Trees

Arrest that Sunrise

Sunrise over Oak Trees Silicon Valley, California If I’m going to get up for sunrise while at home, it usually means I’m heading up to San Francisco to photograph the city. After several years of waking up super early and driving an hour to San Francisco, it was time to start exploring for photographs a little closer to home. Luckily Willie had done all the work and had found a number of trees in Silicon Valley that would be prime for sunrise photography. After rolling out of bed and meeting Willie at the parking lot, we hiked up the hill to this spot where several stunning Oak Trees greeted us. The pre-sunrise glow was *strong* and Willie walked (ran) at a pace that my short little legs could barely keep up with. There were times I had to run just to catch up. He was excited! Sure enough, once the sun did come up, the sky lit up with beautiful pink and orange colors. I love what winter does to these trees - without the leaves you see the amazing (and gnarly) shapes of the Oak Trees. They sweep through the scene and draw your eye in various patterns around this photo. A little bit of rolling hills helps frame the scene and add slight movement. Behind us a rainbow stretched across the entire sky. And of course I was so busy taking photos that I missed my chance to book Yosemite campgrounds, which went on sale just as the sunrise was exploding! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8: 14mm, f/11, 1/8 sec, ISO 200

Redwood Feast

Soft Light on Dogwoods and Sequoia Trees Sequoia National Park, California Over the years my photography has brought me to a number of National Parks. At one point I started collecting magnets of each park I've been to. The collection is growing quite nicely but there were 2 parks that were missing that I really should have visited long ago: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. They're just a few hours away but in my 12 years in Northern California, I had never been! Willie and I drove down on a Thursday and spent 2 days prancing around the parks in search of beautiful trees. It was harder than we thought because a dry summer meant that many of the leaves went from green to dead overnight. The reds and yellows we were in search for were hard to find. We found this particular grove of trees on our first day scouting and knew this would be one of our favorite spots to come back to. The pink dogwood was a perfect color to contrast with the beautiful red Sequoia trees behind it. To top it all off, I loved how the Sequoia trees "glow" in golden hour light, reflecting some of the indirect sunset light that sneaks it way through the forest. Nikon D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 310mm, f/16, 2.0 sec, ISO 400

Autumn Zen

Japanese Maple Tree Portland, Oregon One of the most iconic photos of Portland is of the famous Japanese Maple Tree at the Japanese Garden. People photograph it at all times of the year but it looks most stunning in autumn when the leaves turn orange and red and make for an absolutely stunning scene. Unfortunately I arrived a little too early and the Japanese Maple hadn’t quite turned orange. A little trick in photoshop fixed that. I’ll have to go back another year and photograph this when it's really orangey red! I always laugh when I see this tree because photos of this, taken using ultra-wide lenses, make the tree appear fairly large. How tall would you say this tree was? 20-25 feet maybe? If you thought that, you’d be wrong. The tree is maybe FOUR or FIVE feet tall! We were all hunched over in between some branches trying to take turns shooting the tree. It would have been quite a peaceful time too, had Alan not spend the entire time grumbling about how he had to pay $15 to take a photo of a five foot tall tree. Surprisingly, with all his kvetching, he spent the most time photographing the tree. I guess he needed to get his money’s worth. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/16, 0.8 sec, ISO 250

Perfectly Autumn

Perfectly AutumnOld Barn Amongst Autumn Trees Glen Arbor, Michigan Every year I travel to Michigan to spend a long weekend with my favorite college buddies. We call it "Tundig" and it's a sort of mini-reunion. We spend the weekend in Northern Michigan eating, drinking, cooking, hiking, photographing, swimming, sleeping and just having a great time. Traditionally it occurred during the University of Michigan autumn break and that means that I get to see the amazing fall colors in full bloom. On this particular day my friends and I decided to go wine tasting. Yes, Michigan does actually have wineries, specializing in mostly white or exotic type wines (like cherry wine). While driving to the wineries we passed by this beautiful barn hidden amongst the trees. I immediately asked my friend to pull over so I could snap a few photos. I loved the way the barn, the beautiful autumn colors, and the blue sky all came together here. Nikon D80 w/Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5: 50mm, f/10, 1/60 sec, ISO 800

Sneaking Around

Last light on trees in the Painted Dunes Lassen Volcanic National Park, California Many months earlier Willie had asked me if I wanted to check out Lassen National Park. It was one of the California parks that I had never been to and we had seen photos of the Painted Dunes from some amazing photographers like Brian Rueb, so I immediately said "YES"! It didn't seem worth getting a hotel for just a few hours so we made the (crazy) decision to drive 12 hours round-trip, all in one day. The hike up the Cinder Cone is *grueling*. It's basically straight up an 800 foot ancient volcano and since the ground is volcanic sand called "loose scoria", it's basically 1 step back for every 2 steps forward. I'd count 100 steps then call for a break, and then we'd repeat until we were at the top. Once there, the views of the "Painted Dunes" were spectacular! Created from layers of oxidized ash falling on top of still hot lava flows, the colors in this area are just stunning. Just as the sun was dipping below the mountains, the scene became even more gorgeous. The tips of the trees turned golden yellow and the colors of the dunes started to glow pink and purple and orange. We ran around like crazy people trying to photograph all the different spots of the dunes with the different trees and shapes and patterns. After the hike down we made it back to home without falling asleep on the 6 hour car ride! Nikon D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 210mm, f/11, 1/20 sec, ISO 640

Crystal Sparkles

Sunrise on Aspen trees Uncompahgre National Forest, Colorado My coworker, Ana, had spent some time in Colorado in the past and had some ideas on where we should scout for photos. When we arrived in the San Juan Mountains we spent a few days driving along dirt roads in search of beautiful mountain scenes. We had some time to kill one day and wanted to see what the colors were like in Ouray and made our way there. Along the way we passed beautiful strands of trees and every 2 seconds I wanted to get out and shoot but sun was high in the sky and most of the scenes were meh. We came upon an alpine lake and got out to take iPhone photos when I realized the high mountain peaks nearby were providing some protection from the harsh light. It was just starting to spotlight a strand of trees high up in the mountain and I thought "damn, I need to capture this." I literally sprinted back to the car because I knew the light wouldn't last long. I grabbed the bazooka lens and my camera and raced back a few steps to get a better line at the hills. Sure enough the light hit some of these aspens and made them glow like crystals. I couldn't help myself. Nikon D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 180mm, f/11, 1/250 sec, ISO 400

Lady Bird Morning

Sunrise in the Redwood Forests Redwood National Park, CA Willie, David, and I had planned on doing a Redwood National Park trip well before COVID hit, and we weren't sure if our plans would be ruined. Actually, we were pretty sure they would be. But things started looking better by early May and the hotels and parks opened up enough for us to decide it was safe to do the trip. We took as many precautions as we could, including quarantining, wearing masks, using hand sanitizer at all times, socially distancing, and using separate vehicles. At the last second, Miles Morgan decided he needed to get the heck out of the house, and he joined us too. It's a long drive up North -- about 7 hours. We spent a few days photographing various Redwood groves, searching for rhododendron blossoms. On our last morning we decided to drive an hour south, to Lady Bird Johnson Grove, as it would reduce the long haul back to the Bay by an hour. The grove was super hard to photograph in but we made a few images that worked. In this particular scene I loved the combination of the old Spanish moss on the tree, combined with the rhode next to it. The light was filtering in through the trees and created a spotlight effect. It was too juicy to pass up. Nikon D850 w/Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8: 40mm, f/11, 0.5 sec, ISO 320

Perched on Top

Sunrise over Oak Tree and Hills Silicon Valley, California If I’m getting up for sunrise while at home in the Bay Area it’s usually to go visit the Golden Gate Bridge or some other iconic spot in San Francisco. The Bay Area has some other beautiful locations though: tons and tons of rolling hills with beautiful oak trees dotting all over. They become especially pretty in the winter and spring, when all the winter rain turns our golden hills into stunning green hills. On this particular morning we met just before sunrise and looked around, wondering where the clouds were. There was 1 small patch of clouds that might light up, but the rest of the sky was devoid of anything that would catch color. Fortunately for us, that one small cloud happened to plop itself right behind the tree we wanted to photograph! I loved how this scene has criss-crossing hills, that suck the eye in, and then the Oak Tree cements your eye. A bird perched itself on top of the tree, which itself is perched on top of the hill. Big thanks to Willie for hunting for this tree and finding it! Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: 56mm, f/11, 1/40 sec, ISO 200

Keblers Last Light

Sunset on Aspen trees Crested Butte, Colorado This fall I spent a week exploring Colorado with my coworker Ana. We started in Denver, drove to Breckenridge (met up with Nick Selway), had our car break down in Crested Butte, and eventually made our way to the San Juan mountains before flying back home. The majority of the trip was spent near the San Juans and we had clear skies every single day. Clear skies are great -- except when you want to photograph grand vistas and need clouds in the sky to make something interesting. I spent most of the time making the best of the light and photographed intimate scenes. There was one reason for shooting grand scenes though -- Milky Way photos. On a clear night, face south and the Milky Way will rise over the mountains. As much as I hated having to lose a day on the trip for our broken-down car, there were some positives: our replacement vehicle was a beast of a Ford Expedition that handled the rough terrain of Last Dollar Road like a champ. The extra clearance proved handy multiple times. Towards the end of the road, as we neared Telluride, we came across this viewpoint of the San Juan mountains with a beautiful patch of aspen trees changing color in front of them. We waited for the sun to sink well below the horizon and for the Milky Way to come out, snapped some photos, and then raced back to the hotel to get some dinner before everything closed down. D850 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: Foreground: 60mm, f/9, 0.6 sec, ISO 640 Sky: 24mm, f/2.8, 15sec, ISO 6400 I'd always wanted to photograph the fall colors in Colorado and when my coworker, Ana, asked if I would join her, I quickly said yes and booked the trip. We met up with Nick Selway in Breckenridge, then drove to Crested Butte by way of Ohio Pass. One of the most well known areas to photograph fall colors near Crested Butte is the "Kebler Pass" area. As soon as we turned onto highway 12 we could see why. The entire area was pathed in yellow and orange leaves (ok, some green as the peak-colors hadn't quite hit). We came to an S-curve with a gorgeous view of the entire valley and I immediately pulled over and grabbed the long lens. We had taken so long driving up Ohio Pass that we were starting to rush for sunset. The sun was starting to set behind the Beckwith Mountains and I noticed how it was starting to light up a hillside of colorful trees. When it hit the tops of the trees it bathed them in a beautiful glow. I kept shooting for so long that Ana had to scream at me to get back in the car so we could find a spot to photograph sunset. D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 250mm, f/11, 1/80 sec, ISO 125

Speared Milk

Milky Way over Ancient Bristlecone Pine Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, California The Ancient Bristlecones are some of the oldest living organisms on the earth and they almost look dead. They just have gnarled, twisted, barely leafed branches all over. I’ve always wanted to visit their forest in the Eastern Sierras and in July I finally got to see them with my own eyes! After driving all day, Willie and I arrived at the Patriarch Grove knowing from experience that most likely sunset was going to go from really hopeful to a total dud. Sure enough, it did, the clouds fizzled and we switched into Milky Way mode. The tree we had initially found wasn’t facing the right direction for the Milky Way and Willie went off to explore. That’s when he had the idea that the Milky Way might fit perfectly between its branches. I pulled up the “Sky Guide” app on my iPhone and sure enough, at 1am, the Milky Way lined up, almost as if the branches were spearing the Milky Way. I also loved how a little bit of clouds stuck around to catch the glow from the city of Bishop, hiding in the background. This photo is dedicated to Jeff Swanson, a fellow photographer and overall great guy, who sold me the lens I use for my milky way photos (including this one) but lost his battle with cancer. I'll always think of you when I'm out with my camera playing under the stars. Nikon D800 w/Bower 24mm f/1.4 ED UMC: 24mm f/2.2, 20 sec, ISO 1600

Little Red Walking Hood

Sunrise in the Redwood Grove Redwood State Park, Humboldt, CA Willie and I have always wanted to visit the big Redwood trees, and although we have a few near us in Santa Cruz, there's nothing like the big old original growth forests up in Northern California. David decided to fly in and join us, so we picked him up at the airport and off we drove. There aren't really any hotels around Humboldt County State Park, so we brought our camping gear and setup for a few days of photography in the park. We knew of a few groves of trees we wanted to visit, especially because of the beautiful sorrel growth underneath them. Sorrel is similar to clovers except different -- so when we found a "4-leaf clover" it turns out it wasn't lucky (sad)! For sunrise we woke up and visited this particular grove. As the sun came up it hit this particular patch of sorrel perfectly to cause the little path to glow. We all crowded around and enjoyed the sunrise view. D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: 24mm, f/11, 0.4 sec, ISO 100

Dance with Me

Fog Dances Amongst the Trees Below Tunnel View Yosemite National Park, California Willie and I have been wanting to visit the sand dunes at Death Valley National Park for a long time now. Well, we visited a few years ago but we didn't have the equipment to take the photograph we wanted. If you happen to be at the sand dunes with a very large telephoto lens you can take advantage of how optics work: longer lenses compress the 3 dimensional elements into a more 2 dimensional and flat scene. Sand dunes off in the distance feel closer, mountains feel like they're in your face. Take this to the sand dunes and you can make one pretty amazing photo. Willie purchased Sigma's new 150-600mm lens and brought it on our trip to Banff. I was blown away by some of his photos and immediately ordered the lens, ahead of our desire to visit Death Valley in December 2015. Then, at the last minute, we cancelled our Death Valley trip and went to Yosemite instead. I had already puchased, paid for, and received the new Sigma 150-600mm lens and figured I might as well bring it on our Yosemite trip anyways. It turned out to be a good call, because we saw a number of Coyotes hanging out in the meadows, and the lens turned out to be amazing. It also became quite useful while we hung out at Tunnel View for a sunset that never happened. While waiting at Tunnel View for sunset, a new storm rolled in and threatened to cover the entire Yosemite Valley. Sunset clearly wasn't going to produce any beautiful photos and I was determined to make the best of it. I noticed there was some beautiful fog rolling into the valley, dancing amongst the trees. I looked at Willie and said "I'm getting the big lens." He looked back and replied "grab mine too." We spent the next 20 minutes capturing the beautiful fog as it played amongst the trees, blanketing the valley in a beautiful mysterious scene. Here you can also see the impact of the Beetle infestation in the park. Typically, cold weather kills the beetles each year, but the last few winters have been too warm and the beetle population has grown, eating their way through many of the beautiful trees in the park and creating an even more hazardous potential fire situation. We're all hoping this winter will be cold enough to kill them off. Nikon D800 w/Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Contemporary: 200mm, f/10, 1/6, ISO 100

Aspens Last Glow

Last light on Aspen trees San Juan National Forest, Colorado This fall I spent a week exploring Colorado with my coworker Ana. We started in Denver, drove to Breckenridge (met up with Nick Selway), had our car break down in Crested Butte, and eventually made our way to the San Juan mountains before flying back home. The majority of the trip was spent near the San Juans and we had clear skies every single day. Clear skies are great -- except when you want to photograph grand vistas and need clouds in the sky to make something interesting. I spent most of the time making the best of the light and photographed intimate scenes. There was one reason for shooting grand scenes though -- Milky Way photos. On a clear night, face south and the Milky Way will rise over the mountains. As much as I hated having to lose a day on the trip for our broken-down car, there were some positives: our replacement vehicle was a beast of a Ford Expedition that handled the rough terrain of Last Dollar Road like a champ. The extra clearance proved handy multiple times. Towards the end of the road, as we neared Telluride, we came across this viewpoint of the San Juan mountains with a beautiful patch of aspen trees changing color in front of them. We waited for the sun to sink well below the horizon and for the Milky Way to come out, snapped some photos, and then raced back to the hotel to get some dinner before everything closed down. D850 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: Foreground: 60mm, f/9, 0.6 sec, ISO 640 Sky: 24mm, f/2.8, 15sec, ISO 6400 After Ana and I spent a few days in Breckenridge and Crested Butte we made our way over to the San Juan mountains. We used the town of Ridgway as our "home base", which has a hotel or two, some decent food, and is central to all of the mountains and trees. Typically the San Juan mountains are photographed using wider angle compositions -- there's stunning mountains all over that look beautiful with the color aspen trees. These scenes, however, need clouds to make the scenes interesting. Without clouds you either come home with no portfolio photos or you have to adapt. I put away the wide angle lenses and looked to my telephoto lenses to make beautiful photos. We had spent the entire day driving up and down different county roads scouting the different scenes and looking for great groves of trees. Ana had photographed this particular spot in a previous trip because of a criss-crossing fence she really liked. As we drove in at sunset we saw the last light glowing on the yellow Aspen trees and I pulled over and grabbed the long lens to get the last light on the trees before it died. We stayed another hour and photographed the Milky Way and went home happy campers. D850 w/Nikkor 80-200mm: 100mm f/7.1, 13 sec, ISO 320

Damn that Path

Afternoon glow in the Redwood forest Redwood National Park, CA I've lived in the same home for over a decade but with so many beautiful hikes nearby, I've never really explored the neighborhood around me, other than to get groceries or eat at a restaurant. When COVID hit and the parks closed, I was forced to walk the neighborhood and I was shocked to find how many cute areas were within blocks of me. More surprising, was how there were Redwood trees all over my neighborhood, in peoples front and back yards. It definitely helped with feeling stuck at home while sheltering in place. But that itch to get out still persevered. When things started to improve at the end of May, Willie, David and I made a COVID-safe dash up to the Redwood National and State Parks in Northern California. Willie and I arrived first and explored a particular Redwood grove that we had hoped was filled with rhododendrons blooming. From the road it looked like the rhodies blooming all over, so we parked at a pull-out and followed a trail into the forest. Redwood photos look even more stunning when fog sets in, removing some of the distracting elements of a crowded forest. We had noticed fog as we drove in, but it was hugging the coast, so we followed the trail hoping it would take us back to the foggy areas. The trail led to no-where and we decided to turn back. Sometimes the best scenes are behind you, because on our walk back we realized we had walked right by this scene. I loved the way the bit of trail draws the eye into the forest, and some nice soft spot-lighting crept in through the trees. Nikon D850 w/Nikkor 24-70mm: 24mm, f/11, 1/40 sec, ISO 320

The Behind-You Tree

Sunrise over the Bay Area Silicon Valley, CA As I explore more and more of the beautiful hikes in the Bay Area I keep coming across a number of beautiful rolling hills with oak trees peppered all over them. Most of the time there’s other trees, shrubs, houses, more hills, or other distracting things next to them. But every once in a while you stroll across a lone pine that’s just asking to be photographed. Willie and I met up at the parking lot and hiked up to this area. You can see the trail crossing through the photo. We had actually planned on photographing a different tree, which we thought had more character and faced more easterly, the direction of sunrise. The tree we were planning on photographing had some clouds behind it, but for whatever reason not all of the clouds caught the beautiful sunrise color. At one point I happened to turn around and look behind us. The entire sky was glowing orange and virga in the sky was catching the sunrise colors. I suggested to Willie: “dude, I think we should photograph the other tree.” We hesitated a little: it wasn’t as interesting but we knew we had to follow the sky. I’m glad we did turn around because this amazing color in the sky didn’t last long but boy is it awesome. I turned out loving this scene much more than the one we had originally intended to photograph! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: 24mm, f/13, 0.5 sec, ISO 100

Minoritree

Lone Aspen Tree Breckenridge, Colorado Ana and I drove from Denver to Breckenridge and checked into our hotel. Years ago I had become friends with Nick Selway, an amazing landscape photographer in Hawaii and he had taken me on several occasions out to photograph the lava flows on the Big Island. Nick moved to Brek and opened a gallery there, so obviously I reached out to him to see if we could say. Not only did Nick say hi, but he took us out to show us some of his secret spots. If you're ever near Breckenridge, look up Nick, stop into his gallery, and hang out. Nick wanted to meet *really* early in the morning, but I convinced him it'd be *too* dark at that hour and we should get a little more sleep. We met up and he drove us out to a spot to watch sunrise. A bit of snow had fallen on the mountain peaks the night before and a few clouds lit up, making quite the beautiful scene: fall colors, snowy mountains, and colorful sky. Once the sun came up I knew it was time to switch gears and look for more intimate scenes. As we drove around we came across this patch of forest that had burned in a previous fire. This particular lone Aspen tree was blooming with color, set amongst dead or pine trees. A little bit of light snuck through the forest and caused the tree to glow. I made Nick pull over so we could photograph it before it was gone. D850 w/Sigma 150-600: 240mm, f/11, 1/13 sec, ISO 250

Warming

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 of the forest and focus on particular elements. We knew this area of the forest might get light rays so we kept close. Or maybe I'm making this up and we just happened to be in the area when the sun set low enough to start creating beams. We photographed several different views of the beams while the fog and the setting sun kept them in the forest. Although we started out much wider, trying to capture "gods rays" as we call them, beaming out in all directions around a tree, I was also transfixed by the way some of the side beams were lighting up the redwood trees and warming them up. I could imagine being one of these trees, loving the warmth of the sun shining in. As a peaceful observer it was hard not to *feel* warmer just looking at these. Nikon D850 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8: 86mm, f/11, 1/5 sec, ISO 200

All Tangled Up

Algae covered Cypress tree Pt. Lobos State Reserve, CA I first came across a photo of the Monterey Cypress trees in Pt. Lobos State Nature Reserve while at work. Someone pulled up a photo and I thought it was one of the coolest things I had seen in a long time. I just loved the way the tree branches intertwined amongst each other, while white moss and green algae (which appears orange) give the entire scene a crazy mood. I knew I had to go see the trees for myself. Having been "trapped" in doors for weeks with the COVID lockdown, Sammi, Willie, Sarah and I were itching to get out into some nature. So we decided to drive down to Big Sur (separately so we'd be COVID safe) and get out into fresh air. Unfortunately so did a gazillion other people and it turned out that this day, New Years Day, was the busiest day in the park. A green algae, known as Trentepohlia, which ironically looks reddish orange on the trees, grows on these trees on the shadowy seaward side of the trees. Kicked up by the salty ocean spray, the algae attaches to the trees and they live in a natural harmony. It's orange color comes from carotene, the same pigment found in carrots. Trying to take pictures here is tough, especially on a crowded day, because there's a steep hill on one side, and a path with all the COVID carrying tourists on the other side. Setting up a large tripod and lens blocks the path, so Willie and I tried to be quick, get our photos, and get out of there. The scene doesn't make a "quick snap" easy though -- the massive depth of the trees and the telephoto lens mean that multiple photos are required, at various focus points. In this case, I used 6 photos, focused in different parts of the trees, to create more depth in the scene. I then used a computer program, Affinity Photo, to automatically determine the sharpest parts of each photo and blend the photo together into one fully focused photo. Nikon D850 w/Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8: 120mm, f/16, 1/15 sec, ISO 320 6 photo focus stack

Fern Line

Sunrise in the Redwood Grove Redwood State Park, Humboldt, CA Different Redwood forests all have different characteristics in spring. Some Forrests have beautiful rhododendron blooms, while others have carpets of sorrel fields (similar to clovers), and some just have beautiful green and red contrasting colors. We came to Humboldt for the carpets of sorrel mixed with ferns. David flew into San Francisco, we picked him up, and drove 5 hours north to Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It has some of the biggest and oldest Redwood trees in California and they're truly breathtaking when you stand in the groves. The previous evening we had tried to photograph sunset in the forest but the mosquitos were so bad that we ended up running back to the car for protection and gave up. Oh well. Our final morning we visited this particular grove which was known for sorrel and ferns, and sure enough the forrest was stunning. We could have photographed the grove for hours, had the sun not risen too high and started adding spotlights to the trees we were trying to photograph. In this scene, I loved how the ferns lined up in a row as if they were leading you down a path into the Redwood grove. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8: 15mm, f/10, 5 sec, ISO 100

Lined Up to Fall

Poplar Tree Farm Oregon There are lots of beautiful places in the Columbia River Gorge — far too many to photograph in one weekend. Despite our short time in the area, we decided to drive 6 hours round-trip to see a field of trees. Not just any field of trees, but a man-made tree farm that’s going to be replaced and turned into a cow farm! The trees, whilst still here, are pretty neat to see! We arrived and found we were 2 weeks too early for the fall colors. The leaves still had a little bit of green tinge to them. We had hoped that some leaves would be on the ground, that they’d be beautifully orange, and perfect fall color. Oh well! I loved the way they were all lined up in a perfect line. Depending on how you stood you could make them appear more or less lined up, with a giant hole or arch-way in the center, which you can just manage to see here. This is a 95 megapixel beast of an image, created by taking a number of photos at 155mm and stitching them together. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8: 155mm, f/10, 1/8 sec, ISO 100

Painted with the Last Light

Last light on trees in the Painted Dunes Lassen Volcanic National Park, California It's been a relatively quiet photography year for me; work was busy (we bought Flickr after-all!), I got wrapped up in other life and travels and just didn't have much photo inspiration as some previous years. So when Willie asked me if I wanted to do a crazy day trip to Lassen National Park, I was absolutely in. By crazy I mean our intention was to drive 6.5 hours north to Lassen, hike to the top of a volcano, take sunset photos, then drive back another 6.5 hours all in one day! We left early in the morning (Willie drove for once! At least for the first few hours), stopped for lunch, and made it to the north end of Lassen with plenty of time before sunset. We had read that the hike to the top of the "Cinder Cone" was going to be grueling, but having been working out a lot, I figured it "wouldn't be too bad." The hike is only about a mile but it's basically straight up 800 feet (you should see the elevation chart my phone recorded). To make it worse, we were walking up volcanic sand (aka "loose scoria"), so every 2 steps forward is one step back. With a ton of heavy lenses in our backpacks it was a grueling crawl: we'd walk 100 steps and then take a break ... 100 steps and take a break ... 100 steps.... but as "old" as we are, we made it up in record time! Lassen Volcanic National Park is exactly as the name sounds: volcanic. Though the Volcanoes aren't active, they have left their mark on the landscape. The area before you, known as The Painted Dunes, formed when layers of oxidized ash formed into pumice fields after falling on top of lava flows that were still hot. It creates this area of crazy color, shape, and now new growth. We had seen photos from several other photographers, particularly Brian Rueb, and been inspired by the shapes and light they captured. Though we had some ideas in mind, that all went out the window when we got to the top of the Cinder Cone and realized how many different scenes there were. Though I had initially intended to wait till the sun had completely dropped behind the hills, my favorite photos from this trip were ones like this, where the last touches of light hit the top of the growing trees and cast this amazing glow. The purple and pink cast of the setting sun contrasts well with the green and yellow tips of the trees. I know I'll be back here at some point, though hopefully with a little less weigh on my backpack next time! Nikon D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 150mm, f/11, 1/100 sec, ISO 800

The Burning Bush

The Burning BushSunrise on Dead Tree Bryce National Park, Utah After flying into St. George Municipal Airport and picking up our rental car, a 4x4 Jeep, we hit the road to Bryce National Park. Turned out that renting the AWD Jeep was a good idea because about 30 minutes into the drive the snow started coming down. Apparently we had flown in just as a blizzard was about to hit. For about an hour the snow came down so hard that we could barely see the lanes in the road. At some point the storm disappeared, we found a route to Bryce, and we arrived at our hotel 2 hours later than expected. We went to bed expecting that sunrise at Bryce would be covered up by the clouds. We were treated to a nice surprise when we woke up: the radar showed an opening in the clouds right around sunrise. Drudgingly we got dressed, put on as many warm clothes as we could and headed out to Sunset Point to watch the sunrise (yes, it's a bit of contradiction that Sunset Point is one of the best places to watch sunrise at Bryce). The clouds did stay away long enough for sunrise to occur and it lit up the hoodoo's at Bryce beautifully. Unfortunately the sky was dull of color and none of those photos came out well. After warming up in the car my buddy and I decided to hike the 1.5 mile Navajo Trail Loop into the canyons. The hike is absolutely stunning and we were treated to some beautiful light. As we descended into the canyon we came across this dead tree, that must have split in some previous storm. The light was hitting it *perfectly* -- making it glow, almost as if it was on fire. I thought that it was neat that this photo combined the beautiful light with the falling snow -- which shows off the wonderful juxtaposition of Bryce National Park: a dessert with huge red rock canyons, crazy rock formations, yet at the elevation that it SNOWS! Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 70mm, f/2.8, 1/1250 sec, ISO 500

Spotlit

Sunrise on Aspen trees Uncompahgre National Forest, Colorado As I prepared for my Colorado fall colors trip with my coworker Ana, I asked my friend David if I should bring the "bazooka" lens (my ultra-telephoto). He looked at me as if I was an idiot for asking. *OF COURSE* I should bring it. I'm glad I did because some of my favorite photos were taken with the super telephoto lens. This one included. Ana and I spent a couple days in Breckenridge and Crested Butte before spending the rest of our time in the San Juan mountains. On this particular morning we had scouted a county road for fall colors. We had seen a pretty epic view the night before but it really needed clouds in the sky to make it work. On this particular sunrise there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We photographed the grand scene but it was just missing something, so I put the wide angle lens away and waited for the sun to strike the Aspen trees. As it came up I could see this particular grove of Aspen trees was able to be baked in warm beautiful light, so I grabbed that super telephoto lens and waited for the light to hit it. I loved how it spotlit the yellow Aspen trees. I photographed this for about 30 minutes and watched as the light changed every minute, lighting more and more of the trees, until the whole scene was blown out by too much light. D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 480mm, f/9, 1/100 sec, ISO 500

Pillows

Snow covered trees Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada Willie and I woke up to find several inches of fresh, beautiful snow on the ground. We had grand plans of doing a bit of driving and kept our fingers crossed that the roads would be clear enough to visit all the spots we had planned for the day. The plans involved finding as many snowy trees as we could, plus a drive all the way up to Peyto Lake to see a grand vista. We stopped at a number of spots before making our way to the highway and over to an area known for rows and rows of trees. We had stopped at the Castle Mountain vista point before and couldn't help but find ourselves drawn to this pull-out off the highway once again. The way the clouds kept pulling at the mountains in the background drew us in. Willie and I both grabbed our big lenses to continue with our theme of intimate photos. Neither one of us spoke but we happened to both see the same thing in this scene; the clear patch of trees was just calling to be photographed. I love how the mountains peak out in the background while the clearing just begs for someone to lay down and take a nap. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: 56mm, f/11, 1/125 sec, ISO 320