Battle Born
Logan Pass has always been a battleground. Over thousands of years, glaciers have carved out some of the most magnificent mountain peaks in North America. With relentless winters that allow for only a small window for life, survival here is tough. And this year even more so—drought conditions, forest fires, a nearly non-existent water flow, even the flowers were, for the most part, long gone all due to the lack of snowfall this past winter. Even in such harsh conditions, life still perseveres. This evening, on our second trip up to Logan Pass, we were rewarded with interesting cloud cover mixed with a smokey haze from the fires—resulting in some interesting light. I’ve always wanted to capture Clements Mountain with it’s unique, castle-like appearance and this was my chance! My daunting search to find a foreground began… I finally came across this lonely patch of flowers that was somehow still in full bloom. My goal was to create depth in the scene by getting extremely close to the flowers, making them appear as large as possible. I positioned the angle of the camera to where the flowers would lead the eye up through the mid-ground to the mountain. So, with a few passers-by wondering what the hell I was doing with my face and camera buried in this cluster, I took a few series of shots of the foreground at 7 different focal points which I was able to blend in photoshop for sharpness throughout. The light was more intense at this point, allowing me to keep the shutter fast enough to freeze any flower movement. Then I waited a little longer for the right sky light to set in. The clouds made for some great patterns coming out from behind the mountain as the hazy glow intensified. The lens distortion at the top of the frame helped lengthen the mountain and cloud lines.

Labyrinth
Just before sunset presents a whole new color palette across the badlands.

Waves of Time
There's no place like slot canyons.

Journey
I am thankful to be able to make it out to these remote locations. It’s almost always worth the journey when you get to have moments like this to yourself to reflect. Here at Toroweap, when you're standing on a 3000' ledge overlooking the Colorado River, you can't help but feel the power of nature. At this time of year, the sun aligns with the river at sunrise. An incredible place.

Scorched
A colorful burn over the badlands of New Mexico. Amazing hoodoo worlds provide endless photographic options. A processing challenge here with the range of color tones - the warmth of the sunlight hitting the rocks and the cool shaded areas.

Underworld
Amazing erosion zone of patterns and leading lines found in the badlands of New Mexico. Here, I wandered into this scene as the sun's first light hit some hoodoos in the distance with some dramatic skies.

Perched
An small, intimate scene at the grandest of locations.

Outsidelands
Soft colors of a sunset in the Southwest.

Forged
The other worldly landscapes found in the Badlands of New Mexico under an amazing sunset sky.

Incoming

Sandstorm
Some landscapes just leave you speechless standing there. Here I was speechless from the amount of sand I was choking on. Nonetheless, when that sun crept closer to the horizon, that sandstorm glow was a shooting experience I’ll never forget. When I saw that weather report with 30+mph winds there was no question where I needed to be. Goggles, facemask, earplugs...check! Some of my favorite times out on the dunes.

Cradle
Some places just blow your mind with scale and beauty. This is one of them. A 3000’ sheer drop down to the Colorado river at the Toroweap overlook - a remote area of the North Rim. Over 60 miles of off roading brought us to this special place. Had a great evening of passing storms, rainbows and lightning. Just us and the rattlesnakes.

Bows and Arrows
Morning light falls on the rock patterns of a unique Utah landscape. The colors and striations here are other worldly. This arrowhead pattern caught my eye, leading to the first light on the triangles of the range. A bow of clouds hangs above while minutes later rainbows faintly formed on the horizon. An incredible morning at an incredible place.

Lost
Some places you just can’t put into words. And this was one of those places... Painted hills and ancient petrified forests with hidden chambers of 14’ high hoodoos. Here my friend went exploring, and I went flying. From above this landscape becomes even more spectacular. We had some dramatic cloud cover as well which really completed our surreal experience out here in the badlands.

Cosmic Canyon
Standing alone on the edge of the Grand Canyon with the Milky Way moving across the sky is an experience I won't forget. No picture can capture the magnitude of this scene and the scale of the massive rock wall, Cape Royal, extending out into the distance. And at night with billions of stars above, a 2500 foot abyss below, sitting in peaceful silence, I'm in awe of our amazing planet and how good life really is... The lights of the South Rim glow on the horizon.

Candyland
The Badlands of New Mexico are more like The Candylands with chocolate hoodoos and marshmallow rivers all topped with multi colored chocolate chips — the geology here is really interesting. At sunset I climbed up to one of the higher points to scope out my surroundings. Here I positioned myself so the hoodoo foreground would lead up the riverbed to the giant candy corn on the horizon.

Spacewalk
A different view from the back of Boot Arch on a freezing 17 degree night. Was well worth the light show and the feeling of being on a different planet.

Swoosh
There's nothing quite like how the light plays on the dunes, from the little wind blown lines to the large swooping dune curves. A nice black and white treatment can really bring out these lines and textures. With my camera on a timer, I climbed around the backside of the dune and into position.

Fortress
Love when those storms blow in—dramatic clouds and crazy waves at this unique and remote lake in California. These are natural columnar formations standing about 12 feet high. The winds from the storm created 4 foot waves that afternoon. This is a vertical pano consisting of 4 shots due to my proximity to the wall and wanting to include more of that swirling cloud, I chose a black and white presentation to enhance the drama.