Photography has been an interest of mine for years, but I’ve only recently returned to it. Photographs don’t merely capture a memory but allow for considerable artistic expression. Ansel Adams said that the secret to a good photograph is location. How the photographer chooses the composition is as important as the geography. In post processing, the photographer can choose to crop, color, lighten and darken areas just like a painting. They can combine different objects and alter perspective.
My primary interest is landscape photography, but I also enjoy drone photography. I’m especially enjoying Milky Way photography. In May, I took an extended trip to the American Southwest. My time in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico reminded me of the importance of getting outside and spending time under the stars. I’m currently planning a trip to Southern California to continue developing some new ideas.
I’ve been focusing on learning how to professionally print, mat, and frame my photos. Friends have encouraged me to make them available for purchase. I’ve recently entered a few of them in a local art show. I hope you enjoy these. Some of the photos here are a demonstration of being a work in progress. Especially for the Milky Way photos, conditions and location have to be perfect to get a shot that is spectacular. I think a few of these qualify, while others can be appreciated as essentially being in utero. I have some aerial photos that are wonderful but not currently listed here. These are also landscape photos. Let me know if you are interested.
For any photos that you would like to purchase, I’m currently printing, matting, labeling, signing, framing, and shipping them one at a time. It typically takes about 2 weeks from the time they are ordered until they will be received. All photographs are on a high quality, luster-metallic coating, semi-gloss paper. The prints are 13×19 and in a 22×28 frame. I’ve printed on 8.5×14 paper but the larger ones are so much better. The luster-metallic paper, especially for the Milky Way Photos, really shimmers. If you’d like to hang one of these on your wall, head over to my store to order one. The photos displayed here are smaller jpgs. If I eventually sell the digital versions, they will be the larger .tiff files.
Photos
#1- Factory Butte, Utah- I took this photo in May 2025. The landscape of Southern Utah is extraordinary and unique. To get to this location I had to drive a pretty rough road to the northern end of the butte and plan it out during the day. I returned that evening and took a “blue hour” photo to capture details of the butte and surrounding land. The Milky Way shot happened around 2:30 in the morning.
#2- Arches National Park- Milky Way. May 2025. It was pitch dark when I hiked to the rear of this arch. I had scouted it out during the day and marked the path on GPS. Setting up my tripod on the side of the hill was a challenge because of the loose, almost volcanic earth. At dusk I had gotten a photo to capture the details of the arch and returned to capture the galactic core of the Milky Way when it passed through the eye of the arch around 2 am. There’s something so peaceful and healing about being in the quiet under the stars.
#3- Mountain Run Lake, Culpeper, VA. July 2025. I’ve always tended to take photographs on sunny days, because I love the look of a deep blue sky but on this cloudy day, I decided to visit a lake near my home. The dark clouds muted the colors and lent the scene to a Black and White image. I took this with a long exposure to create a smooth and mostly disturbance free appearance. If you look closely at the summit of the tallest branch you will see a bald eagle.
#4- Molas Lake, CO. May 2025. About an hour north of Durango, CO you can find Molas Lake. This and Little Molas Lake beside it are both breathtaking. The day I got there, the weather was perfect and there was no one else around. The scriptures tell us that the heavens declare the glory of God, but the mountains are pretty efficient at it as well.
#5- Courthouse Butte, Sedona, AZ- May, 2025. I arrived here around 5:30 pm. People were still hiking through the area and taking pictures. I wanted to find a location with some items of interest in the near, middle ground, and distance. There were a few colorful flowers, cacti, and the remnants of a tree and of course the butte in the middle ground. Being a new moon, the Milky Way was dramatic. I took a nice “blue hour” photo to capture the plants and landscape and remained until after 1:30 to get the Milky Way. Sedona is a beautiful place but during the day, the temperature was over 105 degrees so scouting locations meant drinking a lot of water.
#6- Valley of the Gods, UT- May 2025. I scouted out this location during the day but failed to get a blue hour shot from here. Even with a 30-second exposure, the new moon didn’t provide enough light to get a sharp landscape photo, but the sky was spectacular. One of the tricks you can use to get light onto your foreground is to “paint with light” but even my car’s headlights were soaked up like a sponge in the dark. It was 2 in the morning and these campers may have wondered who was on the bluff behind them with their headlights on. Valley of the Gods doesn’t appear to be a heavily visited site but the scenery is straight out of an old Hollywood Western.
#7- Sedona, AZ- May 2025. While I was waiting to take the photo of Courthouse Butte and Milky Way, this is the scene that was behind me. The landscape there seemed to match the temperature that day- hot.
#8- Aspens- Hogan’s Pass, UT- May 2025. Stopping at the peak of Hogan’s Pass I decided to hike to the summit of the hill that was next to it. The altitude forced me to stop every 20 steps or so as I neared the summit, but the view was magnificent. I’m grateful that no bears decided to have me for lunch. I walked through of grove of these beautiful Aspen trees near the base of the trail. My understanding is that Aspens are not individual trees but exist as a colony of trees. This particular tree is connected to all of the trees behind it. Additionally, they are some of the oldest trees in the country.
#9- Arches National Park, UT- May 2025
#10- Spud Lake, CO. May 2025.
I enjoyed the hike to this beautiful lake. The drive to the trailhead- not so much. The road getting to the trailhead was undoubtedly the worst I’ve ever driven on. While I had a jeep, it was a smaller one and I don’t think I ever went over 3 mph for the duration of that drive. Upon returning from the hike, I realized I’d left my favorite hiking hat there. I’m hoping someone’s gotten good use out of it.
Each 13×19# photo will be matted, labeled, signed, and framed in black 22×28″ wood frame under clear plexiglass.
