This one is another San Diego classic. We took a trip down to La Jolla bay with an eye out for orcas; what we found instead was a wide variety of seafaring birds. In this post I’ll talk through the key to real estate: location location location.

       Sometimes an image just happens, and this is a perfect example of this kind of picture. I was on my way down to a La Jolla beach in San Diego to see (and hopefully take pictures of) some seal pups when this sweet squirrel poked their head out of the bush. Thankfully they stayed long enough for me to snag a this photo. In this post I’ll talk about focus modes and how they fit into the shooting process.

       I’m rather proud of this photo; from start to finish everything went almost exactly the way I wanted and the things that didn’t were well within the scope of “artistic liberty.” In this post I’ll walk through where this shot came from, what I was looking to create, and what I did in post-shoot.

       This one was so hard, I took so many photos and I swear this was the only one that was decently presentable.

       This photo was taken off the coast of Northern San Diego, CA. I had a great time with this shoot as the sun rays through the clouds onto the water made for some beautiful moments

       This post focuses the Gambel’s Quail (Callipepla gambelii), along with a bit more commentary on my photography as compared to the last post.

       Since we moved from the suburbs of Rio Rancho, New Mexico to the slightly less populated suburbs of Rio Rancho, New Mexico these little squirrels have been racing around our property. They are only about four to six inches nose to hind bits (their tail often lays flat on their back), and they love to get into the bird feeders. Today, I will talk about The Harris’s Antelope Squirrel (I think).

       This one was so much fun. Walking down a hill during a zoo trip, this little friend was suddenly very interested and me (and perhaps my camera). They ended up about 8 inches away from me, but my lens couldn’t focus that close to itself, so this is the best half blurry image I could get. So enjoy this little friend with a funky tail!

       During a family trip to the San Francisco Bay Area we went to a small park with a small pond and on that pond was a small family of ducks. This here is one of those ducks doing some small duck preening.

       Shooting the sky is always a fun challenge! This one posed an interesting setup because of the timing of the whole shot. I sat next to my window while working, saw this plane streaking across the sky, reached into my bag to snag my camera, and snapped this shot. Everything managed to come together just right for me. Which is odd; most of the time I find myself with 1000 bad pictures for every one good photo I take. This one, however, was one and done.

       Another tale of taking the camera with you is this shot of (what I think is) the Bahia Hotel in San Diego California. I was out on a paddle boat bay tour having the best Old Fashion that I have ever had when I looked to the west ot see the sun setting over this building. I had to ballance the ISO and shutter speed to keep my field of focus where I wanted it at a higher f-stop, but this nice shot popped out. In this post I’ll talk a little bit about why I tend to keep a camera in my backpack with me wherever I go.

       The Portland Rose Gardens had many a breathtaking green space, this sweet little waterfall out of a pond was near the top of the list. Water is a tricky subject to work with because it is both moving and reflective. Motion is one thing, but the sparkling nature of water is another. I hoped to capture the whole scene in this case instead of focusing on a particular aspect. It proved itself challenging, but ultimately I had a good time scrunched up on the ground trying to take a half decent picture.

       This water feature is located at the Portland Rose Gardens in Portland, OR. What stands out to me about this shot is not the photo itself but all of the photos I chose not to take that day. In this post I will talk about when and why of my photos and ultimately what makes it here.

       This hobby has made me see the world is ways I never thought I could; what was once a sand castle turned into a sweeping landscape, what was once a massive mountain became “the background.” In the case of this shot, boats became a quick shot while I was out with the family. In this post I will talk about how I do photography when I don’t intend to do photography and what a typical “photo shoot” looks like for me.

       Through most of my photos I attempt to recreate exactly what I see with my eye. From the lighting to the focus to the framing, I typically strive to create a photo that is an exact replication of what I see. This photo proved to me that I don’t need to recreate the image in my mind to create a beautiful photograph. In this post I’ll talk about long exposure photos and how I approach the artistry of photography.

      One can’t live in or around Albuquerque without knowing about the Sandia Mountains; they occupy the entire Eastern horizon, tower above the city, and paint the dying evening sky with a remarkable light. This post will mostly be about my fascination with nature as a subject of the lens, but also a bit about my shooting and editing process and where I could stand to make improvements.

      I looked like an absolute goober while taking this picture, but I am pretty happy with what popped out. The lighting was fun to play with on this one, while still being a pain in the backside due to the shadows on the right. Overall, I enjoyed taking this photo as it was a nice time to play with focus and bring out some more dynamic elements of this scene. In this post, I’ll talk about what I did in my photo editor and what I would have done better in the field.

One of the more iconic sights of the great state of New Mexico is the Rio Grande River; a once mighty waterway that rips through the middle of the state, giving life to nutrient rich farming valleys and stunning tree lines in the fall. I snapped this picture in early October, just as the leaves were beginning to change. In this post, I’ll talk about my photographing attitude for a bit.

Distance is often difficult to capture with a kit lens, especially a kit lens that only goes out to 55mm. Wrapping up my Oregon series, I will talk about what kind of challenges I faced while taking this shot along with what notably minimal efforts I took to negate them.

The Salmon river is one of the most remarkable rivers I have seen. Water has always been hard for me to capture, and this river proved to be no different. In this post I’ll talk about how I addressed the movement, contrast, and transparency of the Salmon River.

Welcome to my first photography blog post. I honestly cannot tell you why I am starting a blog amid college, or why I choose nature photography as its subject, yet here we are. I hope you enjoy what you see; we’ll start with a picture I took on a family trip in Zig Zag, Oregon.

I’ll continue my Oregon Forest saga with this shot from a small hike we did off the Zig Zag river. While the scenery blew my mind in the moment, what took me aback after the fact was the quality presented in this image.