In the past, I’ve written and spoken a lot about how planning for landscape photography requires a lot of scouting, and patience. During a recent photo trip to the desert of the American Southwest, I put all three to work while photographing the dramatic badlands found around Caineville, Utah. I started by pouring over satellite
Many nature photographers profess to shoot only natural light because they don’t like flashed-looking pictures. While often said as if it were a badge of honor, this statement is actually an admission that the photographer doesn’t know how to use flash, one of our most important tools! Employed properly, flash can look completely natural and
Possibly the most prominent symbol of Central America’s tropical forests, often seen on posters, puzzles, and greeting cards, is the red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas). These small creatures are only about 5-7 centimeters long, and are very difficult to find in their natural habitat. Tree frogs are green, naturally camouflaged in tropical green forests, and
Devils Tower is one of America’s most famous landscape icons. Location of the alien mothership’s landing in the 1977 blockbuster hit movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the tower is an igneous intrusion standing tall above the surrounding grasslands, revealed by millennia of erosion. When the magma that formed Devils Tower cooled, it contracted,
The total solar eclipse that recently graced the United States has long been on my mind. I first learned of the eclipse at the beginning of the year, and I immediately marked my calendar and started researching potential photography options. The idea of making a wide-angle landscape photo featuring dramatic scenery beneath the eclipsed sun
The Scene Glass frogs, named for their translucent skin, are delicate and elusive. The best conditions to find glass frogs are on rainy nights when they come out to breed in the vegetation overhanging rushing streams. I set out a few years ago on a perfect rainy night in a Costa Rican cloud forest in
I recently got back from a two-week winter trip to Iceland. I was leading a photo tour there most of the time, which limited my ability to make my own photos, but I managed to get a few that I liked. I also got a chance to fly my DJI Phantom 4 drone a bit
While scouting workshop locations in Chile’s famed Torres del Paine National Park last year with good friend and fellow photographer Rodrigo Moraga, we came upon a herd of Guanaco (Lama guanicoe, a camel relative and the wild ancestor of the domesticated llama). Since it was about two hours before sunset, the light wasn’t great, and
Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. In early 2016, an eruption sent lava flowing slowly towards the ocean, the first time in three years. Since August 2016, lava has been dribbling into the ocean, but after a collapse of the cliff at the ocean entry
The leopard is one of the most elusive African predators. When I lead photo tours I always say to my guest that maybe we will not see him – it is nature after all, nothing is guaranteed – but he will see us. He is a master when it comes to hiding in the bush
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