Eggleston Lake Grand Mesa National Forest, Colorado Spending time alone in the woods has offered up some of the most special times in my life. In my early twenties, I spent two years living alone in an ancient Redwood forest; so, like anything that you spend a lot of time doing, I developed a knack for solo camping. I love driving up an old forest road deep into the woods, way beyond where the typical camper goes, and enjoying the sights and sounds of the forest. It’s never scary being in the woods alone; it’s actually a deeply introspective and cathartic experience! I built this fire from downed wood I harvested in the forest and spent the evening listening to the crackling flames and trying to capture the scene with my camera. I had this exact image in my mind of the fire in the foreground with the silhouette of the trees and stars in the background. It was not easy to capture until I realized that lighting up the grass behind the flames with my headlamp was the perfect way to balance the extremes in lighting. This allowed the camera to pick up both the fire and the background in one clean shot! I love the resulting shot and the deeply personal message it represents to me. Image Code: A033
Lærdalsøyri, Norway Typically speaking, photographers avoid shooting during the middle of the day. Mid day lighting is often too harsh when the sun is high in the sky, which can cause even the most stunning composition to lose its impact. However, there are always expectations to the rule and sometimes a photo just works so well that even unappealing lighting can’t stop it from being memorable. Such is the case with this photo; I just love the composition and the beauty of the crystal clear reflections in the water. It’s just so simple that no post-processing went into it at all. Here is the funny thing: this photo was captured outside of a Norwegian gas station! As I was filling up my car with some of the worlds most expensive gas (at almost 10$ a gallon!) this mountain and and lake caught my eye. I decided to take a walk around the lake and this composition jumped out at me! A single shot was all I needed to capture the scene effectively. To this day, it is still one of my favorite images and I found it totally by chance! Image Code: A017
Lærdalsøyri, Norway Typically speaking, photographers avoid shooting during the middle of the day. Mid day lighting is often too harsh when the sun is high in the sky, which can cause even the most stunning composition to lose its impact. However, there are always expectations to the rule and sometimes a photo just works so well that even unappealing lighting can’t stop it from being memorable. Such is the case with this photo; I just love the composition and the beauty of the crystal clear reflections in the water. It’s just so simple that no post-processing went into it at all. Here is the funny thing: this photo was captured outside of a Norwegian gas station! As I was filling up my car with some of the worlds most expensive gas (at almost 10$ a gallon!) this mountain and and lake caught my eye. I decided to take a walk around the lake and this composition jumped out at me! A single shot was all I needed to capture the scene effectively. To this day, it is still one of my favorite images and I found it totally by chance! Image Code: A018
