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Night Lights
Captured in a remote part of Utah, this image shows the Milky Way and a pair of photographers trying to capture its image. I was with a class of eight photographers that evening from about 9 pm to 5 am shooting multiple panel panorama's of the night sky.
This image consists of five or six separate images stitched together and then edited in post-processing. Each image took about 30 seconds to record from a camera attached to a sturdy tripod.
The skies were clear and moonless that night which is ideal from photographing the Milky Way. The weather, though, was bitterly cold and windy.
This image does well in large sizes. A 12" by 24" copy framed is a rustic wooden frame with a light internal rim displays this image well in my study.
Sunset Boys
The best camera in the world is the one you have with you, or so the saying goes. This unexpected image was captured almost by accident while dining with my brother and sister-in-law at a shore side restaurant on the Gulf Coast.
While we were talking, I looked out a window and noticed these three boys on a dock that seemed pointed at the setting sun. Not wanting to take the chance they would move (they ran off the dock in less than a minute), I framed and snapped this photo with my iPhone through the window.
A 12" by 18" image or larger, in a simple or distressed gold frame makes this image really pop. It also does well with a barnwood frame.
Middle Key Lightshow
The end of a successful day fishing on the flats off the Islamorada coast in the Florida Keys brought this spectacular sunset. This image shows well in large sizes and printed on canvas. A 16" by 24" canvas looks great in a dark frame. A 24" by 36" canvas stretched over a frame also works well.
Star Catchers
This Milky Way image was captured at Canyonlands National Park in Utah on a dark and moonless night. The red lights in the lower left foreground are a group of photographers with red headlamp to help them see their cameras. The red light has less impact on their eyes than white light.
Like the others it is composed of several separate photographs stitched together in post processing, each image taking about 30 seconds to capture. A 16" by 24" copy shows well in an ornate black and gold frame.
Sunrise Milky Way
Another image from Utah. Like the others, this image is actually five or six separate images (taken left to right sequentially) that are stitched together in post processing. The process enables you to take a panoramic photo that retains a correct perspective throughout.
Zodiacal Light
A bitterly cold early night in western Utah with crystal clear skies granted us this rare look at a spectacular phenomena. For a brief period just twice each year, the Earth's orbit is such that the sun, already having set below the horizon, nonetheless showers the sky with a broad beam of light before disappearing into the night.
Charlevoix Sky
A midnight view from the shore of Sturgeon Bay in northern Lake Michigan. The image is taken from the beach of Headlands State Park on the northern tip of Michigan's lower peninsula. The lights in the difference are from the towns of Charlevoix and Petoski. There were dozens of people enjoying the beach that night even into the midnight hour but hardly any photographers. Looks good in a larger size printed on canvas or paper.
Moon Rise
Capitol Reef, Utah. This image was captured around three a.m. on a cold and windy night from a rise inside Capitol Reef National Park. On the lower left, you can see the moon as it begins to rise above the horizon. The Milky Way dominates much of the rest of the image. This was my first attempt at photographing the Milky Way, driving out from our motel about 2 a.m. to take in the dark night sky and the Milky Way. It was bitterly cold and isolated. I think I saw one other car on a distant road while I was stood out in the cold and took the 30 second images that would record the outing. This was one of the last. Once the moon was above the horizon, the light reflected from the full moon washed much of the darkness from the sky.
Pounding Mill Overlook
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. This image was taken from a pull off of the Parkway. It is a compilation of several separate 30 second exposures stitched together in post processing. Even in this remote Appalachian setting, the sky on this moonless night was not nearly as dark as the skies in Utah. The light from nearby and distant towns shows up as a golden glow on the horizon that highlights the trees in the middle of the frame. The same illumination washed out the night sky and made the Milky Way more difficult to see.
From Night Skies
Battle of Aiken
The first of several images taken at a Civil War Reenactment held each February outside Aiken, South Carolina, scene of a famous battle between Confederates defending the city and Yankee soldiers from the army of General Sherman. Here a group of Confederate re-enactors gaze through a light haze of smoke caused by nearby cannon fire to evaluate their position.
Battle of Aiken - Show Down
Battle of Aiken - Close Quarters
This image taken from a low-to-the-ground vantage point captures a moment of close quarter fighting. The Yankee re-enactors are in the foreground taking aim. Their Confederate counterparts are in the back, shrouded by the smoke of recent rifle fire.
Battle of Aiken - Yankee Fire
The haze of battle caused by the small arms rifles carried by Yankee reenactors hints at what a Civil War battlefield might have looked like. The lack of bullets in the reenactment no doubt contributes to the lack of urgency displayed by the Confederate line being shot at.
Battle of Aiken - Confederate Charge
Sing!
Tufted titmouse in the suburban woods of Atlanta. Image best in a small print.
From Wild Atlanta
Red Belly
Red Bellied Woodpecker in the suburban woods of Atlanta.
Yellow Bellied Sapsucker
Rare to see them, this bird flew by Clinton and me while we were walking at Cochran Shoals National Park in northwest Atlanta.
Downy Closeup
Downy Woodpecker in the suburban woods of Atlanta.
Downy and Red
A Downy Woodpecker (stem) and Red Bellied Woodpecker in the suburban woods of Atlanta.
Rough Rider
This is a working boat in the harbor at Seward, Alaska.
Three Gossips
Landscape view of Arches National Park captured just after dawn on a very cold and windy day. The road is the main route through the park
Monument Valley
Whimsical view of the valley from the point where director John Ford shot many of his westerns. The sign and the pony service are from the Navajo's who own and manage the park.
Shoshone Storm
We took off early one morning from our hotel near the Grand Canyon Park's entrance to find a vantage point that was not dominated by selfie sticks and tourists with their backs to the Canyon smiling into their cell phones.
After a short drive and then a mile hike through a pine forest, we came upon this spot and stayed to take it all in. Midway on our hike we had come across an old pine tree whose bark had been recently shredded by a bear and had hesitated, just for a moment, about continuing on.
We stayed at the Canyon's edge for awhile enjoying the view and the crisp, clear air. After a while, a snow storm developed in the distance and moved across the Canyon toward us. This images captures that moment and the stone monument that identifies this a Shoshone Point.
Zabriski Point Sunset
View from the famous Death Valley feature.
Mesa Verde Spring
Landscape from the national park that features many rock cliff dwellings.
Capitol Aliens
This image captures petroglyphs found in Capitol Reef National Park that were engraved by a Freemont Culture that occupied the area from 300 to 1300 CE. The image depicts natives in ceremonial garb, no doubt, but looking very much like space aliens to the imagination. If you look closely, you will also see many small sheep etched into the stone wall.
Cliff Dwellings
In the heart of the Navajo Reservation is an wild canyon filled with cliff dwellings - Chaco Canyon. The the composition looks good, credit Ansel Adams. This image is a near duplicate in color of one of his most famous black and white photographs. You have to hike on foot down a canyon wall for a mile to reach this spot.
A Home for Some
Cliff dwellings inside Mesa Verde National Park.
A Home for Some 2
Cliff dwellings inside Mesa Verde National Park.
Walkway
A young family makes its way through the caverns of Carlsbad.
Carlsbad Magic
Stalactites and stalagmites and visitors inside Carlsbad Cavern.
Grand Teton View
Photo taken from outside Jackson Hole.
Nottely Heron
One of many available images taken just across the cove from our lake cabin. This young heron had just left a nest high above. For two or three years the island across from our cabin hosted a heron rookery with at least 15 active nests. This image was taken from a kayak at close range.
Misty Morning
This is a great image in large format and even better when matched with a forest green frame. At first glance, you may think this is a black and white photo but it is not. It's in color - greens, and greys, and a shimmer of blue in the water - but those colors a muted by the early morning light and the clouds lifting off the water.
I took the kayak out early that morning, while a cloudy mist blanketed the water and obscured the tree line. There were just a few feet of visibility. I made my way out, a bit by memory at first, and then by landmarks as the mist lifted and visibility slowly improved. A half an hour out, I spotted this early morning heron some 20 yards away standing on a branch that reached out over the shallows. If you look closely, you will see another heron is barely visible atop the roof of a nearby dock.
The rising sun was behind my back but blocked by the trees behind me. It was very quiet, still might be a better description. The occasional drip of water from my lifted paddle being the only sound being made.
I took my picture and then stayed a while to watch the heron work his branch. Then, not wanting to bother him or alter the moment, turned around and paddled back the way I had come.
A two by three foot canvas copy of this image hangs in our cabin mounted in a forest green frame, a reminder of the quiet and solitude of an early morning journey onto the lake. The green frame pulls out the subtle colors of the print, even in less than ideal lighting.
Bridge Over Nottely
Another early morning kayak trip, this time down Young Cane Creek toward the bridge on Pat Colwell Drive.
Shadow of the Bear
This mountain shadow in the shape of a bear can be found in Northeast Georgia near Cashiers, but only for a few days a year when the earth and the sun align just so the mountain to the right throws this perfect bear-shaped shadow. You gather early to see and photograph this and hope for clear skies like we had this day.
It takes awhile for the bear shape to come into being as the mountain's shadow grows slowly as the sun drops slowly toward the horizon. At one point you will think you are seeing a turtle shape before the bear shape takes its form. The bear stays for a few minutes before morphing into something else.
The vantage point for you and your camera gear, tripod recommended, is on the narrow edge of a sharp turn in a mountain road. You won't be alone if you go, as the event draws a small crowd on clear days.
Trailhead
In the Northwest Georgia mountains not far from the cabin.
Family of Four
The largest of the world's Grizzly bears gather near the water and streams of Alaska in the Fall to get their fill of salmon before hibernating for the winter. This image of a mother bear and three cubs (one yearling and two two year olds) was taken in the McNeal River Basin one October morning. From our vantage point on the beach, we could see as many as 70 grizzlies at a time. To get to that spot we flew into the beach on a small float plane and walked through shoulder high grass on a bear path to make our way to an unoccupied spot on the beach. We have a large print of this displayed in our home. Looks nice printed on canvas or paper.
Fishing Bear
Image captured below the falls at Katmai.
Lunch Delivery
Uber Eats for grizzly bears at the falls in Katmai National Park.
Lunchtime
Grizzly and salmon on top of the falls at Katmai, Alaska.
Fish Fly
And, some get eaten. Grizzly bear and salmon on top of the waterfall at Katmai in Alaska.
Reflection
Alaskan grizzly bear in the McNeil River Basin.
Reflected Bear
This image was taken from the same spot on the beach but the bear was to our left where a stream empties into the basin. Perfect conditions made it possible to capture the bear and his reflection.
Denali Fall
This is the color of Fall in the central Alaskan highlands. No trees but lots of color in the ground cover.
Moose Mountains
Two moose and the mountains of Denali on an early October day.
Moose Mountains 2
Two male moose interact on the Fall plains of Denali in Alaska.