San Francisco is no stranger to photography icons. As you drive across the Golden Gate Bridge it’s quite easy to see Alcatraz sitting in the middle of the entry to the San Francisco Bay, but its not as easy to see both Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge in clean alignment. One such low angle view does exist and its quite fun to see Alcatraz of all places behind bars… I mean the cables of the Golden Gate

Photography is about a lot of things and other than “light” I’d say the “journey” is the most important. The fantastic thing about photography is that one’s mastery of the medium & artistic vision is a journey as much as the quest for each photo. Just as you never know what is over the next hill to photograph you never know how your view of the world might evolve. In both regar

One of the more intriguing visual phenomenon is seeing a giant moon on the horizon. One might think that there is some physical explanation as to why the moon is larger when low on the horizon, but its actually a visual illusion where your brain is playing a trick on you. This illusion is aptly called the “Moon Illusion“. This illusion is incredibly well explained in the following video: So how do people

Saturdays full moon was a sight to see, but then again it always is. I never tire of seeing the moon as it is a constant curiosity, inspiration, and friend. When ever I gaze upon the full moon my first thought is that we’re not alone in this big universe and second countless generations before me gazed upon this same celestial body pondering its origin, its meaning, and our relationship to it and other celestia

Friend and filmmaker Steven M. Bumgardner (@yosemitesteve) has released  ”One Day in Yosemite“, a short film created by 30 filmmakers who spread out across Yosemite National Park to document a wide spectrum of activities that occur in one 24 hour period. This short film was an incredible logistical challenge that after months of editing sheds light on the concentrated diversity of activities one can enjoy

This year the Best Photos of 2012 blog project hit a new milestone with 300 entries, topping the results for best photos of 2011, best photos of 2010,  best photos of 2009, best photos of 2008 and best photos of 2007! Participants spanned a spectrum of skill levels from hobbyists to professionals and covered a wide variety of genres including landscape, macro, nature, photojournalism, portraiture, event, wildlife, fi

To fully respect nature it helps to know where your place is in it. Take a gander at an animation of 400,000 galaxies in their actual positions and you’ll have a new appreciation for how small we are and how wonderful our small oasis in space is. This animation was derived from the latest Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) that identified 535,995 newly observed galaxies, 102,100 quasars, and 116,474 stars. Thi

2012 was full of great photo opportunities and between my DSLR and cell phone I must have taken close to 55-60,000 photos. This years personal projects were centered around time-lapses and iPhone photos of my son, but I was also selectively choosing my DSLR photo subjects. A sample of what caught my eye is quite evident in my Best Photos of 2012 final selections. As was the case in years past it is impossible to rank

Wishing all of my readers and fans a happy and safe holidays. May all your holiday wishes come true. Photo Details: Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 50mm f/1.0 at f/1.2, 1/50 sec using the DIY Photography Bokeh Master Kit