Notes To My Mother

Late last Fall a buddy of mine, Mike Cohen (an amazing bird photographer), and I met up in Albuquerque, NM., to photograph sandhill cranes.  The location we photographed was in and around Bosque del Apache during the Festival of the Cranes.  In Bosque dirt roads run through the refuge and you can drive these roads in search of cranes and other wildlife.  One morning we were driving the perimeter and drove past this sweet scene.  We came back a few times hopefully to capture it with some mist on the water along with the morning sunrise lighting up the trees and shrubs.   This was my first encounter with Sandhill Cranes as I had never seen one before this.  At Bosque Del Apache there is no shortage of cranes to see.  They roost at night in the ponds and then relocate at sunrise to the fields where the eat and squabble with each other durning the day.  In the image above the are relocating in the morning light. As night is falling the Sandhill C...

It is a real treat to get up before there is enough light to see where you are going, find the location you want to observe, and sit quietly as the morning reveals itself.  This image over McDonald Lake was taken around 5 am.  The lake was still, the air fresh, birds chirping and very little human activity.  A good time to gather your thoughts. Waiting for the sun as it just begins to peak over the cliffs in the background, there are but a few seconds to capture the star bursts.  A small aperture and a tripod helps to capture them.  This is a two for one starburst with the reflection in the water.  In the foreground is a driftwood with colorful rocks under water. This image was taken the night before the previous images, over Lake McDonald with the peaks in the background.  Some brave and hearty souls get on the High Line Trail and then branch off and go up and over that ridge.  On the other side is east Glacier.  If you go to the east side t...

 In 2017 I visited Glacier with my son in law, Francisco.  We spent three days together and then met up with a photography workshop led by Andy Cook, of Rocky Mountain Reflections and photographed for another five days.  This year I met up with eight good photography buddies three days before the workshop then joined Andy Cook for another five days.  We were all completely exhausted by the time we did our last evening shoot after 8 days of hiking in the park. On our first morning, I looked out my window at 5:30 am and the sky was on fire!  I grabbed my camera and tripod and ran for the shore of Lake McDonald.  We were staying, as before, in Apgar on the west end of the lake.  I caught the above scene and within a few minutes the colors faded.  I later talked with a ranger and he said it was unusual to experience such intense sunrises here, so I felt very lucky. Later that same morning we made our way to the Hidden Lake and Mount Reynolds overlook....

For years I had heard people talk about the Badlands of South Dakota and how they wanted to go there, but every time I looked up images the landscape looked so blah I couldn't understand their interest.  Last year I was invited to help a friend scout the badlands for future workshops.  A group of us met up in Wall, South Dakota and explored the area for five days.  I was blown away by the beauty.  The image above was taken in Cedar Pass in the morning. Highway 240 runs the length of the park taking visitors to a plethora of scenic views.  This image was taken at sunset and we found it along the drive.  The geology here is very interesting and raises all kinds of questions about the formation and erosion processes.  I understand the area is eroded one inch per year which is an astoundingly fast rate. The variations in the colors really sets this place off from other places I have been. Reds, yellows, white, grey. and brown.  In mid day light the co...