Recent Work

Canyon thunderstorm

The Holy Grail of landscape photography. A thunderstorm in a fantastic location at sunset. This was probably one of the most beautiful storms I've ever witnessed in the Grand Canyon. Seen from Hopi Point on the south rim, this cell moved westward towards the sunset for about 30 minutes before breaking up. Nikon Z7 24mm 1/15s f/11 ISO64 Lightning Trigger IV

Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley

A windy day on the dunes with afternoon backlighting. The blowing dust gave the dunes a frosty appearance. Nikon Z7

A Lonely Butte, Utah

This shot is a bit of an illusion. As we first approached the area, the partly cloudy sky was shading the butte making it appear to be a dark gray color. I was able to time the shot just as the shade covered only the butte. It's actually a darker shade of the tan area in front of the butte. An unusual take on a distinctive area in the Utah badlands.

White Pocket

This is a subarea of the Coyote Buttes formation in northern Arizona. Access is a challenging drive, but the unusual landscape is well worth the effort.

Navajo Point sunset

A rather hazy/smoky sunset taken in the summer of 2019. That summer the canyon was particularly affected by the western forest fires, including a fire on the north rim. A black and white version seems to bring out the canyon layers in the distance. Nikon D850, 70mm, f/8, 1/500, ISO 250

Smoky sunset, Yaki Point

The summer of 2020 was also very smoky from the western fires. The smoke was dense enough to allow a direct shot of the sun, and would reflect the orange shades deep into the canyon. Nikon D850, 200mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 400

Mohave Point dusk

A blue hour shot from Mohave Point on the south rim in July 2021. The storm in the distance was a harbinger of the active monsoon season of 2021. Nikon Z7, 67mm, 2.0s, f/13, ISO 64

Line of Fire, Pima Point

The late day storms of 2021 often left an opening on the horizon to the west that would allow some brilliant sun to backlight the passing curtains of rain. Shot taken right after sunset. Nikon D850, 46mm, 1/13, f/8, -2EV, ISO 400

Hopi Tempest 1

This shot begins a series of images from a thunderstorm seen from Hopi Point. This was one of the most electrically active storms I've ever seen in the canyon. For nearly 20 minutes there were numerous individual and multiple flashes, often deep with the downpour. This is one of the holy grails of landscape photography, a lightning storm at sunset. Nikon Z7. 30mm, 1/10s, f/10, ISO 64, lightning trigger

Hopi Tempest 2

As the storm began to expand and move slowly westward, the lightning can be seen shooting back into the rain cloud.

Hopi Tempest 3

A crop shot of the storm as it spread out and the sun began to set producing the pinkish tones in the cloud. Nikon Z7, 21mm, 1/10s, f/13, ISO 64

Hopi Tempest 4

The storm begins to dissipate catching even more of the setting sun, but the electrical discharges continued, with this bolt weaving into the cloud before hitting the ground.

Storm over Pima

This was the beginning of a dramatic sunset thunderstorm. The sun was setting to the left of the storm. And while the beginning was dramatic, it slowly developed into an electrically active storm cell. Much to my delight.

Pima Storm 2

This bolt appeared to move through the cloud and illuminate part of it before hitting the ground. Nikon D850, 50mm, 1/30s, f/8, ISO 400

Pima Storm 3

As the sky darkened, this storm intensified. This bolt seemed to circle through the rain, never touching the ground. Nikon D850, 62mm, cropped, 1/15s, f/9, ISO 400, Lightning Trigger

Pima Storm 4

The storm widened as the setting sun hit the edges of the canyon. This produces shadows of the terrain making it appear like sunbeams projecting into the chasm. Nikon D850, 35mm, 1/15s, f/8, ISO 400, lightning trigger

Storm Maricopa

An evening sunset looking east from Maricopa Point on the South Rim. While there was nothing interesting in the western sky, this large thunderstorm cloud was slowly moving over the canyon and caught the last light of the setting sun. I barely had time to set up the lightning trigger and catch this solo strike. Nikon Z7, 33mm, 1/15s, f/10, ISO250, lightning trigger

Ring of Fire

This image from late summer 2020 is one of the most dramatic lightning shots I've taken. The day was gray and dull, but this short but intense microburst over Bright Angel canyon had some amazing lightning. I struggled to edit the image in color, but finally decided the moment was not about the color, rather the energy of the event. So a black and white version seems the most successful to me. Nikon D850, 27mm, 1/15s, f/5.6, ISO 250, lightning trigger

North Rim Drama

A storm as seen from Cape Royal in the late afternoon. Heavy rain and clouds but no electrical discharges while I was there. The light from the west was very bright and other storms were developing there. Nikon Z7, 16mm, 1/15s, f/13, ISO 200

Hail Wotan

As I watched the storm in the previous image, this cell was developing further west. As I took this shot I could see it was rapidly moving in my direction. There was no lightning but it was already raining at my location. I quickly packed up and headed to the Jeep. Five minutes later the hail started. Welcome to monsoon season, one of the best I've experienced in many years. Nikon Z7, 16mm, 1/15s, f/16, ISO 200

Monument Creek, Grand Canyon

I tried all summer to get a good shot of this unique vista. The left side was usually in deep shade, while the right often had bight illumination making for a difficult high contrast scene. This was a stormy day with occasional breaks in the clouds, finally allowing natural light with lower contrast to spill over the colors and textures of this large ravine. Nikon Z7, 23mm, 1/30s, f/9.0, ISO 200

South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon

After years of capturing the grand vistas of the canyon, I began to take more notice of some distinctive details of the park. This is a early sunrise view of a zig-zag trail from Oneil Butte down to the Tonto plateau and then to the river. Nikon D850, 86mm, 1/40s, f/9.0, ISO400, exposure bracketed

Desert View Detail

The summer of 2021 was mostly spared the smoke from the western fires. Occasional evenings of dappled light through the partly cloudy skies provided some highlights of canyon structures. This rocky point is part of Cardenas Butte seen from Navajo Point. Nikon Z7, 120mm, 1/400s, f/10, ISO400