White Sands National Monument in New Mexico is one of the most beautiful locations in the southwestern United States. The lighting is like no where else that I’ve experienced. The iconic pastel hues that paint the landscape here have inspired artists for centuries. To say photographing this location was inspiring would be an understatement. The more I review photographs from this location the more I want to return.
Light & Shadow - White Sands National Monument, New Mexico
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Sunrise or sunset? I suppose that will depend if the glass is half full or half empty for you on this Monday. Either way I hope that everyones Monday starts off well.
Photographed below are California Oak trees in a grassy meadow. If you’ve been to California you’ll know that much of the landscape inland from the coast resembles this scene. Several years ago I would often travel from Santa Barbara, in the central coast region of California, to north of San Francisco in Marin county. Much of the view along the way was this very type of landscape. Driving by this landscape it’s easy to take for granted the forms and textures present in this environment. Only recently have I started to explore this common view by foot and each time I’ve learned something new and/or gained a new perspective. It’s amazing how a sense of discovery can be found in your own backyard, so to speak, versus half way around the world.
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The land of the midnight sun (aka Alaska) produces some of the most beautiful light for photography. The trick is being able to see it through the quickly changing weather conditions. Not far from my camp when I took this photo the midnight sun kissed the mountainside as a storm front was moving in. With in minutes this beautiful light had vanished only to appear hours later as the storm cleared. To this day I’m in awe of how rugged yet beautiful this landscape is. Looking through Arctic photos these past couple of days I’m getting the itch to return as soon as I can.
Arctic Refuge: Hidden Beauty
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Still one of the most amazing locations I’ve traveled to, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is full of pristine beauty. This location, aptly named Caribou Pass, is where the Porcupine herd passes from Canada to the Alaskan Arctic Plain every year. To give you some orientation to this scene… this is the view looking south towards the Brooks Range of Alaska, to the left (east) is Canada, to the right (west) is the Arctic Plain where the Caribou give birth to their young and behind (north) is a mountain top view of the Arctic Plain and Arctic Ocean. It’s been a while since I’ve viewed this photo, but doing so reminds me of how beautiful and fragile this landscape is.
Arctic Refuge: Caribou Pass Valley View
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Here in California during the Spring all the photographers go crazy looking for wildflowers. While wildflowers are great I can’t help but think a flowerless field is equally if not more attractive. A field such as this is quite a busy subject to photograph, yet due to our exposure to grass on an everyday basis we seem to lump it all together into one object.
Back in college chemistry there was the concept of the “Avagadro number”, a value of 6.022×10^23 or 602,200,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms in 12 grams of carbon. “A mole is defined as this number of “entities” (usually, atoms or molecules) of any material.” (courtesy of Wikipedia) In one of my lectures a philosophical if not rhetorical question was asked by my professor, “How many moles of sand are on the beach?” The concept of this value was mind boggling to me. Looking at this picture less wildflowers I’m left to ponder how many moles of blades of grass are in this field? on this hillside? in this state park? in California? To think how much life this represents and how much life resides in these fields is awe inspiring to me.
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Running around a location as beautiful as Yosemite National Park it’s easy to lose track of the more subtle beauty that exists there. For most this will certainly lack the impact of Yosemite Falls, Half Dome or Mirror Lake, but to my eye it is on equal footing. The shadow of the larger tree branches falling on the small plant emerging from the snow caught my eye, but looking at this I’m reminded that timing is everything. Would I have stopped to photograph this if the shadow was not cast on the smaller plant?
Shadowscape, Yosemite National Park
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A slightly different take on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The manner in which this photo was taken is not unlike the technique used in making Half Dome Reflection II, Yosemite. Early morning lighting in this area can be elusive and fast changing, but for the purpose of this photo mid to late morning light seemed to work out for the best. This particular photo has grown on me, but I’m curious how it resonates with others. What are your thoughts?
Reflecting on El Capitan, Yosemite
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One of the more interesting features off the San Francisco coastline is a small cluster of off shore rock formations near Sutro Baths. Under the right conditions they can take on an ethereal form for someone creatively inclined. For the thousands of birds that reside here nightly it’s just home.
Seal Rock, San Francisco
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