Happy Holidays 2010

The cards are out and we're heading toward that holiday home stretch! Many of you will be receiving a card in the mail, but I didn't want to leave anyone out. Thanks for sharing your experiences, both here and via email, and for checking in with my photographic meanderings throughout the year. I appreciate you all and wish the best for you and yours this holiday season!

Pause for God's station identification

Some photographers have an aversion to sunset pictures. I should clarify, not pictures of something AT sunset, but rather straight-up pictures of sunsets. I imagine the rationale may be they are fairly commonplace and overdone or potentially the novelty has simply worn off for them. After 26 years in Alaska, I don't believe the lure of warm sand at my feet and one of nature's best shows will ever get old for me! My wife and I try to catch it as often as we can and every once in awhile, I bring my camera. Oftentimes, it's perfection in an imperfect world. The crisp lines, unreal colors and seamless gradation in tones are elements any camera would be jealous of. For me, the beauty of creation and in particular sunsets, are a glimpse of the reality beyond the present and future one in which we live. God's fingerprints are all over, but like many caught in the rat race, a daily reminder is precisely what I need.

Itchin' and scratchin' to get backpackin'

It's safe to say my hobby is landscape photography. Much of my downtime is spent on Google Earth, Google image searches and mapquest. My friend and I had our own harrowing experience a year and a half ago in Coyote Buttes detailed here,http://masterworkimage.blogspot.com/2009/07/wave.html, but we went on a whim, hadn't researched much and only had two hours there before dark. Turns out there are actually two buttes, North and South, adding more to an already overwhelming experience of natural beauty. During winter, freezing temperatures apparently deter visitors = ) and the BLM website actually has available permits (albeit attained via lottery) on their website in the near future. Admittedly, a permit may make the visit a bit less adventuresome, but it would be legal.

For perspective on the bowl image above, I'm leaning against the far wall toward the center in the image below.

Below is a snapshot of the surrounding terrain.