Landscape
“There are distant worlds on our own planet.”
THE PAINE MASSIF – Early morning rays of sunlight striate the Paine Massif in Torres del Paine National Park as clouds build overhead.
EARLY RISER – While driving into Sedona at sunrise, a single hot air balloon floated above the canyon rim. I jumped out of my vehicle, hiked to a nearby ridge and captured this perfect moment.
PERITO MORENO – The power and force of the Perito Moreno Glacier is on display long before you ever see it. Gunshots of exploding ice shatter the silence as the 30-kilometer frozen river pushes into Lake Argentino at a rate of more than 2 meters a day. When you meet Perito Moreno face-to-face for the first time, you're struck with awe and fear imagining how anyone could cross such a mine field of crevasses. I wanted a wide shot that would captured the enormity, brutality and beauty of this geological butcher knife.
A SIGN – While waiting to shoot the sunset on the shore of Watson Lake, a perfect rainbow manifest itself in the looming clouds.
THE END OF THE WORLD – The weather in Ushuaia, the southernmost town in South America, can cycle through four seasons in an hour, much less in a day. Clouds rolled in at dusk as we approached the port from the Beagle Channel.
Totem Pole – No longer open to climbing, this dramatic rock spire is the tallest in the world at 400 feet.
MITTENS IN THE MORNING – The morning breaks behind the West and East Mittens of Monument Valley.
THE HOODOOS – Carved by water, wind and time, thousands of tall, thin spires forest the Bryce Canyon National Park landscape.
FIRST STRIKE – Pounded by hail and wind, I weathered the elements while perched atop a mountain ridge to capture this singular bolt of lightning over Thumb Butte in Prescott, Arizona.
NEKO HARBOUR - Iceberg, glacier and mountains along the Antarctica Peninsula coastline.
THE LADY IN THE BATHTUB – While camping in The Valley of the Gods, Utah, I witnessed a magnificent sunset silhouetting the sandstone formation that resembles a woman bathing.
LOS CUERNOS – Los Cuernos (The Horns) in Torres del Paine, Chile are the overlords of the Rio Serrano valley. Terrifying and mesmerizing at the same time, these jagged saw-blade peaks command your eye and defy you to turn away. Knowing the moments to catch these peaks when they're not shrouded in a stratocumulus blanket are few and fleeting, I arose an hour before dawn and parked myself on the bank of the Serrano River. Without a tripod, I constructed a camera support from a piece of driftwood and river stones in order to shoot at a longer-exposure. The skies cooperated and the blue hour didn't disappoint.
THE MOON AND THE METEOR – It wasn't until after photographing the beautiful moonset over the eastern horizon of Valley of the Gods and reviewing my images that I realized I'd also captured meteorite burning through earth's atmosphere. What a magical moment and surprise.
MORNING GLORY – After two and a half days crossing the Drake Passage, I awoke at 4:30 a.m. as our ship, the Viking Octantis, approached Horseshoe Island south of the Antarctic Circle. Austral blues and pinks painted the coastline as icebergs fleeing from the Antarctic ice shelf grabbed the predawn spotlight.
SKY ON FIRE – I raced to Little Horse Trail in Sedona, Arizona and sprinted up the hill to set up my tripod just moments before the celestial fireworks began. Arizona sunsets are quite possibly the best on earth.
TREE AT SANDSTONE BLUFF – (Int'l Photography Awards Official Selection) Overlooking the black lava fields of El Malpais National Monument stands a lone pine atop Sandstone Bluff.
MONUMENTAL DISTANCE – A long gaze down Highway 163 made famous by Forrest Gump.
UPPER ANTELOPE CANYON - Waves of red rock roll through this magnificent slot canyon on the Navajo land in northern Arizona.
FLAT TOP – A tabular iceberg drifts in the Bellinghausen Sea at dawn just off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
GRAND FINALE – I imagined God spilled a bucket of paint on a drop cloth of clouds above The Grand Canyon.
IN THE SHADOW OF THE HORNS – View from the South entrance of Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. The early morning clouds parted long enough to see Cuerno Norte, Cuerno Principal and Cuerno Oriental clearly. Fifteen minutes later, the spires were no longer visible.
CATTLE POINT LIGHTHOUSE – An early morning on San Juan Island is painted with calming and mystical hues.
ERUPTION - Thumb Butte erupts at sunset.
BOBBY SOCK TREES – Dead lodgepole pines absorb mineral-laden water from the Yellowstone Caldera which turns the base of the trees white.
FLUME GORGE – Covered bridge in the Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire.
RIVER OF ICE – About twenty miles before arriving at Perito Moreno National Park, there is bend in the road where one can view the glacier as the condors see it.
PANNING FOR GOLD - Remnants of autumn color hang on before the coming of winter in Sedona.
MONUMENT BASIN – Canyonlands National Park as seen from Grand View Point Overlook. Shot in Infrared Black & White.
SEVEN-LAYER SUNSET - Late afternoon rays paint Grand Canyon National Park from front to back.
MAGICAL MOUNT TAYLOR – A mystical layer of clouds hover above and beneath Mount Taylor, an extinct volcano in New Mexico.
THE SENTINEL OF SHAFER CANYON – (Int'l Photography Awards Official Selection) A Utah Juniper stands watch over Shafer Canyon in Canyonlands National Park.
FIRST LIGHT – Early morning rays illuminate an enormous iceberg making its journey across the Southern Ocean toward the Drake Passage.
THE SHADOWS FALL – Late afternoon shadows creep across the floor of Monument Valley, Arizona.
ANVERS ISLAND – First discovered in 1832 by English explorers, Anvers Island is the largest island in the Palmer Archipelago. I love the low cloud forming off the glacier and horizontally dissecting the peak. Shot from Fournier Bay, I captured this image just before losing the afternoon light.
RIO SERRANO DREAM – In one of the most surreal moments as a photographer, I was taking pictures at dusk of Los Cuernos in Torres del Paine, Chile when a white horse came strolling toward the banks of the Rio Serrano. My jaw almost dropped as the equine trotted out on a small peninsula in the river and paused in profile. It might as well have been a unicorn sent by the Photography Gods.
WEST TEXAS WINDMILL – Evening shadows drape over the flatlands of the Texas panhandle.
LAST LIGHT – As I exited Grand Teton National Park heading east on Highway 26, I caught a glimpse of orange in my rearview mirror. I pulled over and quickly found this view of the Teton Range from a nearby knoll.
THE GOLDEN RIM - Afternoon sunlight drenches the eastern rim of The Grand Canyon with the Colorado River tucked in the back.
THE BLACK MOUNTAINS – Clouds halo above the impressive desert mountain range in northern Arizona on the road to Las Vegas.
BIRD ISLAND – Off the Atlantic Coast of Panama lies a lush, uninhabited outcropping known as Isla de Pajaros (Bird Island). Reminiscent to a scene out of The Lost World, Bird Island is a paradise to tropical and migratory birds, and one of only three places in the Caribbean where one can witness Red-billed tropicbirds circling with their flowing tail streamers.
THE HEART – Sunlight peers through a heart-shaped skylight carved in the roof of Upper Antelope Canyon.
ICEBERG IN NEKO HARBOUR - An iceberg drifts by a arrow-sharp pinnacle along glaciated the Antarctica coastline.
WATSON LAKE WINTER – Fresh snow greets a spectacular sunrise
FOOL CREEK PEAK – Snow covered mountains provide a stark contrast with Little Sahara Sand Dunes.
COOK RIVER – View from Fox Glacier on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.
KING OF THE PINES – A Lodgepole pine asserts itself in the Prescott National Forest.
ROUTE 66 RAINBOW – A perfect arch of color appeared after thunderstorms blew through New Mexico.
MIRADOR RIO SERRANO – A picture perfect view of the Paine Mastiff and river valley from the roadside overlook just outside the Torres del Paine National Park entrance.
WILLOWS AT LAKE WAKATIPU – A classic New Zealand photography spot.
FAJADA BUTTE – Monsoon clouds build behind the 135-meter tower in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico.
GRAND SUNSET – The Grand Teton silhouetted in fire-breathing orange.
MONOCHROMATIC MORNING – The billion-year-old rocks of The Granite Dells extend like claws into the waters of Watson Lake, Prescott.
CATHEDRAL GLOW – Afternoon rays kiss the face of Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona.
ANVERS ISLAND – First discovered in 1832 by English explorers, Anvers Island is the largest island in the Palmer Archipelago. I love the low cloud forming off the glacier and horizontally dissecting the peak. Shot from Fournier Bay, I captured this image just before losing the afternoon light.
CHACO CANYON – Afternoon monsoon clouds skirt above the mesas and buttes of New Mexico.