Skiing near Mount Lassen, Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA

Richard Robinson poses in front of Mount Lassen in Lassen Volcanic National Park at the end of a two-night ski-packing trip.  The Lassen National Park Highway is closed through the park during the winter making it available for cross country skiers and snowshoers.

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

Sagebrush Mariposa Lily with a small insect inside from Lava Beds National Monument, CA

This is a Sagebrush Mariposa Lily (Calochortus macrocarpus) with a small insect inside.  It was blooming in Lava Beds National Monument in northeastern California.  This park is famous for its numerous lava flows that have produced hundreds of lava caves, some of which are easy to explore.

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

Honey Bee in Blackberry flowers along the California north coast

During a trip to the north coast of California to see the Redwoods National Park, Rick and his wife spent some time enjoying the blackberries. For a couple of hours, they turned into grazers and kept finding one good patch after another. The blackberry bushes had ripe fruit, but were also flowering. This honey bee was busily flitting from one flower to another. Rick had to use a fast shutter speed and multiple shots to get one where the bee had settled onto a flower and the wings were still. The honey bee isn't native to North America, but was brought from Europe and has spread across the entire continent. But something is threatening these highly important pollinators with a condition called Colony Collapse Disorder. Losing the pollination services of bees would be a huge disaster for us humans.

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

Cape Mendocino and the Sugarloaf Island on an overcast day

Cape Mendocino with the Sugarloaf Island just off the coast of California during an overcast day.This is perhaps California's most remote coastal area to which you can drive. The drive here involves winding 2-lane roads that often look in dire need of maintenance. The area is also mainly private land, so there are only a few places where you can stop and take in the scenery. The Sugarloaf Island really stood out because of how white it appears, even on this overcast day it appeared bright.

This image is the result of two images merged together to create a wider final product. I made sure not to include the breaking waves in the right image, so that only the left image had the waves, so that merging the two images wouldn't end up with blurred waves in the final image.

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

Nearly full moon rising next to Half Dome, viewed from North Dome, July 11, 2014

After hiking about 4 and a half miles from Porcupine Flat to North Dome, I waited for the sun to set and the moon to rise. July 11th was the day before the full moon, so the scenery would still be lit by the sun, or at least still be bright, as the moon was rising. I had to reposition myself around North Dome until I saw the moon lined up the way I wanted it. I hoped to see the moon between Half Dome and the smaller high point to its left, called Sub Dome. Fortunately, that worked out. Then I hiked back out from 9PM to 11PM.

Getting the exposure on the moon and the landscape in the same image is very difficult. The moon at this phase is very bright, so a setting that properly exposes the landscape results in a washed-out moon. Properly exposing the moon results in a dark landscape with no detail. To solve this problem, you can take two images, one exposed for the landscape and the other exposed for the moon, then combine the moon from the one image into the washed-out moon in the other.

While atop North Dome, I decided to take a selfie with my smart phone as proof that I was there.

Richard Robinson standing on the highest point of North Dome with Half Dome over his shoulder.

The picture shown below is the bench mark for the highest point of North Dome, at 7531 feet elevation. On topographic maps, you'll see these labeled as BM and a plus sign or crosshair on the map, so that when you see this marker on the land and find that mark on the map, you know exactly where you are.

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

Sequoia-Kings Canyon's Crystal Cave showing cave drapery

This image was taken while on a tour of Crystal Cave in Sequoia National Park. Caves of this type form underground by water that has become weakly acidic by absorbing carbon dioxide, then dissolving away limestone or marble to create a cavity in the earth. The original rocks of the cave wall are collectively called speleogen. This type of cave is called a solution cave, due to the way it forms. After forming, the water continues dissolving minerals underground and dripping down through the cave. When the drops dry up, the calcium carbonate mineral is left behind, forming the cave features most people associate with caves. These formations are normally white, but may be tinged with orange or reddish streaks if the minerals have iron mixed in. These features that form after the cave walls, speleogen, are called speleothems. These particular kinds of speleothems are called cave draperies.

Photographically, the white calcium carbonate makes for a challenge since it can end up washed out by the flash. Having the light bright, but diffused, helps create an even lighting across the surface of the features instead of having a bright spot where the light from the flash ends up being too concentrated. A simple technique for achieving this effect is to move farther away from the features and use the telephoto zoom lens in combination with the flash, which is how this image was made. Not only will the light be softer, but cave drapery and other bright cave features to the side will reflect the light soften the shadows.

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

Yosemite's Half Dome with a nearly full moon rising during the winter

During a winter cross-country skiing trip, we were out during the time that the full moon wold be coming up alittle before the sun would set completely. That's what made this shot possible. To have the foreground lit up with the moon in the distance, you have to be out one or two days before the full moon. The Glacier Point Road is closed to cars during the winter, so one has to ski, snowshoe, or snow boot travel from Badger Pass to Glacier Point, a distance of about 10 and a half miles, one way. We camped out in the snow for one night, before heading back to Badger Pass.

In this image, you can see Half Dome, the Clark Range to the right, with Tenaya Canyon and North Dome to the left. The image is the result of merging 4 separate images together to get more detail.

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

Yosemite's "Gateway" from the west to east from Tunnel View area

Yosemite Valley's "Gateway" is the Cathedral Rocks to the south and El Capitan to the north. This view was taken from the Tunnel View looking eastward from above the valley floor. Below the Cathedral Rocks is Bridalveil Falls. Beyond them is Sentinel Dome, in this photo it is covered in snow and showing above the lowest of the Cathedral Rocks. Beyond Sentinel Dome, is Half Dome, Yosemite's most famous land mark. Then, beyond Half Dome, in the center of the photo, is Clouds Rest. It's covered in snow and has a long north-facing slope. Clouds Rest is actually 1000 feet higher in elevation than Half Dome.

We drove to Yosemite from Fresno, California and parked at the popular Tunnel View turnout. However, Rick knows some locations around there that the typical tourist doesn't go to, allowing for a view that's not so common. This image is the combination of 4 images combined in the computer to get much more resolution, as well. The day was sunny despite being in February.

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

Yosemite's "Gateway" from the east, looking west

Yosemite Valley's "Gateway" is the Cathedral Rocks to the south and El Capitan to the north. This view was taken from the Four Mile Trail looking westward about 300 meters (1000 feet) above the valley floor. During the winter, the Four Mile Trail is often closed due to snow, but this winter of 2014, California is in the middle of a drought. We hiked 1.5 miles up the trail, but got this image after about 1 mile. If ordering this image, choose a 2:1 format.

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

Le Trois Teton - Grand, Middle, and South Teton as seen from Hurricane Pass, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

In Grand Teton National Park, most visitors view the Teton Range from the east and look westward. In 1999, Bob and Rick backpacked nearly the length of the Teton Range on the west side. Along the way, we viewed the highest of the Teton Range: Grand, Middle, and South Teton to our east. Along this route, we crossed over Hurricane Pass in the afternoon and had the range illuminated from the west as we looked eastward.This trip took 5 days and we covered around 55 miles, ending at the Jackson Hole Resort and taking the tram down to the valley.

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