Return To Glacier National Park, 2023

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. It is about a mile and a half uphill hike from the parking lot at Logans Pass. It was made a bit more difficult on this climb by the snow drifts we had to cross which were slushy and slippery and there were several of them, which at the time seemed endless. Of the eight of us that started out, three of us made it all the way. It was a rewarding trek in no small part because the views on the way up were wonderful.

If you spend any time on the West side of Glacier, Avalanche Gorge is a must see. Avalanche Creek flows out of Avalanche Lake just up the road from Lake McDonald (to the east). There is a relatively contained portion of Avalanche Creek that flows through a gorge and the beauty is top notch as if flows over very colorful red rocks. The water has a special blue green color and that along with the white water against the rocks and sides of the gorge are special.

This scene is just above the gorge. It is a pleasant walk from here to Avalanche Lake. I was trying to get closer to those pools of water to get the reflection of the trees but the rocks were VERY slippery and I had to retreat. Falling and drowning are the two leading causes of death in Glacier.

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Mesa Arch & The Washer Woman

When the first light of the day hits the underside of an arch in Canyon Lands or Arches National Parks they glow a beautiful shades of crimson much like those found in slot canyons. A magnificent example is Mesa Arch located in Canyon Lands, Utah. However, as with many of the more popular photography spots, if you want to get a good shot you have to be there early. We were staying in Moab and it was about an hour’s travel time from the motel to getting on site at the arch. But arriving at or near sunrise would not be sufficient, we had to be there at least two hours before sunrise in other to have assurance of a front row seat. This is one of the parts shooting sunrises that I enjoy tremendously. Getting up around 3 am, traveling to the site under the stars, walking in to the location in the dark and setting up without being able to see the whole scene that is going to unfold. On this morning we had a treat. We were the first ones there so we could pick our spots. But more...

Art Display At The Center For Spiritual Living, Santa Rosa

The Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa, has a wonderful program that encourages artist members to display their work. The work is hung in the Social Hall and typically has about twenty pieces hanging for two months at a time. On March 1rst I will be hanging several images taken in Iceland, along with some wildlife images, including foxes, coyotes, eagles and kites. I will also have some paintings by my mother and two of my own. I am pretty excited about this showing. One of the pictures I will have in the show is of Godafoss, a beautiful waterfall in Iceland. When I first saw pictures of this waterfall I knew I wanted to go to Iceland to take pictures of it. This composition required gettin into some very cold water.

Aurora Borealis May 10: A Northern Lights Extravaganza

As a quick update: All of these images were taken on the night of May 10-11, 2024. on San Juan Island WA. We were taken by surprise in the middle of our vacation when it was announced there was to be an aurora display that would likely be visible from our location. What an understatement! What we witnessed was simply out of this world. We saw colors I did not know existed in the auroras, especially the light pinks and, of all things, orange (neon). There were four of us on the grounds at the Trumpeter Inn during the "show". I was the only one with a DSLSR camera so the others would see something interesting and I would point my camera in that direction and take a timed exposer. Most were in the 15 to 20 second length. At one point, Jan looked up straight overhead and saw something that was quite unusual; it looked like some kind of convergence. I pointed the camera overhead and took this picture, which I find startling....

Notes To My Mother

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