Yosemite Valley's upper end from Glacier Point, with Tenaya Canyon and the Merced River

This panoramic image is made up of 6 combined images. The view is from Glacier Point looking basically eastward into Tenaya Canyon, but also including scenes to the north and south. On the left side of the image is North Dome and Basket Dome. Below those features is a feature called the Royal Arches. Tenaya Creek flows through Tenaya Canyon, in some places you can tell where that stream is located. In the lower part of the image, you can see the Merced River flowing through Yosemite Valley. To the right of Tenaya Canyon is Half Dome and Clouds Rest. The canyon to the right, or south, of Half Dome is Little Yosemite Valley, within which you can see Nevada Falls, the upper one, and Vernal Falls, the lower one. We've been to Glacier Point in all seasons, including skiing out to it during the winter, but these images were captured in September of 2011. This image is best printed at a 2 to 1 ratio, such as 8x16 or 10x20, and so on.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story!

Wind Caves at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

Looking almost like housing from The Jetsons, the Wind Caves in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California, are found above the Fish Creek Wash where wind-blown sands hit exposed sandstone and create alcoves and arches. To get this image, we drove into the wash from a primitive campsite we stayed at the night before, then hiked up the slope to get a closer like at this feature. This image was created by merging three overlapping images together. It is best printed at a 2 to 1 ratio, such as 8x16 or 10x20. This drive doesn't require a 4-wheel drive or high-ground clearance vehicle to get to it, but going any farther up into the wash does.

Remeber, it's not just a photo, it's a story!

Moaning Cavern flowstone feature, The Igloo.

Moaning Cavern is a solution cave found in California's Sierra Nevada foothills. It has a metal spiral stairway leading into the largest cave room in the state. This room is large enough to fit the Statue of Liberty inside! Flowstone refers to the features that result from water flowing in laden with minerals, which then evaporates and leaves the minerals behind to accumulate over thousands of years. The Igloo shown in the photo, had water drip onto it, then run down the sides, causing the feature called cave drapery below the top of the igloo-like part of the feature. The name of the cave came from the sound that air flowing out of its natural entrance used to make. Unfortunately the lights are on long enough that algae is starting to grow on the flowstone.

Cave features can be difficult to photograph since the photographer usually has to provide all the lighting and then position it well. This feature was lit for the tourists to see, so that made it easier to photograph from a distance. You can also see some of the features above it were also lighted.We're hoping to make a video and photo book highlighting all the cave types in California. Interesting that most people don't associate California with caves, but the state could have more than any other state, plus the five main types of caves are represented here, as well.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Bridalveil Falls and the Leaning Tower lit by the setting sun from across the Merced River, Yosemite National Park

On one of our trips to Yosemite, we were on the Northside Road heading out when we were struck by the light of the setting sun on the other side of the valley. The water of Bridalveil Falls glowed in the light of the setting sun, but the wall behind it appeared to be in shadow or was a darker granite. So the water really stood out from the wall during the brief time that the light came in at that angle. This image was taken in March, so there was still snow on the upper slopes. The Merced River was in shadow as well, so the brightly-lit cliff face and cloud are the brightest parts of the image. It has been cropped to an 8x10 ratio.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story!

Kalmiopsis Wilderness, lizard using Sierra cup as a tanning bed!

We backpacked into the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in Oregon several years ago. After the first night, we decided to hike around a little bit without our packs to explore the area. Rick left his Sierra cup on a rock after breakfast so that it could dry out while we were away. When we came back, we saw this head sticking out from the edge of the cup. We made a point of making the lizard feel comfortable enough to stay put, while we got our cameras. While we were gone, the sun warmed the metal enough for the lizard to find it appealing for itself, so it had its body presed as flat as possible on the inside of the cup. Rick moved around until the glare from the cup shifted away from the lizard's head, so there would be enough contrast.

Th Kalmiopsis Wilderness is named for a rare memeber of the heath family of plants. It was discovered in the 1930's and is believed to have survived the last Ice Age in this part of Oregon's mountains. The wilderness also has the Chetco River flowing through it, which is used by river rafters and kayakers.

Here's what the lizard looked like from behind. Really trying to soak up the warmth.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story!

Vernal Falls and rainbow

A view of an imposing granite wall that the Merced River tumbles over to form Vernal Falls.  A rainbow crosses in front of the waterfall, nearly every afternoon since this wall faces west.  This view is from the Mist Trail, a popular hike for visitors to Yosemite Valley.  Hikers on this trail often wear ponchos or other rain gear to keep from getting thoroughly soaked by the mist, especially in the spring and early summer.  It always amazes us how trees can seem to cling and grow in seemingly hostile places. Just down from the brink, you can see a conifer growing on a ledge, just above the upper end of the rainbow.

The trail eventually reaches the top of the falls via stone steps with railings. The railing extends from the trail to the brink of the falls and slightly upstream along the Merced River.  It's important to keep behind the railing.  Some people who have chosen not to have been swept over the edge to their death.  Although we refer to Yosemite as a park, it is still a wild place with inherent dangers that need to be respected.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story!

Riverview Ranch from the San Joaquin River bluffs

The Riverview Ranch serves as a visitor center for the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust. The house has been turned into a museum and there's a gift shop in the middle building. A storage building further to the left in this image houses the Trust's canoes, which are used for trips down the river. The San Joaquin River forms into Millerton Lake behind Friant Dam, which shows the orange glow of the setting sun on its face, 7 miles away.The Sierra foothills appear beyond the dam. The bluffs created updrafts of air as the day warms up, so you can frequently see hawks and vultures riding on these air currents.

We made a recreational video about the San Joaquin River around the year 2000, but now want to re-do it in high definition. For that recreational video, we canoed the river from Lost Lake to the Highway 145 bridge (about 33 miles), biked the Eaton Trail, and flew over this section of the river twice. The Parkway expanded several times after we made the video, so it's already out of date. There are plans to eventually construct a hiking trail along the San Joaquin River that would allow hikers and backpackers to start in the Fresno, California area and walk all the way up to the Pacific Crest Trail, in the High Sierra.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story!

Bryce Canyon in early Spring

Bryce Canyon, in southern Utah, is famous for having red rock features called hoodoos, pillars of rock sculpted by erosion. This image was the result of two images being merged and cropped at an 11x17 ratio. Rick was here in late March, so there was still quite a bit of snow around. During the summer, visitors have to take a shuttle bus to get to the various viewpoints, because of how crowded it can be on the road. There is only one road out and back in Bryce Canyon National Park. Trails lead from the rim down into the basins. The Kaibab Plateau makes the tree-covered, and snow-covered, horizon.

Bryce Canyon might not technically be a canyon, since that would require a stream flowing through it. It might be more accurate to refer to these features as ampitheaters, since they are more of a bowl shape. The many layers of sedimentary rock also show the much grander feature referred to as The Grand Staicase. Rocks in different layers with differing colors distinguish one step from another as erosion by water and wind reveals them over long periods of time.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Mariposa tulip in the Sierra Nevada, Kings Canyon National Park

The Mariposa tulip blooms in the Sierra Nevada. We found this one along the trail in Kings Canyon National Park, on our Rae Lakes Loop trip in 2012. The term "Mariposa" is Spanish for "butterfly". The characterisitcs of these plants is that they have 3 sepals, 3 petals, 6 stamens, and one three-lobed pistil. The Mariposa tulip is in the lily family. The dark dots at the base of each petal helps to guide the bees that pollinate the flower to their nectar reward. In this image, the flower also has the shadow of an unopened flower stem crosing over the upper petal.

For photos like this, it's a good idea to use a low f/stop setting and a faster shutter speed. For this image, the settings were f/6.7, 1/350 second. The lower depth of field allows the background to blur so that the clearest part of the image is the flower you want to show. The fast shutter speed helps to ensure a sharper image in case of any slight breezes making the flower move. The closer you get to your subject, the more noticeable any motion becomes in the final image. Using a telephoto setting for the lens, allows you to move farther away from the subject, so motion is less noticeable. Some photographers use tripods and clamps to hold the flower stem still, which is a good idea. But, in this case, we were backpacking along a trail trying to make sure we covered enough distance each day. When we got this photo, we still had our packs on and just tried to get a good shot with the conditions as they were.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Trona Pinnacles in the Mojave Desert of California. Where the remake of "Planet of the Apes" was partially filmed.

The Trona Pinnacles are in the Mojave Desert of California. They were formed while underwater in the ancient Searles Lake, which is now completely dry. Where the towers form represents freshwater springs that spewed calcium-enriched waters into the carbonate-laden mineral waters of the ancient lake. Calcium and carbonate combine to form calcium carbonate, the same material that makes up sea shells and cave formations. Mono Lake is famous for its tufa towers that are still forming. The ones at Trona that formed under Searles Lake can't grow anymore.

A few years ago, the Planet of the Apes movie was remade and some of the scenes in that movie were filmed among the Trona Pinnacles. We've also seen some commercials  with these pinnacles in them, as well.

We often stop by the Trona Pinnacles on our way to Death Valley National Park. The small town of Trona is south south-west of Death Valley and along the route from Ridgecrest, Highway 178. The dirt road out to the Pinnacles comes off of Highway 178 and crosses railroad tracks. This area is not a National Park, but is Bureau of Land Management land. They don't have the restrictions that a park would have in effect, so people can drive right up to the features and hike around them. There have been mines here so a visitor should use caution when exploring. Camping isn't allowed, though.

The last time we drove through here, the full moon was about 4 days away, so the nearly full moon was rising well before sunset. We looked at the moon and the pinnacles from several angles. Rick liked this one with the moon between a couple of the pinnacles as a dramatic shot.

Remember it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Subway Cave: a lavatube cave near Lassen Volcanic National Park

Subway Cave is a lava tube cave near Lassen Volcanic National Park, in the Lassen National Forest. Lava tubes form when lava flowing out of a volcanic eruption cools and forms an upper crust, but lava underneath is still warm and fluid and eventually drains out, forming a tube. When parts of the roof collapse, entrances are created. Subway Cave has two roof collapses about .3 miles apart, which allows visitors to take a short hike from one to the other. The visitor can then return to the start through the cave or take a surface trail back.

Northeastern California has at least 300 such caves, but few are as high or as easily accessible as this one, being right off a main road. The cave entrances have cement stairs for easy access. The actual lava tube continues further along than where the stairways are located, but these parts of the cave may be considered less stable and therefore more hazardous. We've hiked into the extended parts of the cave to explore it more and found that the tunnel split. Very fascinating, these features, especially when you try to imagine what the flow of hot lava would look like when the tube was forming.

Anyone wishing a print of this photo will need to keep its dimensions in mind when ordering.  The dimensions that our online photo processing offers that applies to this image is 2x1 (or 8.5x17 legal size paper).

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Sunset silhouette of Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

Delicate Arch is one of the most iconic of all the natural rock spans.  It's not only the symbol of Arches National Park, but also appears on the license plates of many Utah motor vehicles.  It was also shown on a postage stamp honoring Utah on the centennial of its statehood.

This photo shows the 65-foot tall arch in silhouette by the setting sun.  It is one of the most visited arches in the park requiring only about a 2 mile hike to reach.  It was formed out of Entrada sandstone and is a freestanding arch, which is what makes it so distinctive. To make it even more dramatic, it is also perched on the edge of a huge sandstone bowl on one side and a cliff on the other.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Sentinel Point, in Yosemite National Park, at sunset.

Sentinel Point towers over the south rim of Yosemite Valley. Not as famous as other features, like El Capitan or Half Dome, it can still offer some spectacular views. This image was taken as the sun was setting and Rick was looking for Horsetail Falls to the west of El Capitan picnic area. After gazing westward at the falls, Rick looked east and was surprised to see the moon rising near Sentinel Point, which is the left-most point of rock in this photo. The image was taken in February as the setting sun reflects from El Capitan's east flank, which only happens in November and February, each year. Because this was in February, you can see some  patches of snow on the cliff.

So many people know about Horsetail Falls glowing red from the setting sun in February, that the Park Service has started closing off one lane for parking, so all the photographers can park and be close to the waterfall feature. We've tried several times to get Horsetail Falls lit up by the setting sun in February, but there are other features around Yosemite to keep an eye out for, so don't fixate on one thing to the exclusion of others.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story!

Half Dome reflected in the Merced River from Sentinel Bridge.

Rick has been to this bridge many times to look at Half Dome and see if it reflects in the Mered River. In the late summer and autumn, when the river's flow is low is usually the best time. Many people visit Yosemite in the spring and early summer when the waterfalls have much more water, but that can also make for a lot more ripples in the river's surface. This image was taken at the end of September, 2012, around 5 PM. The face of Half Dome is usually in shadow in the morning, so waiting until the afternoon to photograph will ensure that it is well-lit. Using the trees to frame both Half Dome and its reflection worked out well in this shot. Sometimes landscape features don't reflect in water the way you might expect. In this photo, due to the trees and the angle, there's actually less of Half Dome showing in the reflection than in the straight view, but it's still plenty for the viewer to know what it is.

This view is from Sentinel Bridge, which is near the cliff that leads up to Sentinel Point, which leads further along the high ground to Sentinel Dome. Though less famous than Half Dome, those other features can be photogenic, too. The view from the top of Sentinel Dome might be the best place to see all of Yosemite Falls.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Bridalveil Falls at sunset with the Cathedral Rocks above and the Leaning Tower above right.

In Yosemite, Bridalveil Falls appears above the trees at sunset. After seeing Yosemite Valley from the Tunnel View, many visitors stop at Bridalveil Falls and hike to the base. Especially in the spring, visitors can get thoroughly drenched by the spray. This makes taking photos near the falls a bit hazardous for the integrity of lenses and electronics.For much of the day, Bridalveil Falls is in shadow. It's only afternoon and evening that the cliff face gets direct light. The setting sun made a slight orange glow on the granite in this January photo.

The Cathedral Rocks above the falls were the first high points in Yosemite to be climbed by mountain climbers and are still popular. Also, climbers ascend the Leaning Tower to the upper right in this image. Together they remind me of something like a Stegosaurus's back with the rocks forming the bony plates, and then Bridalveil Creek flowing over its back before falling. This image was the result of 4 images merged together to capture more detail. It was taken with Rick's 6-megapixel Minolta camera that has since been replaced by a Canon Rebel XSi digital SLR.

It's not just a photo, it's a story.

Yosemite Falls, upper and lower, with a lunar rainbow, or moonbow, with stars.

The mist from Yosemite Falls can turn moonlight into a moonbow, or lunar rainbow, around the time of the full moon. It also depends on how much precipitation the area had during the winter and sping, since the misting water droplets coming off the falls is what separates the white light into the spectrum of colors. The moon-caused bow is dim enough that human eyes can't distinguish the colors. We have rods and cones in our eyes, cells that respond to light. The rods respond to brightness and don't detect color, but the cones do respond to color, but only if their light has enough intensity. Moonlight isn't usually intense enough to trigger the cones. When looking at this moonbow, we only saw an arc of ghostly white light, but the camera's time exposure, 30 seconds, does pick up the colors that our eyes can't see.

This perspective also includes the upper falls and stars so that it's easier to tell that it was taken at night. To get here, you have to be willing to do a little scrambling off of the paved path over granite that is sometimes slick, right up to the base of the cliffs, but it's well worth it. You also should bring along a dry cloth to wipe the droplets off of your lens, since it will get wet. Wearing rain gear to keep yourself dry and protected from the wind is a good idea, too. Waterfalls create their wind. The falling water drags air down with it. 

This image was two shots, lower and upper, then merged together to create one larger image. The two were taken on June 2, 2012. We tried again this year, 2013, but last year's results were better.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story!

Death Valley sunrise

Sunrise as seen from the Furnace Creek Campground in Death Valley National Park in California.  Some of the most spectacular sunrises we've ever seen have been at Death Valley.

Death Valley is famous for being the lowest, hottest, and driest place in America.  The lowest point in the park, the Badwater Basin, is also the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level.  We've seen tourists from Germany here during the summer take pictures of themselves next to a thermometer to show the folks back home what temperatures they got exposed to.  The thermometer showed 117 degrees F.  The record high temperature for Death Valley was 134 degrees Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913 and is considered to be the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.  As for dryness, Death Valley averages just over 2 inches of rainfall annually.  We've visited the park during years when it got over 5 inches of rain and the wildflowers bust out all over thanks to the extra moisture.

We like to visit Death Valley during the winter, because of its relatively mild weather, but we have visited the park in every season.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

The Tetons framed by aspens

Grand Teton, the highest peak in this photo, is the centerpiece of Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming.  This is one of our most favorite places in the world.  This photo is from the eastern side of the park looking westward.

The Teton Range is what geologists call a fault-block mountain range.  Two adjoining blocks of the earth's crust are tilting to the west causing the valley called Jackson Hole to form, part of which is visible in the midground, and the Teton Range to form in the background.  Since the Tetons are on the eastern edge of the westernmost block, this side of the mountains doesn't have foothills.  The Tetons are famous for having the appearance of springing abruptly out of the earth.

Some of our longest backpacking trips have been here.  Bob has done two solo trips, one of 13 days in the southern part of the range and another of 5 days mostly off-trail in the northern part of the range.  Together we backpacked nearly the entire length of the range from north to south over 6 days.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Multnomah Falls, Oregon's tallest waterfall.

Multnomah Falls is the highest waterfall in the state of Oregon. For the traveler, it is very convenient to see it since it's right next to a major road. You don't even have to get out of your car to see it, but, of course, you'll want to get closer. The bridge that crosses the creek was built in 1914. There's a trail to the top of the falls that Rick hiked and got the view from the brink looking down at the people on the bridge, the Multnomah Falls Lodge and the parking area where his car was parked. This part of the Columbia River Gorge has many other waterfalls along the road and even farther upstream from those, if you're willing to do some hiking.

Because the falls are on a north-facing cliff, it is always in shade. That creates a bit of a challenge for photographers to get the right degree of contrast and exposure to bring out the details. Northern Oregon and southern Washington often have cloudy weather as well, adding a little more to the degree of difficulty. This image is the composite of three images that were merged together to capture more of the detail of the scene. The camera Rick had in 2006 was a 6 megapixel Konica Minolta camera, so the three images minus the overlap from the merge process gets to about 14 megapixels. The merging process allows a photographer to make images that are much greater in image detail than a single image.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story!

Natural Arch in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

Valley of Fire State Park in southern Nevada is a geologists' and photographers' dream.  Among the red sandstone formations are a number of natural arches, including this one near the Beehives area near the western entrance to the park.  Looking like the landing gear on a big helicopter, this buttress type natural arch is very delicate looking and may not last much longer geologically speaking.  It has a span of 10 feet, a height of 8 feet, a thickness of only ten inches, and a width of 22 inches.  The arch is visible from the park road at the left end of a large outcrop.

Update: We visited Valley of Fire State Park the last week of 2017 and I, Bob, looked for this arch, but couldn't find it.  I emailed the state park about this arch after the trip and they responded saying that this arch was between the Beehives and the West Petrified Logs, but it collapsed many years ago, so this arch is gone.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse lit up

Pigeon Point Lighthouse on the central California coast is one of the tallest lighthouses on the West Coast of the United States.  It has been replaced in its duties by an aerobeacon and is now a state historic park.  In mid-November, the rangers would turn on the lighthouse in an annual lighting ceremony to commemorate its very first lighting on November 15, 1872.  This is an image of that lit-up lighthouse showing the spokes-of-light pattern that the Fresnel lens creates.  The rotating lens would create a flash pattern that was unique to each lighthouse, so that mariners could time the flashes and know which lighthouse they were seeing.

The tower at Pigeon Point has been closed to the public since 2001, because it was deemed unsafe.  The state parks department has begun restoring this tower and the first step in the process was removing the historic Fresnel lens, so that it wouldn't be damaged during the tower's reconstruction process.  So, the good news is that the lens is safe, but the bad news is that the annual lighting of the lighthouse won't happen again for many years, until the restoration is complete and the lens is returned to the top of the tower.

This image was shot at ISO 1600, so it's showing some digital noise.  The very thin fog that helped accentuate the spokes of light, also helped blur the moon in the upper right.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Half Dome and Pacific Dogwood flower

Around May each year the Pacific Dogwood trees bloom in Yosemite National Park.  This image is of Half Dome taken from Ahwahnee Meadow in Yosemite Valley.  Dogwoods were blooming in front of cottages that overlook this meadow, so Bob framed up the shot of Half Dome and then bent a branch of dogwood into the view. The dogwood flower is actually a composite of many smaller flowers combined at the center and large white "leaves" called bracts forming what look like petals around the outside of the central disk.

Bob took two still images with a high definition camcorder.  One shot was of Half Dome in focus with the dogwood flower blurred and the second one was a flash shot with the dogwood blossom in focus and Half Dome blurred.  We then combined those images to produce this final one with everything in focus. The results were better than expected. Because this image was taken with a relatively low resolution camera, we recommend anyone buying this image keep the size at 8x10 or smaller.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Manly Beacon viewed from the south showing its cliff face and the trail leading to Golden Canyon with 2 hikers.

This is Manly Beacon as it appears from the south along the Badlands Trail. This is the first time we hiked the Badlands Trail together, in 2007, and we were impressed by Manly Beacon. Usually this feature is seen from the side when standing at Zabriskie Point, which is to the east. From this perspective, you can clearly see the imposing cliff face and what's also impressive is that the trail to Golden Canyon passes below the cliff, as you can see 2 hikers on the exposed slope to the left in this image. The Red Cathedral feature lies beyond Manly Beacon, you can see part of it at the extreme left. In a way, this cliff face reminds us of Half Dome in Yosemite, except it's made of sedimentary rock instead of granite and isn't nearly as high. From this angle, the outline of Manly Beacon is somewhat similar to Half Dome's outline, when viewed straight on at its cliff face.

This image was made with Rick's 6 megapixel camera, which he has since replaced with a 12 megapixel camera. He took 4 images and merged them to get this final product.This was taken on a very bright day in December. The settings were ISO 50, f8.0, and 1/500sec shutter speed for all 4 images, to make combining them easier.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Double Arch in Arches National Park, Utah, March 20, 2008. First Day of Spring.

Southern Utah is famous for its red sandstone arches and natural bridges. Rick visited Arches National Park for the first time during Spring of 2008. This arch is easy to get to. You can already see it when you park your car. He wanted to stand where he could view both arches clearly, but also see the towering rock formation behind the arches all the way to the top. The weather was cool, but clear, making for excellent lighting.

This image is the result of 6 separate images that have been merged to provide much greater detail. At the time, Rick had a 6 megapixel camera and was regularly using the post-production technique of photo stitching to get more data into the final product. In looking around for other angles, this one seemed like the only one that fully included the rock tower beyond the double arch. One of the lower images had a person standing in it admiring the view, but Rick used the clone stamp tool to remove her from the final image.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Burney Falls and springs at McArthur-Burney Falls State Park

Burney Falls is within the McArthur-Burney Falls State Park in California. Burney Creek splits into 2 streams at the brink to form 2 waterfalls, but the rest of the cliff face oozes spring water in huge amounts. The park is in northeastern California in a volcanic region that includes the Cascades, Modoc Plateau, and Lava Beds National Monument. The water from rain and melting snow percolated through loose volcanic rock and travels sideways after coming to an impervious layer deeper underground.

This image is a composite of 8 separate images taken with a film camera, scanned into the computer, then combined. The separate images were taken in the vertical direction. We were in the park on the Fourth of July. The park was packed with people and parking was a problem. This view was just off the road along a side walk that stops at a viewpoint. The walk continues down to the creek where you can stand in front of the falls across a pool. Some people even took a dip in the water.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Sedona, Arizona's Red Rock Crossing

Sedona, Arizona is famous for its red rock formations. In 2006, we made a side trip to Sedona as part of our travels to see the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. This image was of Red Rock Crossing.  Oak Creek is in the foreground and Cathedral Rock towers in the background.  These formations show the erosional patterns of sandstone rock formations in a desert environment.  Red Rock Crossing looking at Cathedral Rock is the most photographed spot in Arizona.

This was our first time using a digital camera for most of the images we took during this trip, even though we still felt that film would yield better results.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Bison grazing at the National Bison Range, Montana

The American Bison once sustained the Plains tribes, but their numbers were dramatically reduced by a capaign of extermination. They have a few places where they are holding on, and many tribes have established small herds on their reservations. In Montana, the Federal Government has set aside land for several species of grazing animals, including the bison at the National Bison Range.

This bison is showing his summer fur, where the back half of the body is uncovered to stay cooler. As winter approaches, the entire body will be covered in fur in order to stay warmer. We drove through the National Bison Range in June of 1994 on our way between Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. This image was taken while in the safe confines of our car. We also saw pronghorn and deer.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Coyote posing for the camera in Death Valley National Park

While driving the many miles of roads in Death Valley National Park during a visit in 1993, Rick pulled off the road to double-check the map for his next destination. Along came a coyote probably expecting a hand-out, but when none was forthcoming, it started looking around at the terrain to decide where it wanted to go next. For this photo, Rick didn't even have to get out of the car, it was taken while he was still sitting in the driver's seat through the passenger window.

It always amazes us how hardy animals and plants can be in such harsh enviroments as Death Valley. During the summer, this coyote would probably only come out at night, but this image was taken in April, so he was out during the middle of the day. Unfortunately, these animals seem to have gotten accustomed to the idea of a stopped car meaning free food, but ironically it's how Rick was able to get such an easy photo of this one, even though we never feed wild animals..

Remeber, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Yosemite's Grizzly Giant sequoia

The Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias is at the southern end of Yosemite National Park.  It's a popular tourist destination during the summer and the highlight for many visitors is the Grizzly Giant sequoia tree.  It's 210 feet tall, has a 92-foot basal circumference, and is estimated to be 1800 years old.  The diameter of its lowest branch is bigger, at 6 feet, than the trunks of any of the non-sequoia trees in the grove.

This photo was taken during the winter when visitors must make their way over snow with snowshoes or skis, or, if the snow is firm enough, by hiking.  We merged three images together to show the full height of this massive tree. We've skied out to the Mariposa Grove many times. We've even camped farther up in the grove during the winter, when the Park Service treats it as a wilderness area.

Rick skiing toward the Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Grove, Yosemite.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Lower Yosemite Falls showing a rainbow from the mist

On a camping trip to Yosemite in March of 2010, we were seeking rainbows in the waterfalls and the nearly full moon rising next to Half Dome. It turned out to be a very successful trip. The moon rising next to Half Dome you can see in an earlier post. The morning of that same day, we hiked out to Yosemite Falls from Camp 4 and arrived just in time to see this prominent rainbow, or mistbow, in Lower Yosemite Falls.

Fortunately, there was no wind this morning, so the mist from the falls went straight out from the wall and across the cliff face where the mistbow made its appearance. We were closer to the falls than the bridge and down a little toward Yosemite Creek, so that our view could be looking up enough to include the sky in the image. This image is the result of 2 images being merged together. The bottom image included the rainbow, the second one included the sky and didn't include the rainbow at all. We didn't want to try merging two images with separate parts of the rainbow because it could've presented a greater challenge in making them fit together seamlessly. This image has been cropped into a square shape.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

The Slot, narrow canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the largest state park in California. It's east of San Diego and is made up of many different sections with the town of Borrego Springs somewhat in the middle of  everything. One of the interesting natural features in the park is called The Slot. It's a very narrow canyon made up of dried mud, sand and gravel. In some places, you almost have to turn sideways or duck down to pass through. The drive to get to this feature involved a short segment of dirt road off of Highway 78. Once you get to the canyon, you have to hike to the upper end and carefully work your way down to the bottom on loose gravel and sand.

The day Rick was here, the sky was a bit cloudy with alternating sunshine throughout the day. The canyon generally runs east-west, so the afternoon sun lit up the vertical ridges of the canyon. While Rick was hiking the canyon, some GPS runners came up the canyon trying to mark the canyon with their GPS units so it could be accurately shown on the map. After they got beyond the narrowest part of the canyon to the wider section, they planned to turn around and head back down.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Half Dome and Clouds Rest in a winter alpenglow light from Washburn Point, Yosemite

We've traveled the Glacier Point Road during its winter closure more than 20 times on cross-country skis, sometimes even snow camping near a source of water along the way. The distance from Badger Pass ski area to Glacier Point is about 10.5 miles. We've done the whole 21 miles out and back several times, including the occasion when we got this shot of Half Dome as the sun was setting.

We spent some time in the valley before heading up to Badger Pass, so the skiing portion of our trip started a bit later than it should have. Bob doesn't get to Yosemite as often as Rick does, so on this trip, he insisted on skiing all the way to Glacier Point, even if it meant skiing out in the dark. During moonlit nights, the trip isn't that bad, since you're skiing along a road and the snow makes the moonlight much brighter. We reached Glacier Point while there was still daylight. On the way back, we were passing Washburn Point and were struck by the overarching pink glow of the sky by the low sun. During the summer, you can park at Washburn Point and get a view of Half Dome, Clouds Rest, Vernal and Nevada Falls, and part of Tenaya Canyon and Yosemite Valley. For this image, we used the trees to frame Half Dome and Clouds Rest.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Sunset over Southern Idaho volcanic butte

Sunset at one of southern Idaho's volcanic buttes, probably Middle Butte, as seen from Highways 20 and 26.  Southern Idaho's Snake River Plain is an area of fairly recent volcanic activity, including the Craters of the Moon National Monument, which we have visited many times.  The scene in this photo is east of the monument between the town of Arco and the city of Idaho Falls.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Castle Geyser and rainbow

Castle Geyser is in the same geyser basin as the world-famous Old Faithful Geyser, the Upper Geyser Basin, in Yellowstone National Park.  Its eruptions are among those that the Park Service can predict and they post those predictions at the Old Faithful Visitor Center and on an informational plaque in front of the geyser itself.

Castle Geyser typically erupts every 10-12 hours with a 20 minute hot water phase reaching up to 90 feet in height followed by a steam phase lasting from 30 to 40 minutes.  This photo was taken during the steam phase of Castle's eruption and a light wind was blowing water droplets from the steam column to the right where they formed this rainbow.

Remember, it's not just a photograph, it's a story.

Yosemite's winter landscape from the "real" Tunnel View

Maybe this could be called "The Real Tunnel View" of Yosemite Valley.

Many visitors to Yosemite Valley arrive by driving Highway 41 through the south entrance and pass through the famous Wawona Tunnel. In February of 2011, we went skiing at the Badger Pass ski area and the Glacier Point Road. After skiing, we paid a visit to the valley and were immediately struck (not physically... mentally) by the icycles hanging from the rim of the tunnel. So we pulled off into the Tunnel View parking area, and, when traffic permitted, we walked back into the tunnel to fire off several photos of the view of the valley with the end of the tunnel and its icycles included in the images. To the left is El Capitan, with icycles pointing down at it. To the right are the Cathedral Rocks, with another icycles marking the high point, sort of. Just left of center is Half Dome and Clouds Rest, which, true to its name, very often has clouds enveloping it, as is the case here.

Remember, it's not just a photo, it's a story.

Indian Rock Arch, Yosemite.

Another view of Indian Rock Arch in Yosemite National Park around sunset.  See the description below.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Mount Lassen and the Chaos Crags during the Reading Fire, August 2012

 Mount Lassen is a volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range. It was the last volcano to erupt in California, in 1914 through 1917. During our visit in August, 2012, there was a forest fire northeast of Mount Lassen near a feature called the Chaos Crags. It became known as the Reading Fire. The road through the park was closed, but we still could get in at the southern end and loop around outside the park to get to the north end. While camping near the north end of the park we took our canoe and kayak out onto Manzanita Lake.We paddled from the south end to the north looking for a variety of angles to photograph the scenery around us.

This image was taken while sitting in a canoe and involved capturing 3 images and using the computer to combine them. This process is referred to as stitching or merging. You have to make sure that about 10 to 20 percent of the edges of each shot overlap and that the camera settings are similar, then the computer can find the parts and put them together seamlessly. Mount Lassen is at the right, the Chaos Crags are at the center, and the smoke from the Reading Fire is at the upper left.  This image is best printed at about a 2 to 1 ratio, so an 8 x 16 inch page would work best.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Death Valley's Manly Beacon, often incorrectly called Zabriskie Point

This Death Valley feature is often incorrectly named, even among photographers, who should know better. You reach this feature by driving Highway 190 east from Furnace Creek, or west from the junction with Highway 127 into the park and reach it before Furnace Creek. The sign along the road tells you that you're turning off at Zabriskie Point, so many people assume that after they climb to the top of a hill with stone fencing around it that they're looking out at Zabriskie Point. Actually, that hill is Zabriskie Point and the feature on the horizon is called Manly Beacon. It's named after an early Death Valley explorer named Horace Manly. I've even seen posters with this feature in the photo and it's labeled Zabriskie Point, even though the point isn't in the photo, but instead it's showing the "Beacon". We hope to clear up this confusion.

Richard has been to Death Valley about 30 times, but we both feel there's a lot more to see. This is the largest National Park in the 48 states and has about 1000 miles of paved and dirt roads, not to mention the trails for hiking. This image of Manly Beacon was captured in January 2012. We hiked from the parking area to the top of the hill, Zabriskie Point, then came down hill a little bit from the top toward the badlands, so that Manly Beacon would be a little more prominent in the view and there would be a little more sky in the frame.There's actually a trail that goes by the shoulder of Manly Beacon and we did hike that trail, which crosses over into Golden Canyon. This trail forms a loop with Gower Gulch, the next canyon to the south, and we've done that hike a couple of times already.

Normally the sun around noon is not the best for taking photos, but since this was in January, the sun is naturally at a lower angle, making shadows a little longer and more noticeable. This one was taken around 1 PM.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Indian Rock Arch in Yosemite, with Half Dome under the arch

Unfortunately, the maps for Yosemite don't indicate that this feature is a rare granite arch. Utah is rightly famous for its sandstone arches and natural bridges, since sandstone is an excellent material for forming these types of features. Granite is a much harder rock and is much less likely to form an arch, but the Sierra Nevada does have a few, including this one in Yosemite. The feature is identified on the maps and the trail sign as Indian Rock, but nowhere does it say that this feature is an arch.

Robert has been interested in natural rock spans ever since he volunteered in Natural Bridges National Monument right after graduating from college. We've looked for natural rock spans to photograph and explore since then. About 10 years ago, we were instant messaging online and he asked if there was an arch in Yosemite because he found soneone's online account of traveling to the arch in Yosemite. We were both surprised, since neither one of us knew Yosemite had such a feature. After reading the account of other people's hikes to see the arch, we decided we had to go see it ourselves.

The hike starts at Porcupine Flat and heads south for about 3 miles or so, before climbing up to a ridgeline, where the arch is the highest point. On our first trip, we backpacked in and camped near the arch. We've now been there at least 5 times, including a trip where we carried an extension ladder to the arch to try different angles to photograph it. Other hikers looked a bit surprised when they saw us carrying that ladder, so we just told them it was for a photography project, and they seemed to accept that explanation, especially since it was true.

The ladder still didn't give us the angle we hoped for, so eventually, after trying several angles and techniques, we tried backing away from the arch to the north and holding up a tripod with the camera at the top and setting the timer. Because the cameras are digital, we could look at the results immediately after trying a shot, and then adjust accordingly. Our goal was to not only capture the arch from one support to the other, but also have a clear view of Half Dome under the arch, with enough sky to differentiate the two features.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Point Reyes Lighthouse lit up at dusk

Our first backpacking trip was in Point Reyes National Seashore along the coast north of San Francisco, California.  The centerpiece of this National Park Service unit is the historic Point Reyes Lighthouse, constructed at the very end of the point stretching about 10 miles out into the Pacific Ocean. Once a month from spring to fall, the park leads visitors on hikes to light the historic lighthouse. It was also on our first time out to see the lighthouse that we saw a gray whale for the first time. It was in the surf approaching Point Reyes Beach in water shallow enough that we could see the entire animal.

The lighthouse was first operated in 1870, and was built after a level spot was blasted with dynamite, about 300 feet from the top of the cliff. It uses a rotating Fresnel lens that concentrated the center light source into 24 beams such that someone in a ship off-shore would see a flash every 5 seconds. Each lighthouse has its own distinct flash pattern, so a ship's captain would be able to identify which lighthouse he's seeing.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Fin Dome reflected in Dollar Lake, Kings Canyon National Park

In July, 2012, we backpacked a well-known loop trail in Kings Canyon National Park. The loop is called the Rae Lakes Loop. It starts and ends at Roads End, which is where California Highway 180 ends, inside Kings Canyon. The loop can be taken clockwise or counter-clockwise. We decided to go clockwise, going into Paradise Valley for the first day, joining the John Muir Trail on the second day to reach the Rae Lakes, continuing over Glen Pass and starting down Bubbs Creek the third day, then back to Roads End on the fourth day.

On the first day, we spent quite a bit of time photographing Mist Falls, so we didn't get as far along the trail as we were planning. That also effected the next day's plans, and we didn't reach the Rae Lakes on the second day, but settled for camping alongside the much smaller Dollar Lake. It turns out that camping at Dollar Lake was one of those serendipitous moments. The next morning, while we prepared breakfast, we started looking at Fin Dome, the very prominent granite feature on the horizon north of us. Hoping to find a good photographic angle on the dome, we found that it was being reflected in the lake's water, which is how we got the image above. After we packed and started hiking toward the Rae Lakes, Fin Dome remained a prominent feature along the trail for most of that day, but the reflected view of it in the lake was the best view we had.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Half Dome and a nearly full moon rising in the notch, Yosemite

Ansel Adams had a classic Half Dome with a nearly full moon shot that he took in 1960. He was a master at bringing out the details in a photographs bright parts, called highlights, and the dark parts, called shadows. The parts of a picture that are between the highlights and shadows are called midtones. Ansel Adams' shot was also done as a vertical, with just the edge of the north side cliff showing along the edge of the frame.

Having been to the top of Half Dome 3 times, we wanted to a get a similar shot, but with one improvement. Before climbing up the cables to the top of Half Dome, you have to go over a smaller feature referred to as the Sub Dome, then you drop into a saddle to arrive at the base of the cables. From Ahwahnee Meadow, you can see the Sub Dome to the left of Half Dome and the saddle between them forms a notch. We've thought for some time that a potentially better Half Dome and moon shot would have the moon rising up out of the notch. In March of 2010, we went to Yosemite with rainbows in Yosemite Falls and moon next to Half Dome shots in mind. It was on that trip that we captured the image above, which was done as a horizontal shot. It turns out that we were standing in almost the same spot in Ahwahnee Meadow where Ansel Adams stood when he took his photo in 1960.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Yosemite Falls double moonbow

If you arrive in Yosemite in spring and early summer and around the time of the full moon, you might want to hike to Yosemite Falls and view a moonbow, or lunar rainbow or a waterfall mistbow. A moonbow is a rainbow caused by moon light, rather than direct sunlight. When viewing this phenomenon, your own eyes can't see the color of the spectrum showing through the mist of the water, but when you take a long exposure, 20 to 30 seconds, with your camera, the colors appear in the final image. The night of the full moon is the brightest, but up to 2 days before or after the night of the full moon will also work.

To work on this image, we went on the night of the full moon and lower Yosemite Falls was very crowded with photographers. A lot of people know about this event now. Many saw some good results. But this image was captured the night after the full moon. Rick went back the next night and almost had the place to himself, and the double moonbow was already showing as soon as he arrived. To make sure people viewing this image can tell that it was taken at night, we included some of the sky with stars showing at the top of the frame. 

One of the great challenges of taking this sort of image is that you need the mist from the falls in order to get the moonbow, but then if the mist reaches high enough, it can make the rest of the image look fuzzy. There's also a very good chance that you'll get wet during the process of capturing the image. Including stars in the sky helps convince people that the image was taken at night, but a very long exposure can allow enough time for the Earth's rotation to cause the stars to become streaks.

You can get predictions for this year's (2013) best moonbow viewing dates and times from the Texas State University's Astronomy Department's web site. The direct link to this year's moonbow in lower Yosemite Falls is at: uweb.txstate.edu/~do01/moonbows2013loweryosemitefall.html.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!