moment to watch a sea star moving around. The sea star's tube feet also help the sea star hold its prey, which includes bivalves like clams and mussels. The sea stars attach themselves so tenaciously to the rocks that it is impossible to pick them up without harming them, even if there are only a few feet holding on.

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Instead of blood, sea stars have a water vascular system, in which the sea star pumps sea water through its sieve plate, or madreporite, into its tube feet to extend them. Muscles within the tube feet retract them.

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It was fun running away from the waves while trying to capture the wave coming in.

I waded waist deep through fast moving water to get this shot. I used my tripod to stabilize myself so that I did not fall. The water was so cold I could not feel my legs after a while.

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