Sunset at Factory Butte Hanksville, Utah I love exploring the South West. There's about the landscape down there that's just so captivating. Perhaps it's because the landscape changes so vastly: from giant red rock canyons, to grand vistas, to mesas, arches, slot canyons, rivers, desert, badlands ... the list goes on. I always love exploring a new area and our trip to Factory Butte, in Southern Utah, was no different. Willie, David, and I spent a long weekend down near Hanksville Utah, exploring the badlands around. On our first night, before David arrived, we had been scouting around Factory Butte when we came upon this little wash. We loved how the S-curve of it drew the eye in towards the Butte. Luckily for us, a few clouds caught some color as the sun set. It was quite a windy night: we had pitched the tent before sunset and I was surprised to find the tent still there when we got back from taking photos. Apparently the rocks I stuck inside the tent had saved us! I gave up on sleeping in the tent and slept in the car ... that is until about 3am when I heard “Meyers! Help!” Willie was trapped in the tent, getting tossed in the wind! We quickly disassembled the tent and spent the rest of the night in the car. Lets just say we were glad to get out of the wind :) Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: 26mm, f/13, 1/30 sec, ISO 100
Sunrise over Mt. Rundle Vermillion Lakes, Banff National Park, Canada Willie and I had grand plans of exploring as much of the Banff National Park and surrounding area as we could. Kananaskis County and Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks are all nearby. Unfortunately, a giant snow storm hit and impeded our ability to travel beyond Banff. We spent more sunrises than we would have liked visiting Vermillion Lakes, trying to capture icy mountain reflections with a pink and red sky. There are actually 3 Vermillion Lakes and they're all one right after another. I imagine during floods, they turn into one giant lake. The First Vermillion Lake was mostly frozen by the time we arrived and the Third Vermillion Lake, while pretty, didn't have much exciting shoreline for us to explore. Second Vermillion Lake, however, became our go to sunrise location and we visited on 3 separate occassions. When we woke for this morning, we weren't sure if the sky would be entirely clouded over, or entirely clear but we hopped out of bed and drove to the lake anyways. On the drive we noticed that they sky was already glowing purple, illuminated in pre-sunrise glory. This early burn, we knew meant that a beautiful sunrise was coming. Sure enough, once the sun began to approach the horizon, it lit the clouds in beautiful pinks, oranges, and reds. Light beams even managed to streak out from behind Mt. Rundle, giving off a divine appearance. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: 50mm, f/10, 1/25 sec, ISO 100
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
