Fiery sunset light under the Santa Monica Pier.
I took this photo while on a large (200+ people) LA photo walk that Trey Ratcliff organized Sunday Feb 26.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
February 28, 2012 9:56 am Permalink
This staircase is inside one of the turrets of Scotty's Castle, an interesting place on the edge of Death Valley National Park.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
February 4, 2012 9:59 am Permalink
These are the Mesquite Flat Dunes near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Park. This photo was taken from the top of the highest dune looking northeast towards the rest of the dunes. The eastern part of Mesquite Dunes is the best place to go for photography since those dunes don't get as many footprints from visitors.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
January 30, 2012 10:02 am Permalink
This "mud death star" is a big (around 1 foot in diameter) mud bubble captured at mid-burst using a fast shutter speed. This was part of a much bigger bubbling mud pit outside of Rotorua, New Zealand (Wai-O-Tapu). There were many such mud pits, each with its own interval and resulting shape. Some would bubble fast and not very high while others would erupt every couple minutes with mud spewing many feet into the air.
You may also be interested in my Champagne Pool on Mars photo which was also taken in the same area.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
January 18, 2012 11:05 pm Permalink
It rained for much of my short visit to Milford Sound, which isn't surprising considering it's the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest places in the world. Milford Sound has been known to receive 10 inches of rain in the span of 24 hours, which is about as much rain as Los Angeles gets in an entire year. Annual rainfall is over 22 feet (over 6.5 meters). But it isn't just always raining; the weather changed dramatically over the course of my 2-hour boat ride, even breaking up for some sun for a little while. In this photo you can see a new batch of rain descending down the steep glacier-carved peaks.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
December 2, 2011 2:21 pm Permalink
This is one of the most beautiful places we have seen in Scotland: the Trotternish Peninsula of the Isle of Skye. On the horizon you can see the "Old Man of Storr", a distinct rock pinnacle. We stayed in a house next to this lake (Loch Fada), and I took this photo after the sun had already set behind the mountains (8:30pm).
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
April 29, 2011 5:30 am Permalink
The beautiful spiral staircase at the Vatican Museum, from below. Designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932, the broad steps are somewhere between a ramp and a staircase. They were designed to be wide and have a small enough amount of climb so that horses could walk up them. The stairs are actually two separate helixes, one leading up and the other leading down, that twist together in a double helix formation. I think it's really cool that this was designed many years before the discovery of the double helical DNA strand, which has now come to represent life itself.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
March 8, 2011 10:31 am Permalink
Catalina Island is visible on the horizon below the incredible painted sky as seen from Corona del Mar. This sunset kept getting better and better, until this final moment before all the color faded. This photo was taken about 15 minutes after my previous Elegant Egret Silhouette at Sunset photo.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
November 18, 2010 8:46 pm Permalink
This egret landed in front of me on a cool rock partway out into the ocean and stood there as if watching the sunset. By this point the sun had already set, but the colors kept getting more and more vibrant. This photo was taken last Sunday at Little Corona, Corona del Mar State Beach, CA.
For the photographers out there, you may be interested to note that this photo was taken at ISO 800, which to me is quite impressive considering how clean it looks. I applied a slight bit of noise reduction to the horizon, but mostly it's a testament to the awesome Canon 5D Mark II low light performance. I used a Canon 300mm f/4 lens with 1.4x extender attached at f/5.6.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
November 17, 2010 11:37 am Permalink
Morning light highlights Bixby Bridge against the shadowed Pacific behind. I drove up a dirt road to find this spot where the rocky island fit right under the arch of the bridge. I've been trying to be more intentional about my composition lately, and I think it paid off in this case. You may also be interested in my Bixby Bridge from Above photo which I posted recently (Big Sur, CA).
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
September 18, 2010 8:00 am Permalink
The green grasses growing on the Pismo (Oceano) Dunes near Pismo Beach, CA. The low light near sunset provided for some interesting contrast between these 2 small dunes which I tried to use to my advantage in composing the photo. The grass on the hillside behind is leaning away from the ocean due to the strong winds. It almost looks like underwater soft coral.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
September 17, 2010 7:45 am Permalink
The truck above and sailboat below give a sense of scale to the San Francisco Bay Bridge in this early morning silhouette. The original photo didn't have much color in it anyway, so I liked it as a black and white. I took this photo our last morning in San Francisco.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
September 12, 2010 8:04 am Permalink
Inukshuk at sunset. A what? As we learned at the Canadian northern house exhibit, it's a stone landmark or cairn built by the peoples of the Arctic region of North America to show the way or mark a significant spot. You may have noticed that the official Vancouver 2010 Olympics logo features an Inukshuk just like this. I found out after taking this photo that this particular Inukshuk is one of the best known in Vancouver (it appears in several postcards). It also happens to be very close to where we stayed while visiting that fine city, which meant I was able to run here at the last minute and grab this photo when I noticed the beautiful sunset.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
March 25, 2010 2:09 pm Permalink
And now for something completely different (no HDR involved): beautiful snow textures in the high Sierras. I took this photo near the side of highway 395 not too far from the turnoff for Crowley Lake on Sunday. What you can't see in this photo are my freezing feet. I waded into the deep snow wearing wet socks & sandals since I had already taken off my boots in the car, and there was a fussy baby waiting so I didn't want to take the time to put them back on.
You can buy this photo here, with many options including standard prints, canvas gallery wraps, gift cards, mugs, T-shirts and much more.
February 2, 2010 10:30 am Permalink
The orange canyon walls in Zion make a fitting backdrop for the yellow fall leaves, mixed with some green for good measure. Same canyon as my previous canyoneering photos.
November 3, 2009 11:39 pm Permalink
The sun bursts through a cloud in this silhouette which shows the distinct chimney of this slate-roofed house. These rock roofs were one of the most distinct changes we noticed as we entered Italy from France. We drove through the 7-mile long tunnel which goes under Mont Blanc, dividing eastern France and western Italy. The Swiss border is not too far to the north of the Aosta Valley, along which lies the famous Matterhorn, which we unfortunately didn't get a chance to see.
September 16, 2009 8:04 am Permalink
Katie and Kai walking into one of the Othello Tunnels near Hope in BC, Canada. No photoshop filters used; just a slow shutter speed. Photo taken March 31, 2005 when we visited Scott & Kai in Mission, BC.
May 27, 2009 8:01 am Permalink
A seagull flies above Birch Bay around sunset. I adjusted the red, green, and blue levels separately to get this surreal effect which conveys the mood of this peaceful evening. This was taken on the same trip up as the previous photo, across the border in Birch Bay, Washington.
May 14, 2009 8:04 am Permalink
Old sardine cans lining the wall in the kitchen previously photographed. Many times canned sardines are the only meat available, and only if they've been brought in from the city. During our week stay in this village they didn't even have sardines to serve us (we went without meat of any kind). Why keep these cans? Any kind of storage container can be useful out in the village where few such things exist. Plus, they make great lamps with a simple wick and some kerosene.
May 7, 2009 9:33 pm Permalink
This was last Christmas at Pirate's Cove, a popular place for bouldering. We got there just in time for sunset, and of course my brother Andy immediately did some climbing. This was one of the first photos I took with my Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lens.
December 14, 2008 2:12 pm Permalink
This is probably the best sunset I've experienced in Joshua Tree National Park. Friends and I were already heading down from Ryan Mountain when this brilliance opened up. I ran back up to the top to capture this panorama. After about 10 minutes, the color was gone.
December 13, 2008 2:12 pm Permalink
A beautiful evening walk along the pier in South Haven, MI with the sun setting over Lake Michigan. I took this July 24, 2008 after meeting up with some of my relatives who live in this part of Michigan. This was right before leaving on our Israel trip.
October 6, 2008 10:23 pm Permalink
Katie and I spotted this hawk along Highway 156 near Hollister, CA as we were heading east to the 5 Freeway. The first time we stopped, he flew away too quickly for me to get a photo. But fortunately, he landed again farther down the road, and I captured this shot right as he was taking off again. Anyone know what kind of hawk it is?
February 11, 2007 9:16 pm Permalink
This bridge goes over the 163 freeway in San Diego near Balboa Park. That's the same freeway that Katie ran on during the Rock 'n' Roll marathon she did last year (and the rest of us rode bikes on while following her).
November 28, 2006 9:54 pm Permalink
Taken at the Bolsa Chica wetlands. What kind of bird? I don't really know. Maybe someone can tell me. I just like how it comes out in B&W.
June 17, 2006 12:33 pm Permalink
