revenir

cream of wheat canyons

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:06 -0800

Pacific Grove, February 2011. Ocean licks the land.

in the arms of tree

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:12 -0800

I processed this years ago, yet didn't post it because I felt it wasn't compelling or dramatic enough. Silly excuse.

edge of the continent, smell of the sea, january

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:58 -0800

Rebelling against the expectation that an image should be dramatic, here's one to recall the calm of the shore. The ocean is seen only in effect.

triciclos

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:40 -0800

Macau, night. Real human power.

two children on a hillside

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 12:10 -0800

Do you see the children mentioned in the title? This is the roof of the DeYoung museum in San Francisco.

praha night

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:50 -0800

Praha (Prague), Czech Republic, is a remarkable and comfortable town, so it was a joy to be able to go again for work. The majority of the Old Town streets are cobble stone, which, while certainly photogenic, would definitely make for a non-cycling environment.

tenaya canyon

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 01:34 -0800

Tenaya Canyon, just East of Half Dome, Yosemite This is a quick and dirty preliminary study using the single image tone mapping capabilities of HDR Efex Pro. Yes, I realize this still has that "of course it's HDR" look. Look to see this draft replaced soon.

autumn aspen

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:56 -0800

Aspen trees hold a precious place in my soul, perhaps because they only survive in mountainous regions. It's endlessly satisfying to realize that all visible trunks are a single organism, connected via a common root system.

alpine garden

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:53 -0800

It's a testament to the tenacity of life that there can be such lushness at altitude (12,000 feet/3,650 meters). This ground surface is covered by snow at least nine months of the year, yet these magnificent plants thrive.

loveland pass; continental divide

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:17 -0800

Looking west from the continental divide, across Loveland Pass, Colorado. In spite of the fact that it's an easy walk-up climb from the pass, I do what I can to return here each time I visit my sister in Breckenridge.

boundaries of life

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:05 -0800

Life forms become smaller and lower as altitude increases, finally diminishing to lichens above treeline. This cacophony of delicate colors appears just below 13,000' (3,962 metres) in the Colorado Rockies, just east of Loveland Pass.

winter, santa cruz range

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 18:57 -0800

Winter in northern California is a great awakening of life, made possible by the rain. More than any other time I feel consoled by the clouds and cool, moist air. This image portrays one of the more alluring atmospheric effects of all.

new mexico monsoon

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:10 -0800

This image is from a small town in southern New Mexico called Deming. As my nephew and I made our way west and into the desert, we were greeted by afternoon monsoons. Seeing towering thunderstorms was exhilarating for me, coming from California's Bay Area, which I like to joke has only two variations on a single season: warm, dry spring (late spring through late summer), and cool, wet spring (autumn through late winter).

I particularly enjoy the lenticular clouds over the cumulonimbus. The storm continued well into the night, with lightning illuminating the clouds from within, and echoes of muted thunder arriving long after the flash.

storm imminent

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:13 -0800

It's virtually impossible to capture the scale of a cloud like this. As with the previous image, this was taken from a Piper Cherokee at 6500' (1980 meters). This cloud had already grown to roughly 20,000' (6100 meters), making for hazardous flying.

cumulus rising

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:06 -0800

A Mississippi thunderstorm developing. Taken from approximately 6500' (1980 meters) during our trans-continental flight.

waiting for the tide

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:47 -0800

From the afternoon at the beach at Yachats, Oregon. The light was so fine... I have such a hazy, comfortable memory of the session. I didn't recall capturing this crab until much later, and today she asked for more attention so naturally, I was obliged.

redwood, sorrel

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:38 -0800

Sorrel enveloping a redwood in southern Humboldt county, California. Even in the heat of late summer, the towering redwoods filter the sunlight and keep the forest floor cool and reasonably moist. This glade is one of those rare places that possesses a "cathedral-like" atmosphere where one naturally speaks in a whisper out of timeless reverence. How can we not be suffused with a sense of the sacred and sublime surrounded by trees thousands of years old? And to think that we must fight to preserve old-growth forests such as this.

silence, winter

Sun, 16 May 2010 23:00 -0800

I've always been intrigued by bare trees, whether they're dormant in winter hibernation or dead. The patterns resemble so many others: lightning, tributaries, blood vessels. The shape and texture inspires calm.

living cumulonimbus

Tue, 11 May 2010 07:58 -0800

California's climate provides the opportunity for remarkable beauty.

grass

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:51 -0800

Simple elegance in blades of grass.

returning

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:27 -0800

From dust to dust, always belonging to the inseparable fabric of being. Mendocino coast, California.

point lobos cypress

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:05 -0800

One of the oldest and most compelling trees I've ever seen. It's perched on a cliff, overlooking a fjord in the northern section of Point Lobos state reserve, just south of Monterey, California.

snow creek trail

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:13 -0800

OK, fine: you've seen a bazillion shots of Half Dome already. Here's another. Winter is my favorite time in Yosemite: the snow adds an indescribable element of beauty, but best of all, very few people are there to see it.

prague

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:34 -0800

Church of Our Lady before the Tyn towers. Prague, Czech Republic.

farallon sky

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:44 -0800

A wild place, a sanctuary. I feel like this so often lately...

oregon

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:33 -0800

The coast of Oregon is generally unpopulated, probably because there are few opportunities for sustenance, not to mention the rugged terrain. Each of which makes the area that much more beautiful...

oregon coast twilight

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:46 -0800

Evening solace along the banks of a small stream emptying into the Pacific, just south of Yachats, Oregon. There's something immensely comforting about the fact that trees like this live so much longer than me.

tarn

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:16 -0800

Last traces of evening on a glacial pool in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

dead or alive

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:15 -0800

A pine from the (appropriately) Ansel Adams wilderness, southeast of Yosemite, California. Bare and dead branches are endlessly attractive.

cycle of life

Mon, 25 May 2009 09:42 -0800

Because of the brilliance of the light at high altitude, the subtlety of color can be overlooked in the merging into gray. It merely requires a pause and remembrance for the beauty and delicacy to come flooding back.