Late last month, two coronal mass ejections (a fancy term for ionized gases that erupt from the surface of the sun) in succession hurled towards the earth. When they arrived on February 26-27, they produced a G3 solar storm that…
Mountain View
Although the Alaska wildflower is the Forget-Me-Not, it would be easy for visitors to the state to assume it was Common Fireweed given its pervasiveness. It is even depicted on the Alaska Scenic Byway Route road signs. Its name derives…
2022 in Review
REFLECTIONS ON 2022 This past year was a challenging one for me personally and professionally as health issues limited my time in the field. Fortunately, I am on the mend and am looking forward to being more photographically productive in…
Diffused Light
At 325,000 acres, Denali State Park does not have the name recognition of its larger neighbor, Denali National Park, which at 6 million acres is famous for the tallest mountain in North America. Nevertheless, the state park does have panoramic…
Tangle Lakes Sunrise
The Denali Highway is a 135-mile gravel road (Alaskan for “highway”) that connects Paxson on the east with Cantwell on the west. Prior to completion of the paved Parks Highway in 1971, it was the only route for people living…
In-camera Blurs
Is your photography in a rut? Are you looking for ways to reinvigorate your creativity? One option is to make blurry photos. No, not the ones that happen by accident, but the ones that you intentionally create. Done correctly, landscapes become…
The Road More Travelled
In the poem, The Road Not Taken, poet Robert Frost was confronted in a woods with the choice of two diverging roads. Students of literature know that he took “the one less traveled,” perhaps because he thought he would find…
Winter Visions
Landscape photographers seek out compositions during sunrise and sunset for good reason. The low angle of the sun passing through the earth’s atmosphere can paint the skies and landscape with warm colors and create what is called sweet light. My…
Autumn Visions
It is not surprising that autumn is a favorite season for landscape photographers to photograph. As daylight hours decline, trees stop producing chlorophyll and the underlying leaf pigments emerge from behind the fading veil of green. Subsequently, the nearly monotone…
Chiaroscuro
You need light to photograph, but without shadows your photos will not have any depth. Subjects will lack texture and form and appear flat. While this may seem to be counter-intuitive for a two-dimensional art form such as photography, there…