Virginia City sits right in the heart of the old Comstock Silver Rush and prospered in the 1860s. It is considered to be one of the oldest established communities in the state of Nevada. The town is now a National Historic Landmark and is a lot of fun to visit, but one of the most interesting things in the town is actually the cemetery. The cemetery is walking distance from the down town and has grave sites of many old settlers, minors and inhabitance of Virginia City. This headstone is one of the many interesting and beautiful that can be found here.
This is a classic shot of the lower Yosemite Falls taken from the bride. The power of this falls is felt by the mist, wind and sound that is created as the water cascades off this final ledge as it enters Yosemite Valley. There is enough force to push mist and wind down to where I am composing the shot, enough to make me have to wipe down the lens between shots.
A couple months ago I hiked down to photograph one of the several flumes that follow the Truckee River through the canyon between Truckee and Verdi. During the winter after many very cold days the water that continually leaks out freezes into incredible icicles and ice sculptures. For years I have driven by on my way up or down the hill and finally I decided to hike down and photograph them. My main goal was to photograph the flume and the ice, but as I was photographing I saw these two Canadian Geese wonder buy.
In a walk around downtown Reno last week I shot this as I walked under the Wells Street Overpass. I was attracted to the shapes, lines and contrast. I do not shoot too much urban work, but I do enjoy the change. Urban settings offer a whole new set of compositional elements.
The Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada is one of the most desolate places I have ever been – Miles of flat cracked playa in the summer and almost a shallow lake of wet mud in the winter. But, once a year an entire city is built there for a week.
The mountains that ring the south end of Avalanche Lake obviously suffer from the event for which this lake was named for. The remains of hundreds of trees that were victims of those avalanches cover the north end of the lake. But in early winter the lake is a peaceful place to watch to weather pass over the ridge line. This lake is in the west side of Glacier National Park in Montana.
The East Shore of Lake Tahoe has a very dramatic look with its rocky shore line. Much of the East Shore is contained in the Nevada State Park and as a result as easy access to many of the beautiful parts. This photo was taken from a trail that follows the East Shore north of Sand Harbor.
Despite that fact that Emerald Bay is one of the most photographed parts of Lake Tahoe, that I have known that the shot is in the morning before the sun rises AND I live fairly close to it – It took me many years to finally drag myself out of bed early enough to get this shot. There are several pull outs on the road that heads around the bay and many place to walk down to get good views. This was taken right from the retainer wall on the highway.
This is taken from the Holiday Inn on 6th Street. The photograph was actually taken before the sun rose. When I went to take the photo I was expecting the casino lights to be on, but I did not realize the turn them off sometime during the night. The resulting picture was probably better without them.
The Grand Canyon is an amazing place. I was struck by the way the evening light accented all of the detail in the canyon wall.
The trial in the lower part of the photo is the Angel Bright trail, once many years ago I used it to hike out of the Grand Canyon on a backpacking trip to the bottom.
After a trip from the coast in 2005 I was driving through Davis CA and some of the fields to the south of the freeway were planted with Sunflowers. I was unable to stop that trip, but the next week I got back to take this.
I was fortunate enough to get access to the Fly Geysers in the Black Rock Desert in 2009. Despite their image being an iconic image for Nevada, they are actually on private land. These geysers are actually man made, but after flowing for decades, they formed this Yellowstone like formation. The beauty of these geysers is then accented by the surrounding beauty of the northern Black Rock Desert.
This is taken from the Holiday Inn on 6th Street. The photograph was actually taken before the sun rose. When I went to take the photo I was expecting the casino lights to be on, but I did not realize the turn them off sometime during the night. The resulting picture was probably better without them.
Virginia City sits right in the heart of the old Comstock Silver Rush and prospered in the 1860s. It is considered to be one of the oldest established communities in the state of Nevada. The town is now a National Historic Landmark and is a lot of fun to visit, but one of the most interesting things in the town is actually the cemetery. The cemetery is walking distance from the down town and has grave sites of many old settlers, minors and inhabitance of Virginia City. This headstone is one of the many interesting and beautiful that can be found here.
In the Winnemucca Ranch area north of Reno I saw this vision as I got out of my car to explore the area. It was proposed to put tens of thousands of houses out in this ranch miles north of Reno. Besides the fact that it is a beautiful Nevada valley, there is not infrastructure to support all those houses out there, putting a huge burden on Reno. An artist friend of mine started a group to oppose the development and used art as a tool to do that. This image was in one of the art shows to raise awareness and funds to fight for that.
A Reno Based Group that calls itself Voters for Sensible Growth has been putting on an annual art show in an effort to raise awareness and money to prevent the urban sprawl that has been happening in the Reno area. One area that the group has been fighting to save is the Winnemucca Ranch area that is between Reno and Pyramid Lake. Although, the area is Nevada high desert it is a beautiful area – the thousands of homes someone wanted to put out here would surly destroy it. Besides the fact there is not infrastructure (water, sewer, power, roads, schools, etc. etc. etc.).
I found this heart in the rock of a canyon on the west side of the valley that Winnemucca Ranch sites in while exploring for images for that show. ‘Heart of Stone’ was in the Voters for Sensible Growth art show in 2008.
I was on a project to take photographs for an upcoming art show and I was out in Winnemucca Ranch north of Reno Nevada. I noticed this scene as I was climbing around on some rocks at the end of the day. Patterns in Nature is always a great theme in a photograph, but I am always amazed and delighted when I see patterns in dissimilar things such as trees and clouds. I was drawn the similarities in the shape and texture of these two things.
This property sits along a trail that is accessible from just behind my house. This beautify landscaped property has ponds, fountains, bridges, beautiful trees, guest house, an assortment of water fowl and this incredible scene. I am fortunate to be able to walk by it on a very regular basis and enjoy this view.
This water fall is about 1 ½ hours into one of the best hikes that is accessible in Reno. It is the Hunter Creek trail that starts from the upper part of Caughlin Ranch in Reno. The trail starts just on the northwest side of Caughlin Ranch and within minutes you are in the Mt. Rose Wilderness Area. You hike from the Reno high desert, into cottonwood, then aspen, through a scattering of lower elevation pines and on to a full on Tahoe forest. The trail is moderate in difficulty but does require good hiking boots. What makes this trail stand out is the beauty and diversity. The High point, although not the end, is this wonderful waterfall.
I took this from the ridge line south of Mt. Rose on a hike I took yesterday (Monday 1/10/11). I used HDR effect to accentuate the clouds and the trees in the foreground. As you probably have realized I love pattern and form. Mt. Rose is one of the tallest peaks in the Reno Tahoe area rising 10,776’. There is a really nice (and hard) hike to get to the top for some epic vies of Tahoe and the Reno area.
This photograph was taken in the early morning before the sunrise. The cool morning colors and the striking color of the fall aspen trees make a great contrast. This was taken right off of Mt. Rose Highway at the road for the Mt. Rose Slide Side ski area. There is a huge grove of aspen along the highway in this area and most years it is a fantastic show for autumn.
This photography was actually taken by the first light to fall on Mt. Whitney in 2010 – taken January 1st 2010 at about 8am. The foreground is Alabama Hills (just outside the town of Lone Pine) used as a site for many old westerns and some new ones – have you seen Iron Man? Mt. Whitney (the tallest peak in the contiguous United States) is actually the peak to the right in the clouds. Lone Pine Peak (the peak on the left) appears taller, even though it is shorter by over 1,000’, because it is closer.
2014 was a dry year and it left the mighty Yuba River running very low and slow, but it made from beautiful reflections. I choose to render this in black and white to emphasis the wonderful texture of the scene.
We have been driving for most the day. Got picked up in Scottsdale and headed up, to Prescott. From there we drove to Page AZ. We got here late in the afternoon and made a snap decision to head to Horseshoe Bend with our last few hours of sunlight. It was a beautifully good decision. Horseshow Bend is a well photographed section of the Colorado River just downstream of the Lake Powel Dam. The sun was setting and the colors were great.
