You know that photo NASA took back in the '90s with the Hubble telescope called the Pillars of Creation? Well, that iconic photo was the first photo to get me interested in space. This is my first attempt photographing the Eagle Nebula, which if you look closely, features the pillars in the center. I ended [...]

The family and I finally took an actual vacation (since the kids were on Spring Break). We decided to go down to Pismo Beach for a couple days. The weather was a bit cold, but everyone had a great time. I was able to sneak away for an evening at Shell Beach to explore some [...]

Having shot most of the beginner winter astrophotography targets already, the famous Rosette Nebula was next. The major accomplishment on this one was the fact that it includes over 8 hours of integration from multiple nights.  

Although this is a winter target for me, it seems very fitting of what California looks like in the summer... on fire! I finally feel like I am making decent progress with this very difficult niche of photography. From an image capture standpoint, I've made a lot of errors, but continue to learn from them [...]

This composition of Orion's Belt, that includes the Orion and Horsehead nebulae, has been on my "to-do" list ever since I got into astrophotography. I've shot them each individually, but I really wanted to get them in a single shot for ease of processing, printing, etc. For this, I used my 275mm Radian Raptor and [...]

We finally had some nights without clouds and rain, that coincided with a new moon, which gave me the opportunity to shoot the Horsehead Nebula sitting in Orion's Belt. By no means is it award winning, but I'm happy with the progress I'm making. This is 20 x 5 minute exposures with dark and flat [...]

Like most people, I've had a lot more time at home recently than I'd probably like. Add to that a baby that doesn't like sleeping through the night and you get the perfect recipe for astrophotography. I mean, what better use of time in the middle of the night do you have? The 3 photos [...]

Another great Father's Day in the books. My brother just moved out to Tennessee, but he and his 2 kids flew back out to keep the tradition alive. We ended up camping at Goose Lake and then doing a day hike to Long Lake nearby. This photo is from Big Bear Lake on the way [...]

I was on my way to Truckee to shoot 3 houses when I came upon this beautiful scene right after passing over the summit. This is just a handheld panorama from the vista point coming into Truckee. The fresh snow, thick fog and pastel sunrise were just too good to pass up.

I've always been fascinated by the stars since as far back as I can remember. I've done star trail and milky way photography before, but am now just getting into deep sky astrophotography. It's a little tough from the light polluted skies in my backyard (Bortle class 7), but waiting for a moonless night with [...]

It's been a long time since I've been out taking landscape photos with all this shelter in place stuff, working harder and more than ever, etc. With all that, the family and I took a short camping trip to Silver Lake to escape the heat in the valley. The trip was full of ups and [...]

Since I've been diving deeper into the film photography world, I knew it was time to try 6x17 panoramic film. The dedicated cameras for that format are rediculously expensive, so I sought out other options. I was able to find a company out of Italy that uses a 3D printer to make the camera that [...]

Whenever I get a free afternoon/evening and don't have much time to travel far, I usually head up to Auburn to take some photos along the river. The river was really low, which made some new rocks appear that I've never seen before. I found a cool hole worn away in the rock that reminded [...]

While on my weekend getaway to the Sierra Buttes, I shot a handful of sheets of 4x5 film. Since I mostly focused on shooting digital, I didn't get peak light on film. Though the vibrancy of Velvia was ridiculous even without amazing colors in the sky. Here is a black and white photo of sunrise [...]

I try to visit the Sierra Buttes at least once every year. It is by far my favorite “local” spot to visit for the amazing scenery and relatively small crowds that visit. For nearly 10 years, I’ve tried photographing these mountains at sunrise, sunset, midnight, winter, etc. and never really come away with a photo [...]

For our annual Father’s Day backpacking trip, we visited Shealor Lakes just off of Highway 88 near Kirkwood. It was a fairly short hike in terms of distance, but had a decent amount of elevation change considering my little one wasn’t much help with carrying his own pack. I’m guessing I was carrying close to [...]

Apparently we planned our vacation to San Diego right when the sun lines up with the Scripps Pier in La Jolla at sunset, which explains why I made sure to avoid the crowds and come at sunrise. Here are a few early morning shots from under the pier (when the light didn't cooperate nearly as [...]

My wife had a work conference (free hotel) in "sunny" San Diego, so I took a mini vacation with her and the kids. It was overcast most of the trip and actually fairly cold/windy. On one of the nights she had off, I had the choice of visiting Ballast Point Brewing or doing some photography. [...]

Here it is, the 5th and final bridge shot, Fair Oaks Bridge. The others from the series being No Hands Bridge, Rainbow Bridge, Tower Bridge and Guy West Bridge. This was surprisingly the hardest bridge to shoot out of all 5 of them. I took multiple trips here looking at the bridge from every angle, [...]

Here is the 4th (out of 5) installment in my commissioned landscape photos of bridges around the Sacramento area. The others are No Hands Bridge in Auburn, Rainbow Bridge in Folsom and Tower Bridge in Sacramento. Although I was treated with a wonderful sunset, the pungent smell of pot and swarms of mosquitoes really killed [...]

This is the 3rd in a series of bridges I've been commissioned to photograph around the Sacramento area. No Hands Bridge was first and Rainbow Bridge Folsom was second. I stayed through sunset, but ultimately selected a long exposure about an hour before sunset because the yellow Tower Bridge stands out so much more against the [...]

I've been commissioned to take a handful of landscape focused photos of some of the more iconic bridges in the Sacramento area with the goal of creating a cohesive set of images highlighting the area for a corporate office lobby. I already have a shot of No Hands Bridge in Auburn and now have this [...]

This location has been on my shoot list for a couple years now as it is one of only a handful of waterfalls that flow directly into the ocean. The timing just hasn't been right because the creek only flows after a good rain and it is about a 3 hour drive each way. Sure, [...]

The family and I spent Sunday at the San Francisco Zoo, drove down to visit some friends in Half Moon Bay, hit up Martins Beach around sunset and then spent the night in Santa Cruz. Since we were staying a few minutes away from Natural Bridges, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to shoot the location [...]

Martins Beach is probably one of the most unique and picturesque beaches along the California coast with its unmistakable jagged rocks. The beach has been in the news recently with a wealthy landowner trying to make it a "private" beach, so I was a little unsure if we'd be able to make it down to [...]

Here is one from the archives (about 6 years ago) as I realized I had never posted the panorama shot of the falls. I definitely need to go back here!

We finally got some rain in Northern California, so I had planned to go to a waterfall along the coast that only flows right after a rain. We left our house around 11am, figuring 6 hours was long enough to drive 3 hours, hike and get setup before sunset. Unfortunately, we hit some pretty horrible [...]

On my way back from another architectural shoot in Truckee, I stopped by a spot along the Yuba River that had a ton of fall color hoping to get a shot of some rapids with colorful trees in the background. Unfortunately, there just wasn't good light and I couldn't find a composition I liked. As [...]

Here I am, just minding my own business, driving to Tahoe for some architectural photography when I start to see the makings of a beautiful sunrise. The timing couldn't be better as I pass by the Emigrant Gap vista point and see the valley below also filled with fog. I didn't have much time to [...]

After being rained on (and nearly snowed on over Spooner Summit) earlier in the day doing architectural photography for FiveWest Interiors in Reno and Zephyr Cove, I stopped by Downtown Truckee for a fall color photo on the way home. The passing storms created some wonderful movement in the clouds that just begged for a [...]

Wow, the autumnal colors are going off this year at Lake Tahoe! I’ve been trying to get a nice panorama of the lake, but just haven't found the right location until now. After hours and hours of research on Google Maps, I finally found a location that I’d seen before in a few photos, but [...]

After a long hot/smokey summer, it felt pretty good to escape to the Fort Bragg area for a couple days camping on the beach with my family and my brother's family. We were pretty socked in with fog most of the time (we couldn't even see the waves crashing a hundred feet away at times). [...]

The family and I went scouting on Donner Summit a few weeks ago trying to find a new photo location (I didn't bring my camera gear for that trip since we were just exploring as a family). It didn't take us too long, but we found a fallen tree with roots wrapped around a rock. [...]

For our annual Father's Day backpacking trip, we had planned on setting up camp along the Pacific Crest Trail between Highway 80 and Donner Pass Road. My brother and dad went out a day before me and ultimately decided it wasn't a great location for a variety of reasons. So we decided to go to [...]

Although I didn't get that great of a sunset, this shot on Ektar 100 was by far my favorite from the trip. I know people rave about Velvia, but so far I am definitely more of a fan of Ektar. This was shot on Delta 100 before sunset (and before the rambunctious tourists knocked over [...]

After a very dry December/January/February, we finally got a decent amount of rain in early March. With late Winter through early Spring typically being the best time for photographing waterfalls and me wanting to get the kids out hiking more, I figured Table Mountain would be a good location as there aren't many trails and [...]

I've always been intrigued with large format film photography; the slow pace, unmatched quality/resolution and not knowing if you got the shot until weeks later when the film has been processed/scanned. Since I primarily shoot with a Nikon D850, which claims to be on the same level as medium format film, I knew I had [...]

While in Santa Cruz for a family vacation, I knew I had to visit Natural Bridges for a sunset photo. I guess the rest of the town thought they would do the same because it was very crowded. Nothing real special in terms of sunset color, but still nice to be out shooting with my [...]

Just a simple 2 minute long exposure panorama at Davenport Beach as I waited for the sun to rise. Not my usual style of landscape photo since it is very minimalistic, but I think it is still nice to look at.

Last time I was at this location, a big wave came in and soaked me (damaging part of my camera in the process). I apparently didn't learn from my past experience and found myself standing in about 3' of rushing water trying to knock me over. Luckily there wasn't any damage to my camera or [...]

The weather looked interesting enough this afternoon that the family and I decided to make a quick trip to Auburn to check out No Hands Bridge at sunset. My wife took the kids for a walk across the bridge while I scurried down the hillside to find a composition. I found this rock with an [...]

What more can you ask for? Fall foliage, fog and clouds that grab the first light of sunrise. Oh, and one of the best views in the area. I went a bit unconventional with the camera setup on this photo. I knew I wanted to use one of my tilt shift lenses to help with [...]

When you are forced to go to San Francisco early for work, it only makes sense to take a small detour to Treasure Island for sunrise. I had planned on checking out a small sea cave along the shore, but while climbing over the boulders to get there in the dark I saw 3 pairs [...]

Since I was not fortunate enough to have any clouds for my sunset photo at North Lake, I figured I'd try to squeeze in a Milky Way shot of Bishop Creek (just West of Aspendell) looking up towards the mountains. I knew it was a bit late in the year to attempt a Milky Way [...]

Highway 395 along the Eastern Sierra is probably one of the most beautiful drives in California during the Fall. The whole Bishop Creek area outside of Bishop usually turns a vibrant yellow/orange/red in early October and it has always been on my list of places to photograph. Even though I wasn't feeling well, I made [...]

My wife and I were given a 2 night stay in South Lake Tahoe this weekend (thanks Judy!). I somehow convinced my wife to go up with the kids early Friday afternoon so I would have to drive separately and have my own car for some astrophotography. Bonsai Rock, on the east shore of Lake [...]

The Kalalau Lookout is probably one of the most beautiful locations I've been to. Had our trip not been so last minute, I definitely would have made sure to get a permit and backpack the Kalalau Trail. Since there aren't too many compositions of this location and fiery sunsets are very rare, I had the [...]

How people come to Kauai and not make the hour or so drive to Waimea Canyon blows my mind. We talked to so many people that said it was too far or too windy to go see. I might even go as far as saying it was my favorite part of our trip and I [...]

Since this is one of Kauai's more powerful falls, I definitely wanted to make sure to at least take a photo while we were there. The waterfall is beautiful from the top, but I was looking for a more unique view and something different. Before coming to Kauai, I watched a handful of YouTube videos [...]

Our flight, with time change, had us landing in Kauai in the early afternoon. That gave us just enough time to get a car (we opted for a convertible), get checked into the hotel and then drive up to the North side of the island for sunset. After countless hours of researching beaches via Google [...]

Since we were fortunate enough to be attending a wonderful family wedding in Galena yesterday afternoon, it only made sense to make the short trip over the mountains to Lake Tahoe for sunset. As we came into Incline Village, I wasn't sure whether to try something along the east shore like Bonsai Rock or Sand [...]

To continue our yearly tradition of going backpacking on Father's Day, we headed up to the Sierra Buttes. Even though we technically didn't "backpack" this year and actually stayed in a campground, we did do a day hike up to Volcano Lake. For a relatively short hike, it sure beats all the crowds down at [...]

I've imagined this photo in my head for years, but have just been waiting for the stars of the Milky Way to literally align with the horizon of Yosemite on a moonless night. Summer is the best time of year for this, so there are only a handful of moonless nights that it can happen. I [...]

I've been so completely busy with architectural photography recently that I haven't had a chance to get out and shoot many landscapes. So here is a long exposure from last year that I haven't released until now. After scrambling down the rocky cliffside through the snow and finding the spot that frames Donner Lake under [...]