Gargoyles in Finland, 11.16
Three hours (or so) outside of Las Vegas is a place with some real magic that’s known as Little Finland. Its a small spectacular landscape feature found on BLM land and accessed via...
Four Corners Roadtrip, 08.16
I began planning for a long vacation (two weeks) earlier in the year. It had been six years since taking that much time off. I began looking at a big route through the Four Corners Area (UT, CO, NM, AZ) back in the beginning of the year...
Beaded Hatband, 08.16
I always find inspiration when I get out of town and have the time to see things and explore, and the Southwest is one of my favorite places to find this inspiration. On my recent vacation, I loved looking at the Native American vendor’s beadwork but my brain would always say “Lets do that.”, so rather than buying a piece I ended up buying the stuff to make it...
200 Series Destination Club - Ouray, CO, 08.16
Earlier this year I traded in my Tundra for a low-mileage 2014 200 Series Land Cruiser, which lead to a complete resorting of my camping equipment. Coinciding with a long vacation a group organized on iH8Mud.com was organizing their second annual 200 Series meet in Ouray, CO. The timing was perfect so...
Casein and Gouache, 06.16
Had the opportunity to do a bit of painting while on vacation visiting my folks so experimented with Caesin (a new medium to me) as well as some Gouache. Caesin is a water based milk protein based paint, is quick drying as well as maintains a bit of a body when its dry. Gouache is also...
Anza Geo, 05.16
I’ve been feeling the need to create some original artwork as something of a creative outlet lately so decided to take on a full-sheet (30″ x 22″) watercolor project. Its been years since I’ve worked this scale in watercolor. I had experimented with some smaller geometric watercolors and knew that I wanted to take this bigger. So, here we go…
Anza Borrego Surprise, 05.16
On a whim I decided to spend the weekend out exploring Anza-Borrego State Park. I’d never spent any time there so I really looked forward to exploring and taking some pics. I know my Great Grandparents spent time camping and rock hounding out there, so its been on my bucket list...
Stained Glass Sunbeams, 03.16
Its been several months since I did any stained glass work, fortunately I remedied that this weekend. I had a rough idea and also wanted to make this be my biggest piece yet. So I began with some sketches in an application called Concept. Sketching on the iPad will take some getting used to, but its something...
Winter Watercolors, 2014
I was rummaging through the art closet this week and ran across a number of watercolors that I did in late fall and early winter 2014 and realized...
LandOps Savahia, 02.16
About a year ago a friend of mine (@aventuraseeker) mentioned an event called Land Ops (www.LandOps.com or www.meetup.com/LandOps/. In short, a Land Ops event is a group activity of four-wheeling and geocaching with HAM radios used for communications and control. After lurking on their site for a while I made it out to one of their mini-ops and was totally...
Little Finland, 01.16
I was catching up on some overland forum reading and saw mention of this place called Little Finland in Eastern Nevada. I had never heard of it and did some quick research and quickly put it on my proverbial to do list. Fortunately I was headed to...
Reprocess & Remaster, 11.15
I had the time to reprocess and remaster some of my older shots after migrating out of Aperture and into Lightroom. Shots that at the time I liked a lot, and now (10 or more years later) I still like. Today’s Lightroom (CC 15) offers features and performance that was only imagined. Ansel Adams would be in love with today’s tools. Having said that...
Fall Color in Northern UT, 09.15
Some months ago I got pitched a free two-night stay by a very nice and successful sales woman from Hilton Grand Resorts. The catch: TIMESHARE PRESENTATION...
Little Red Rust Bucket, 2011
The Little Red Rust Bucket (LRRB for short) came into existence in the spring and summer of 2011 after doing research for months on small adventure / expedition trailers. They’re available for purchase but tend to be pretty pricey so I decided...
Beautiful Fragments, 2010
Back in mid 2010 I discovered a lens from Canon, the MP-E 65mm. Its a dedicated macro lens capable of capturing up to 5x magnification on a full frame sensor. Its used for scientific and forensic work as well as lots of people shooting insects. Hmmm… “bugs” didn’t really interest me until I saw...
Goldwell Residency, 10.09
I applied in mid 2009 and was granted a two week stay (they prefer a four week residency but that wasn’t possible for me). I loaded up my ride (then a Subaru Outback XT) and headed out through Death Valley to Rhyolite. As part of the residency...
Non-Wedding Photographer shoots a Wedding, 07.15
...I think wedding photographers have something of a bad rap. That is serious work, and its not over when the wedding is done. I run location shoots complete with stylists, crews, talent, etc. a bunch of times a year and shooting the ceremony and other festivities is more work on the spot than...
White Rim Road, 06.15
The White Rim Road (seen in the foreground) is an approximately 100 mile loop around the middle level of Canyonlands National Park. Spectacular views and a wholly surreal drive compared to a daily cross-town commute. Permits are required but relatively...
Cathedral Valley, 06.15
Knowing that I was going to be in Northern Utah for a work photoshoot I planned some vacation days after that shoot to hit a couple spots in Southern Utah. Namely Cathedral Valley and also secured permits for the White Rim Road. This was my third time through Cathedral, it is a great drive...