Smoke from fires Sept 2017 made for interesting morning hues at the iconic Gates of Yosemite location. I was staying at a cabin in West Yosemite and the drive down around 530am did not seem promising, totally socked in with smoke and I thought it very unlikely I would get any visibility down there.
Alas, the morning sunrise lit up the valley from the east and turned the grey smoke into a delightful array of pastels. It is of course never awesome when Yosemite is burning, but I am grateful I was there to experience this unique sunrise at the Gates.
Been wanting to shoot this comp for a long long time and finally got some nice conditions on 4/20/2020. Same morning as the following Milky Way shot. 4/19/2020 was the first day of 2020 International Dark Sky Week. So I wanted to make sure I got off to a solid start!
Just adore how the fence and road collide almost perfectly center here, converging nicely to lead the eye up to the mountains and Milky Way. While this may look like a composite, it is not (none of my photos are unless explicitly disclaimed!). The light you see leaking in from the right side of the frame is Mammoth Lakes. The very light pink tickles you see on the clouds in the left frame are from the very very earliest tid-bits of pre dawn light. Quite a magical combo!
The South Tufas at Mono Lake are a must see attraction in the Eastern Sierra region. You can learn more about how are they are formed with a quick google search, but if I am understanding it correctly (which I probably am not, I am not a scientist) essentially calcium and salt rich waters from mountain run off collide with freshwater streams and precipitate into these towers, as there is no run out from Mono Lake. Over many thousands of years the water receding exposed what we now call the Tufas at Mono Lake.
This was a nice calm sunset with fantastic reflections, that I enjoyed with my fiance Katherine and our pooch Alfred.
A very windy day at Mono Lake had it looking more like the pacific ocean than a high desert lake. I really love how this one turned out. This was definitely on the heavier side of editing for me., but I think I kept it looking reasonably natural :).
Here you see Lone Pine Peak (often mistaken as Mt. Whitney which is actually behind the right side of the arch) sitting nicely centered inside Mobius Arch. This is a quick and fun loop hike in the Alabama Hills, one of my all time favorite locations. After a relatively dull sunset, I was really grateful I stuck around for a bit to get this wonderful purple/pink combo in the sky during blue hour.
The ‘Hills are comprised of exposed bedrock which has been shaped into these other-worldly formations through a chemical weathering process known as spheroidal weathering, which can and often does result in the formation of natural arches like Mobius Arch seen here. Mobius is one of several cool arches you can get easy access to in the Alabama Hills.
My fiance Kaytee and I had a great night on July 4th 2019 (my 41st birthday) relaxing out at the foot of Mammoth Rock, waiting for the Milky Way start coming through.
Crystal Crag is another gorgeous chunk of rock in the Mammoth Lakes area. Very photogenic and catches great light all day. Kaytee and I had fun cheesing out for this lifestyle meets landscape shot. Alfred was roaming around somewhere.
Here is sunset at Mammoth Lakes in the Snowcreek meadow. To the left you see Mammoth Rock and to the right, where the sunburst is, is Mammoth Mountain ski area.
Here again is Mammoth Rock, shot from just a half mile or so from the Snowcreek complex, where I am so lucky to call home. There is nothing quite like throwing the skins and skis on, cruising right off the front stoop, getting some shots, and skiing right back home. Living the dream on this shoot for sure.
My friend Carl and I took a day trip down ton Anza Borrego to check out the super bloom in 2017. We were probably a week or two earlier than the ideal time for the bloom, but we had a rad day cruising around the park and checking out the various bloom clusters and Fonts Point.
I was busy facing west shooting sunset when I heard Carl say, “dude, turn around”. Voila. I love this simple, well balanced shot.
Same evening and maybe taken two or three minutes prior to the moonrise shot. These little cuties are dune primrose flowers. As you can see, this couple is a bit early to the party, and over the following week or two, all those hundreds of their “bud”dies you see in this shot would come out to join them.