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The Aspen Goldrush – Silver Lake Instameet 2016
Saturday, October 15th, 2016 Enter the height of Autumn in the Eastern Sierra Nevada and you get scenes of aspen gold littering the alluvial fans and lakesides from Lone Pine to Lava Springs and beyond. As an avid fan and frequent visitor of California’s beautiful granite backyard, I learned that Josh Wray of Visit Mammoth had assembled the third in a series of Instameet socials to be held at Silver Lake this year and I wanted in. The popular Instameet events are a free and open invitation to all who love photography. They’re a great way to meet new people, share ideas, and make fantastic memories. There is no restriction…
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Southwest 2015 – Zion, Images of a Winter Dreamland
Monday, December 14th, 2015 Julia and I awoke on what would be our very last day in the town of Springdale. For the last few days, we waited patiently for a snow storm to hit that we had been hearing about all week long, but it never came, that is until we looked out the window this morning. It was snowing and the mountains were covered in it! This seriously could not have been better timed. Rather than pack up, check out, and go home, we stayed for the day and spent our last hours here exploring through a new snow covered Zion. With our camera gear mounted up and…
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Southwest 2015 – Lazy Sunday at the Virgin River
Sunday, December 13th, 2015 Julia and I woke up super late today. We were very sore from all the resistance hiking through The Narrows yesterday so today was definitely going to be a lazy Sunday for us. Our knees were aching, but our attitudes remained positive as we slowly made our way out of the hotel and on to another small venture for the day. We didn’t want anything too crazy, so we settled on a casual walk along the Virgin River just south of the main entrance to the park. It was practically lunch, so we grabbed a quick bite at Cafe Soleil since it would be our last…
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Autumn Adventures at Lava Springs 2016
Tuesday, October 4th, 2016 Today I set off on a journey to the Eastern Sierra Nevada to see if I could capture some of the beautiful autumn scenery that was setting in before winter. It was going to be a 328 mile (528 km) drive to the place I had wanted to explore. From there I would start my way back south over the next day to capture the effects of autumn at various locations along Highway 395. I took all my camera gear and started early. The drive would have me traveling for well over 5 hours and the scenery after a couple of hours provided such awe inspiring…
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Southwest 2015 – Journey Into the Narrows of Zion
Saturday, December 12th, 2015 When the alarm went off this morning, we wasted no time in getting breakfast, showering up, and gathering all our camera gear for today’s adventure. This was not the typical day of hiking or photo venturing, it was an epic voyage into the Narrows of Zion. Julia was excited and so was I. Once we had all our stuff together, we drove to the Zion Adventure Company to get a crash course on the Narrows including navigation and what to do in case the water level rises suddenly due to a flash flood. After watching the short video brief, we got all our rental gear and suited…
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Mini Venture – El Mirage Dry Lake Bed
Tuesday, September 28th, 2016 After waiting more than six month for some decent storm clouds, we were finally paid a visit by a storm system that was forming everywhere around Victorville except overhead as usual. Regardless, It always makes me smile to see stormy weather, I get bored of clear skies which don’t do much for photos, especially sunset images. When a good storm system rolls in however, the skies become very interesting and that’s when I keep my eyes on the sky for potential photo opportunities. I had a feeling that today would be a great opportunity for a fantastic sunset at El Mirage Dry Lake Bed. I had…
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Southwest 2015 – Secret Petroglyphs and Slot Canyons
Friday, December 11th, 2015 This morning we awoke to some pretty ominous clouds in the sky and wondered if the snow storm was coming in a bit early. Julia and I didn’t want to waste any time so we got ourselves some breakfast downstairs and then got cleaned up and ready to hit the road. We wanted to stop off at the Zion Adventure Company for some general questions about the Narrows tomorrow. The girl we spoke to said that there was the possibility of a flash flood today and so booking ourselves for the next day was a good idea. I wanted to explore the region of the park…
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Mini Venture – Giant Rock at Landers, CA
Sunday, December 28th, 2014 For years I had heard about a massive rock that stood out in the southern region of the Mojave near the small desert town of Landers, CA. There were lots of stories about how it was as big as an office building and dwarfed any of the other free standing boulders in the area. Naturally I had to get a look at this thing in person so I invited my mom and pops out for a local adventure and made way to Landers, CA. To get there from Victorville, I had to travel about 64 miles along Bear Valley Rd, then Highway 18, and finally Highway 247 (a.k.a. Old…
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Southwest 2015 – Riverside Walk and Journey to the Overlook
Thursday, December 10th, 2015 After the long drive from Page via U.S. Route 89A, Julia and I were exhausted so we crashed pretty hard last night and woke up a bit on the tired side, but that didn’t stop us from heading downstairs at 6:30 a.m. to get our mittens on some of the Holiday Inn Express’ complimentary breakfast which I have to say was not that bad at all compared to some of the more awful complimentary breakfast options I’ve experienced at other places I’ve lodged at. We didn’t have much in mind for today, so Julia and I talked about what we should do. She had mentioned the…
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Day Venture – Alien Scenery of the Bluecut Fire
Tuesday, August 16th, 2016 This morning, the Pilot Fire that burned from the Silverwood Lake region on through Summit Valley and Southern Hesperia was finally declared 100% contained. Unfortunately, a new fire erupted in the Cajon Pass off old Route 66 at 10:35 on this very same morning. I woke up to an all too familiar view outside my window and knew what I would be doing for the rest of the day. A gigantic plume of smoke was growing and heading our way again. It was time to grab my camera gear and hit the road for some up close action of the newly dubbed “Bluecut Fire”. I started my…
