Here we are, the end of 2020. Easily the most bizarre and reality altering year in recent memory. Safe to say 2020 didn’t go exactly as anyone had hoped. The COVID-19 pandemic reached its tentacles into all aspects of society, wreaking havoc on everyone one way or the other. My family and I were fortunate to weather this storm relatively unscathed, so far. Cutting short an annual trip to the desert southwest as well as cancelling a return trip to the Peruvian Andes were the only inconveniences, minor in comparison to the hand others have been dealt. So since last March I’ve been hunkered down here in the Pacific Northwest, only making one road trip to Wyoming for a family backpacking trip. As a photographer there could be worse places to wait out a pandemic than Oregon and the greater Pacific Northwest. Again, I recognize how lucky and blessed I am.
As crazy as 2020 has been this year did have some special moments and highlights. What follows are some memorable images I managed churned out in 2020 along with some behind the scenes information:
LATE WINTER 2020
Silver Linings, Death Valley National Park
100 -400mm @250mm, f/16, 1/50sec, ISO 64
In January I flew down to Death Valley for a short three day trip with some good friends. It was a last minute decision to go and I wasn’t really sure I wanted to go with it. Knowing what I do now about how the world was about to change, I’m really glad I said ‘fuck it’ and stepped on the plane.
Those who follow my work know dunes are easily one of my favorite subjects to photograph. There seems to be an endless variety of compositions, which change with each passing moment as the light progresses. This is my favorite style of photography, complete entanglement with the subject and the ever evolving moment. I made a few images of the central dune featured in this image during pre-dawn light. These frames held potential and presented a nice soft silvery version of this composition. Once the direct light hit the sand the composition took on an entirely new energy. It’s pretty easy to visualize the light gradually washing over the central dune as it also illuminates the criss-crossing foreground features. Even though this was the first “keeper” image I photographed this year, it may still be my favorite from 2020.
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Inner Glow, Death Valley National Park
14-24mm @16mm, f/16, 0.8sec, ISO 100
A friend gave me some information on exploring a few narrow canyons I’d never been to before. I never expected to see such intense reflected light in Death Valley but there I was looking up and marveling at the light bouncing around this slot canyon. I framed this image to make it appear as though the viewer was heading towards the opening of a cave with a huge boulder/ chockstone holding the ceiling up. Whenever I photograph slot canyons I like to ignore the horizon line to experiment with introducing stronger visual dynamics.
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Color Splash, southern Utah
70-200mm @120mm, f/16, 0.6sec, ISO 64
In early March I made a trip to southern Utah, an area which always fascinates me and causes my creative juices to flow freely. Looking back maybe the trip wasn’t the best idea given the rapidly intensifying pandemic. We cut the trip short after realizing even hotels in some counties were not allowing out of state visitors. We mainly used dispersed camping options so were more than adequately distanced from others.
Utah is amazing. The state possesses a vast amount of geologic beauty: buttes, badlands, and canyons. But what I found myself mainly drawn to on this trip were bare branched, late winter cottonwoods. For whatever reason that was what excited me and so I spent a disproportionate amount of time photographing them. This grouping I spotted while driving down a road near sunset one day. Quick U-turn and hundred yard walk led to this perspective. The combination of lighting conditions, lines, and color contrasts were just too good to pass up.
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Grey Beard, southern Utah
70-200mm @112mm, f/11, 1/160sec, ISO 200
Another cottonwood which I drove past several times and which grabbed my attention and forced me to look at it each and every time I did. When this happens I know I need to seriously consider the potential presence of an image. Over the years I’ve found it’s wise to listen to these little sparks of subconscious inspiration, even if it’s hard to initially see the existence of a worthy composition.
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SPRING 2020
Alive, southern Washington
24-120mm @105mm, f/8, 180sec, ISO800
Over the last year I’ve become fascinated by the oak forests found in Washington and Oregon. Their twisted and gnarled trunks hold more character than their taller, wider, straighter brethren found in the temperate forests along the west side of the Cascade range. It’s such a vastly different shooting experience. This fascination has turned into a project of mine with the goal of photographing these oak forests in all seasons over the coming years. The composition seen in this image is one I had photographed several times, but without much success. The early summer greens were absolutely perfect on the day I shot this and the highlights of light finally provided the set of conditions which worked rather well. The toughest part was avoiding the massive patches of poison oak (the entire bottom edge is poison oak) and rattlesnakes (I almost stepped on one an hour after taking this image).
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Revival, Columbia River Gorge
24-85mm @34mm, f/8, 0.5sec, ISO 160
One of the surprising side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was the way it drove large numbers of people into the outdoors. Common trailheads were absolutely packed and many trails were overcrowded. This made it hard to social distance as well as find the peace and calm most go into nature to experience. Luckily I have a couple local creeks and forests I like to shoot where I know it’s unlikely to encounter anyone else. I’ve visited the area depicted in this image perhaps 25 times and have never run into another person. As for the image, I often have stopped and looked at this straightforward composition but never knew how to present it in an engaging manner. Finally, the light was just right and I knew how I wanted to shape this lighting in post to produce the outcome I’ve always wanted. Again, this is up there as one of my favorite images from this year.
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SUMMER 2020
Sunburst, Mount Rainier National Park
24-120mm @58mm, f/11, 1/250sec, ISO64
One of my favorite aspects of photography is coming home with an image I had no idea existed before setting out in the morning. This image of the morning sun blasting through fog is such an image. I had come to this location to photograph sunrise on Mount Rainier. Dense fog had other plans and I barely saw the mountain that morning. One time tested maxim I live by is to “shoot the conditions”. Fog may have laid waste to plans to photograph an enormous glaciated volcano in beautiful early morning light within a grand landscape, but it also opened up possibilities for more unique, introspective images. I spent quite some time photographing the fog drifting through this subalpine forest before the intensity of the rising sun finally began to burn through the fog layer. The light depicted in this image only lasted a few minutes so I feel fortunate to find this composition before it changed.
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Wall Light, Wyoming
24-120mm @38mm, f/8, 1/100sec, ISO200
I’ve wanted to backpack into this mountain range in Wyoming ever since 1992. Two friends and I made the long drive to the trailhead only to bail on the trip because of the ferocity of the mosquitoes which swarmed us as soon as we left our car. Ever since going back to experience these mountains was my own personal outdoor version of Moby Dick. This summer my wife, son, and myself finally made the return. Those mountains didn’t disappoint. We spent four days backpacking here, moving camp every night. Virtually every mile was beautiful. A photography friend told me about this lake surrounded by craggy peaks. After a bit of research I knew there was no way I would miss seeing it. The day I made this image menacing storm clouds swept the area, threatening to unload its load of rain. The lightning and thunder never materialized but the light streaming through holes in those deep blue clouds produced an ethereal and dynamic mid-day display. The more neutral color of light found at that time of day worked perfectly against the rich blues in the clouds.
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FALL 2020
Drapes, Olympic National Park
24-120mm @ 50mm, f/11, 1.3sec, ISO250
I’ve known of these trees for seven years or more and have photographed them twice without getting any results. In my mind I felt they needed to be photographed in more atmospheric conditions. This past fall I went back to the park. The weather was good for much of the trip except for the last day. As I drove home I stopped by these trees and immediately in a cold steady rain and knew conditions were looking good. I originally wasn’t sold on this composition but as it’s settled in I’ve grown to enjoy it more. Not sure if this will live a long life in one of my galleries, but it is an image I appreciate from this past year.
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Autumn Palette, Washington Cascade Range
70-200mm @70mm, f/11, 2.0sec, ISO64
For several years I’ve wanted to capture peak autumn color as it unfolds in the subalpine areas of the Cascade Mountains. The staggered meadows, tree groupings, and views characterizing subalpine areas make it perhaps my favorite mountain area to visit, and to photograph. In my days as a climber I wanted to go high into the raw, wild areas or rock and snow well above tree line. More recently these meadows and trees have been my new mountain home.
For this image I wanted to focus the composition around not only the variety of colors but the different elements which make this environment so special to me: rocks, water channels, slopes, and of course those amazingly hardy alpine trees.
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LATE FALL/ EARLY WINTER 2020
Hold Outs, southern Washington
24-120mm @66mm, f/16, 1.0sec, ISO64
This fall I found myself shooting deeper into the season than normal. The structure present in increasingly bare trees is incredibly intriguing. When little pops of residual fall color punctuate the branches this forest world is almost irresistible. I stumbled upon these trees while driving the backroads of southern Washington. It was still early morning and the rising sun had not yet struck this side of the valley. Compositionally the idea was to allow the vertical lines to balance out the natural horizontal bands of background color. The interspersed leaves played perfectly against the cool green tones found in the background. This is an image which I didn’t think much about during capture, but when I opened this file on my computer I immediately understood its potential. I shoot almost constantly while out in the field, seeing through any little spark of inspiration. This is something I tell to my private workshop clients, many of whom are surprised by the advice. I have many images in my portfolio which only exist because I was relentless in following that little voice in my head saying over and over again, “there’s something here.”
Frost and Solitude
24-120mm @24mm, f/11, 1.3sec, ISO100
In late November I headed towards a new area I wanted to explore. As I drove I noticed fog and clouds clinging to high elevation ridge lines and plateaus. Fog is a favorite subject of mine so I was naturally stoked. As I got closer though I realized it wasn’t just fog, but a freezing fog which had coated the trees and grasslands in a sugary crust of ice. It was a special day out there wandering all alone around in dense fog surrounded by some of the most engaging subject matter I had come across all year. A fitting way to end the year.
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That’s a wrap! Thanks for taking the time to view these images and read a bit more about them.
