The Standout November 2024
The forecast was promising dense fog. I drove up to a higher elevation where I thought the fog might be heavier. I was right, in spots it felt like you couldn't see 15ft in front of you. For this scene, there was one tree covered in bright green... moss? After placing all the trees, I tried to compose this scene both with/without the base of the front tree. This was the clear winner. I love the way the trees drop off in a "flying v" formation, it subsconsciously helps emphasize the standout tree.
Sunrise at the Sods October 2024
It was about 7:45pm and I decided I was going to drive a couple of hours the next day to check the fall color at Dolly Sods. I had no plans of being there for sunrise, but it'd be sad to drive hours away and get none of the early morning light. The alarm went off at 4:00 AM. I'm rarely disappointed with getting up early for photography, and this was no different. At 4,700 ft, the view was pretty spectacular. I had a feeling there would be a cloud inversion which made this morning a little more rewarding.
Details of Ramona October 2023
I was very excited to do the 7-8 mile hike to see Ramona Falls during a visit to Oregon. The cascading nature of these falls make them very unique. Surprisingly, when I got to the actual falls, I wasn't as interested in composing photos of the entire scene. They're over 120ft tall and very epic in person, but on the camera I couldn't sort out a composition I liked. Then I started picking out details and this was my favorite of the bunch. The light was coming in/out through the trees above, making the moss on the rocks glow. I got absolutely soaked on this hike, but I'd do it again.
Halfway Down October 2023
This waterfall is over 600ft tall and is very iconic, but you would never know it from this photo. I struggle to photograph wide/large falls up close, but I think the skinny falls make for great intimate subjects. The surrounding green moss/growth adds a nice touch.
Trillium Symmetry October 2023
I live 2,600 miles away from Trillium Lake, but ever since I first saw photos of it, I knew I wanted to visit. The lake itself is gorgeous, but when you put Mount Hood in the background, it's *chef's kiss*. I arrived well before sunrise, and for the first hour you couldn't see the mountain. As the morning went on, the fog began to clear, and the sun was lighting up just enough of the snow caps to see them reflect in the water. The tree line is a nice divide between reality and reflected reality.
Opened Up October 2023
The Columbia River Gorge has a ton of waterfalls, but this one (Wahclella Falls) is my favorite. I tried shorter shutter speeds for this shot, to avoid washing out the water so much, but I liked how the bottom of the falls melted away at this speed. The spray was just right.
A Distant Peak October 2023
I arrived around 5:30 AM to this vantage point. The mountain itself is about 35-40 miles away, which makes for a nice backdrop when photographing the city below. But on this morning, there was no city below. A blanket of low clouds covered everything. The complementary colors of the blue clouds and the orange sky worked well together. It was very peaceful watching the clouds roll through like a river in the sky.
Natural Complexity April 2024
At the end of this long trail is an overlook, and immediately straight down off of that overlook is this spiderweb of a tree. You don't notice it as much when the leaves are present, but in stick season after some rain, a little bit of fog, it feels like it glows.
Isolation October 2024
With nature photography, moving your feet can be the key to creating a great photo. Not that this is a great photo, but when I first started setting up compositions, it was half as good. It wasn't until I walked completely around the tree, to the other side, that helped make the background disappear. The lingering fall color is a nice addition, but for me, it's the shape of the tree.
Sounds of Serenity October 2024
I truly love flowing water. Lakes are cool, but rivers are better. Every time I see this photo I'm taken back to the sounds of this little spot. After composing a few photos, I sat on this rock for about 45 minutes and just listened. Birds, wind, water. Ahhh, nature is the best.
Rapid Flow October 2020
Standing on the edge of this water was intimidating, the photo doesn't do it justice. This is another case of being near a large and beautiful slice of nature, but only focusing on a tiny piece of it. I felt like an intimate scene of this river better encapsulated its power.
Mist at the Bottom October 2023
There's nothing special about this photo, but my camera was getting wet from the mist. So when composing, I tried to focus mostly on a composition that portrayed that mist, more than anything. The rock and the greenery are there for balance.
A Road Less Traveled June 2023
Maybe this scene is only interesting because it was taken on an infrared sensor. At least, I can promise you what I was viewing with my eyes (a gravel road on a farm in the middle of summer) was only half as interesting, at best. I really like this composition. A road leading around a curve with the last thing you see on the way is a dead tree. Leaving a little imagination often helps.
A Summer Snow June 2023
One of my favorite things about infrared photography is how dark water gets, it's almost black. When contrasted with the reflections on leaves that turn bright white, you really get a dynamic image. I was glad that there were some high clouds in the sky to separate the photo into two halves, and the subtle reflection fading into blackness gives it a little extra.
Stranded January 2022
I don't have a fear of water, but I do find it intimidating at times. One of the ways to exaggerate this feeling is to use a wide angle lens, especially if you're in the body of water. There's an unsettling feeling when you can't see where a body of water begins, at least for me. And I like that drama when making water photos. This partcular scene was very dark overall, and the sunset was trying so hard to burn through. I'm actually glad it didn't, I think the composition was better off for it.
Cannon Beach Sunset October 2023
I'm assuming there are at least one million photos of this exact scene, but it's still one of my favorites. I try to be unique with my photography, but sometimes a scene is so beautiful and awe-inspiring you gotta do it. I've only been to this beach once, but during my trip, the rippled reflections from how far the tide comes in really makes photography a lot easier. It's hard to make a bad photo of this scene. I really wished for clouds at the time, but the gradients in the clear sky turned out okay.
Undocked June 2024
I don't know the history of why pilings are left sticking out of the sea. My imagination tells me there once was a dock present that no longer exists. Regardless, it makes for some visual interest when photographing a scene full of movement. I love to shoot minimal scenes of motion in ocean water, but you don't always have a stable anchor to draw your eye. I think the clouds had just enough drama from an incoming storm to match the overall vibe of this scene.
Disruption June 2024
Patterns in beach sand come in all shapes and sizes. But you need that low horizon light to make them special. For me, living on the East Coast, that means sunrise. With the long, early-morning shadows, this scene looked very much like a shell was blasting its way through the sand on its way back to the sea.
Lonely Shell June 2024
About half the time I'm making sea photos I'm using a ND filter. The water was somewhat calm, so for the movement in the water, I was looking for a 10-15 second exposure. That meant a 6 stop ND and a small aperture. The beaches I frequent rarely have clean sand with isolated, interesting shells. Typically, there's seashell litter all over the place. I like this photo a lot because of how minimal it is, with the top half looking more like a painting and the bottom reminds you that it's not.
Sunrise at the Pier August 2022
Unlike the West Coast, many of the beaches along the lower East Coast are pretty "boring" in terms of interesting scenery. One thing that is pretty typical are fishing piers. If I'm photographing a pier, it's usually from below, and it's usually at sunrise. That's when you get all the dynamic light mixing in with the pilings and crashing waves. I'm generally not a "sun star" guy, and in fact, I try to avoid them. But this particular scene felt like it fit pretty well, especially with the sun rays breaking through.
Sea Storm August 2022
Photographing storms is something I hope to do more of. It's hard to find something that showcases nature's power and scale more than lightning. What I love about this composition is it felt very much like the clouds by the lightning were "plucked" out of the clouds to the left, almost like a puzzle piece. It's like the storm was trying to dissipate and it had to remove that one "bad spot" in order to do so.
One Wave July 2022
Admittedly, this photo looks like it was made in Photoshop. It's an odd combination of colors to find naturally, but that's part of what makes incoming storms so special. You just never know what they'll deliver. The color of the water is always unique when the storm clouds are reflecting above. I was about 50ft up photographing down toward the water, which I think made this composition possible. Isolating a single, distant wave would be hard to do at sea level.
Calming July 2022
This was maybe my favorite photo for a long time (probably for personal reasons). This was taken after the sun went down and the light transitioned, having a lot more contrast. With the angle of the motion of the water, I felt like it was important to not be "squared up" with the pier, so I put it at an angle that fit the flow of the water a little better. The soft shadows and the smoothness of the water complement one another perfectly.
Wishbone October 2024
This small lake is near my house and I've been here many times, in many conditions. But there's something about the way this tree fell over the edge that makes a classic reflection photo the best version. This was taken from the other side of the lake's shoreline, and I intentionally offset the tree to bring in more of the jagged wall.
A Natural Pool October 2023
This was a cozy little cove tucked away at the end of a trail. I'm aware that water escapes this little pool, but it wasn't super obvious how it was happening. Small amounts, dispersed everywhere, I suppose. There's nothing super special about this photo, but I do think the composition has very good balance overall.
Blending of Seasons October 2024
On this morning, I spent a relaxed hour along this river, moving up and down the banks admiring the fall color. In my region, it's very typical for fall mornings to be 30 degrees colder than the afternoons. I don't know the science behind it, but those type of mornings usually come with a layer of fog on the water. I like when photos have both cool and warm tones in the same scene.
Multnomah in Fog October 2023
I have no data to back my claim, but I think Multnomah Falls in Oregon (you know it, the one with the bridge) is maybe the most photographed waterfall in the country. Of course I have the classic shot, but I also wanted to get a different perspective. I think this vatage point helps showcase the height of this waterfall, and also makes you wonder how there's that much flow at the top of that 600ft cliff!
River in Shadow October 2024
The Youghiogheny River is very accessible, in terms of walking beside (or in) it for miles. At the end of summer it's typically not very deep, and you can mostly walk in the water and get different vantage points you can't get during other parts of the year. I don't always try to shoot scenes with this much dynamic range, but the colorful leaves lit up while the river was in shadow worked well here.
At the Edge October 2020
I didn't like this photo for a long time, but when you step away from something and come back, things change. I like the angle of this composition, and I think the dark "cave" in the background helps guide your eye to the more interesting parts of the photo. I remember dealing with a lot of small leaves and debris that kept making the water look "dirty". I tried to blur those away completely with a wildly long exposure, which I think worked pretty well.
Stillness October 2024
Even the slightest bit of wind makes compositions like this nearly impossible. Ripples in the water, movement in the leaves, it just doesn't work. But on this morning, everything was perfectly still. I had a polarizer on, but actually dialed it back a bit to allow for a bit of reflection in the water.
Snaking Through October 2024
Cheat River snakes through the mountains for over 75 miles. The most beautiful views of it are from high vantage points. And if you add fall color into the mix, like that found during an October sunrise, it's hard to beat.
Painted Reality November 2024
I've grown to really love scenes like this. Pure chaos. Filling the frame with branches and leaves is addicting. I couldn't have asked for a better blend of colors, I wasn't looking for something extremely bright and jarring. A recent rain helped dampen the tones into something that felt like a painting. I really love this one.
Golden Litter October 2022
I was out hiking around looking for waterfalls and found this little spot, which honestly, felt like the end of a rainbow. The entire area was glowing with yellow leaves. The sun star through the trees was accidental. I have alternate versions where the sun was obstructed completely, but this was the strongest composition in terms of surrounding elements.
Above and Below December 2024
I was drawn to this scene in part because of the perfectly fallen oak leaf, but looking closer, I noticed another leaf that wasn't so fortunate, trapped under the ice. Timing is everything. Additionally, the different ice patterns combined in a single scene isn't something you see everyday. Independently, each section of ice is interesting, so to have them all in a single scene was pretty cool.
Stuck December 2024
When you see something trapped in ice, the part that I think gets lost is how that impacted the freezing of surrounding areas. The leaf in this photo, for example, caused the shapes and lines to form as either the leaf tried to escape the freezing water. It's almost like you drug the leaf through an oil painting to create lines and patterns, only this is nature's artwork.
Bubbled Up December 2024
My 30mm macro lens has a focus distance of 0.1m and it's somewhat comical how close you can get to things. This photo was such a small area of the overall scene, but had some unique attributes. The bubbles are what caught my attention and the darkness underneath created the illusion of depth, almost as if something took its last breath.
Submerged December 2024
This was very shallow water, closer to a puddle than anything. Right below the layer of ice was a brightly colored stone, the kind that you would love to skip across a lake as a kid (or an adult). It looked like it was submerged under frosted glass. With compositions that have strong lines like this, I tend to avoid perfectly vertical or horizontal compositions. And I almost always ensure that none of the lines or shapes are landing exactly in the corner, a tip I learned from Ben Horne.
Winding Road December 2024
You know those shots from a drone of a road through the trees? This scene very much reminded me of that. There's not a lot more to say about this one. Overall, I love the simplicity of it. The ice was more neutral in color, compared to the blues you sometimes get with other patterns, but I think it fits well with this one.
Off-Ramp December 2024
The way this pattern was created, I'm imagining, was the way this leaf moved through the water before it got stuck. It started from the right-hand side, moving toward the left, and drifted up and out of the frame. It would be pretty cool to have a timelapse of all the ice patterns that interest me, it's fascinating to imagine how they were created.
Beached December 2024
This scene reminds me of a boat that got stranded along the shore. This creek had a lot of movement in it as only parts of it were frozen over, but that meant it carried a lot of things with it (like this leaf). I walked about a mile in this creek with knee-high boots on so I could access some of the more interesting areas.
Follow Me December 2024
There's a lake near my house where you can get elevated vantage points of the water below. I've never seen ice formations like this, the entire lake was rippled with small bumps. In certain areas, leaves fell in interesting ways and got stuck in the ice. I really like the way this set of leaves made somewhat of a path on top of the water.
Whitespace January 2025
Standing next to a frozen pond covered in snow, there was a little inlet midway across, but you couldn't see where it started or where it ended. Everything was white. Often in photography, when you see things isolated, it draws your eye... even if it's some dying grasses. This scene was all about the simplicity.
Poisonous December 2024
I'm not clued in enough to know what caused this situation to happen, but it's hard to imagine that leaf had nothing to do with it! It's either a wild coincidence that the leaf fell exactly in the center, or the leaf eroded in some way that caused this crystalized shape surrounding it. Either way, I thought this was a pretty interesting scene. I had to reach for it, though, it took all 400mm to get out that far. I was on a tripod, but I increased the ISO to get a faster shutter (it was very windy this day).
Into the Sky October 2023
I don't get the opportunity to photograph (real) mountains very often, but one of the things I like to try and do is showcase their scale. When you think about how large full grown pine trees are, then compare an entire forest next to a mountain, it's pretty remarkable. On top of that, the low clouds give the illusion that the mountain is so large it's reaching the actual sky. The highlights are intentionally pushing the edge, but I think it makes for a better photo in this instance.
A Bird's-Eye View October 2023
Leaving Oregon, I really wanted to situate myself on the plane to see Mount Hood from the sky. What I didn't realize is that I would also be able to see Mount Saint Helens, Mount Adams, and Mounta Rainier in the distance. When looking at my connecting flight on Southwest, I assumed I needed to get a window seat on the left side of the plane. Thankfully, I was right. The view was stunning.