Day After Day
The Sierra high country is timeless. These granite mountains, these meadows, and even this tree sentinel have been here longer than I’ve been alive and will be here much longer after I am gone. They stand day after day, month after month, year after year. Not waiting for anything, not expecting anything. No deadlines, no […]
Monolith
Taken in Yosemite Valley on December 29th, 2011 At the very end of 2011 I found myself camped in Yosemite Valley. One morning I forced myself out of my warm sleeping bag only to see a lovely pink glow already filling the sky. The color quickly faded, but the sky remained full of wispy clouds. […]
Global Warming
Taken on Tenaya Lake in Yosemite on December 27th, 2011 It all started before Christmas when I saw a video of people ice skating on a frozen Tenaya Lake in Yosemite’s high country. Wow, that’s cool, that doesn’t happen very often, I thought. Then, about halfway through the video, the filmer unwittingly showed something that […]
Keyhole
Taken at Pfieffer Beach in Big Sur, California on December 9th, 2011. In the winter there is a very interesting photographic phenomenon that occurs in California. At Pfieffer Beach in Big Sur, the setting sun shines at just the right angle to shine through the keyhole of a mighty arch to illuminate the sea spray […]
Tuolumne Tundra
Taken in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park on November 27th, 2011 Just when I thought Tioga Pass was closed for the season, a magical thing happened: some late season warm weather melted the ice from the road and highway 120 reopened. How fortunate then that I was visiting my family a mere 1.5 hours from […]
Dune Avalanche
Taken in the Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley on November 10th, 2011 Walking along the sharp ridge line of a dune in the Mesquite Sand dunes in the desert of Death Valley I noticed these fascinating chutes formed by small avalanches of sand. I loved the textures and shapes.
Yosemite Thunder
Taken at Olmsted Point in Yosemite National Park on September 12, 2011 I was in Yosemite to help my mom celebrate her 61st birthday by hiking to the top of Half Dome. Because of the new permit system, the date of your hike is not changeable. So we started to worry a bit when the […]
Picture Peak
Taken at Moonlight Lake in the Sabrina Basin, Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, on August 22nd 2011 “The mosquitoes will eat you alive.” 2011 had been an extremely snowy year in the Sierra and the massive snowpack was keeping the meadows marshy and bugs buggy a full month later than usual. As I chugged my way […]
Shooting Stars by Moonlight
Taken at Moonlight Lake in the Sabrina Basin, Eastern Sierra, California on August 22nd, 2011 Forget coffee, forget Redbull. Nothing gets me zipping along first thing in the morning like some high Sierra backpacking. On my last morning of a trip to the wondrous Sabrina Basin near Bishop, California I rolled out of my tent […]
Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Taken at Three Mile Beach in Wilder Ranch State Park on May 15th, 2011 This bridge is possibly my favorite feature along the Santa Cruz coast. At high tide the crashing waves flow right under the bridge. And in rough seas the pounding of the ocean can actually be felt through the bridge, providing a […]
Field of Dreams
Taken in the Carrizo Plain National Monument on April 9th, 2011 I love Spring for a number of reasons, not least of which is the annual wildflower hunt. As blooms spread throughout California photographers share tips, locations, and gas as they race around the state trying to find the best displays. The Carrizo Plain is […]
Fury
Taken at Panther Beach near Santa Cruz on March 25th, 2011 Nature photographers can tread a fine line between dangerous and dramatic. On the day I took this shot I originally had planned to teach a photography workshop. But the other instructor and I decided to reschedule because of the risk of rain, hail, and […]