I've seen Peyto Lake painted in summer's brilliant blues, but witnessing it cloaked in winter's white was an entirely different experience. The silence is profound, the air crisp, and the beauty breathtaking. This is the magic of the Canadian Rockies in the winter.
Have you experienced it?
Banff National Park
AB Canada
Cloud strokes
While exploring the countryside of New England many years ago, I forced myself to really slow down and enjoy the scenery. Driving through the backroads and avoiding the high-speed turnpikes proved fortuitous as I chanced upon this beautiful scene at a small rural pond. Its still waters mirrored the vibrant hues of a New England autumn, creating a breathtaking double image. In the sky above, wisps of clouds stretched across the canvas like artful brushstrokes, adding another layer of beauty to this serene scene. This was the epitome of tranquility, even though I was but a few minutes away from a fairly major town. It was a reminder of the simple beauty that surrounds us, even if we are sometimes not aware of it.
Mohawk Trail
MA USA
Red Hot Chili Embers
Boom went the mountain. This was followed by a shockwave, and showers of hot lava that spewed from the tip of the volcano and rolled down along the perfectly conical slope of Fuego. And this happened every 20 min like clockwork.
The New Year festivities are often marked by bright lights and crackling sounds. As we approach the next one, I am often reminded of my previous New Year in Guatemala where I also witnessed natures fireworks on a grand scale from atop the summit of Volcan Acatenango. This particular scene is of an eruption that I captured during full moon.
Volcan Acatenango
Guatemala
Ode to Nature
While I did not get the opportunity to shoot the larches in fall, I did have the opportunity to travel to Iceland and capture its breathtaking natural scenery. Driving around its vast windswept plains with nothing to provide a sense of scale, it becomes easy to misjudge the size of mountains or the distance to a particular place. In addition, the lack of a focal point in the composition becomes a serious hindrance to capture a captivating image.
Thankfully, Iceland has plenty of churches dotted around the island, with many situated outside of the villages and communities they serve. Like this one in the Snaefellsnes peninsula in western Iceland. See this large in my 2025 calendar, available for purchase at this link.
Olafsvik
Iceland
2025 Calendar
My 2025 landscape photography calendar is now available. This calendar features a unique set of photographs that cover important astronomical events in 2024, from the eclipse in April, to the bright auroral displays in May and October. Landscapes covered include the winter wonderlands in the Pacific Northwest, to remote landscapes of Iceland, volcanic eruptions in Central America and even a postcard scene of the Emerald City.
And remember, this calendar is for a good cause - all proceeds will get donated to Sierra Club Foundation. We are gifted to have such amazing public lands, and having visited 59 National Parks and many more wilderness areas, I have come to realize the vital importance of our public lands system in protecting and preserving nature, culture, wildlife, and landscapes for the future. The Sierra Club Foundation helps secure protections for public lands and waters, promote healthy ecosystems and communities, and fight for clean air and water, and build a diverse, inclusive environmental movement that reflects and represents today’s American public, and prioritizes important connections between environmental health and social justice.
You can purchase the calendar at this link for $18.99
Thanks in advance
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Winter is coming
Plunging temperatures and low sunlight heralds the arrival of winter in Iceland. And it arrives early this far north, with cold, windy and dry conditions taking over from the blissful and wet summer.
Signs of these changes were everywhere. Waterfalls had an aura of winter all around, puddles and streams on trails became icy, while lakes in the highlands had already started freezing. These conditions make outdoor adventures in Iceland challenging, but offers unique conditions and compositions. This is one of the multitude of falls showcasing its winter sheen.
Kvernufoss
Iceland
Bruarfoss
It didn't look like much on the map. And even the short walk from the parking lot didn't inspire confidence. But once I got to the wooden bridge straddling the river downstream of the falls, I was taken aback. It wasn't the typical Icelandic waterfall, featuring a tall column of water descending from the lip of hard basalt that you see everywhere. Instead, it was a diffuse waterfall, spreading along a long ledge over which a multitude of streams pour over. Perhaps what was most fascinating was the tiny canyon barely 3m tall and a meter wide that cut its way into the face of the waterfall.
I spent an hour admiring every single detail of the waterfall, from the columnar basalt in the foreground, the faded clumps of orange grass that contrasted with the deep blue water, and the roaring sound of the gushing river.
Bruarfoss
Iceland
Rays of Shadow
Watching the sun rise from the summit of a volcano was an tranquil affair, interrupted only by the tumultuous shockwave from a nearby eruption thundering through the air. As the light from the eastern horizon slowly gained intensity, features and undulations slowly became more visible in the haze. Roads and farms formed intricate patterns in the valley that only started to come into light.
As the deep reds slowly turned orange and yellow in the east, the western horizon was still dark under the shadow of earth itself. The moon was the only anchor point steady in the sky as the Belt of Venus slowly arose. What I had not expected to see was the shadow of the volcano itself projected onto a neat triangular point into the west. Surprisingly, this shadow, and the accompany rays of darkness only became visible after the sun rose. I admired the distance to which this shadow was projected, and how long it actually lasted.
This image portrays the summit of the volcano at sunrise.
Volcan Acatenango
Guatemala
Hazy Horizons
The hazy sunrise slowly transformed the landscape down below me. Caverns and canyons in the shadows became brighter, while the long shadows over farmsteads and tractors became shorter. We floated above this dreamy landscape, blissfully unaware of the civilization down below waking up and doing their morning chores. Instead, we focused on the beautiful patterns etched by the landscape becoming more sharp with the rising sun.
Such was the magic of floating into the sunrise in Cappadocia, where the dreams down below and reality up above merge at the hazy horizon.
Cappadocia
Turkey
Gentle Giants
I recently watched 'The Last Tourist', which tries to encapsulate the economic, environmental and socio-cultural cost of tourism on a region. While I was aware of some these impact, this movie served as an eye-opening experience. I was especially taken aback by the toll of wildlife tourism in Thailand, as it rekindled some of my own memories of animal experiences in the night markets of Chiang Mai. I remember seeing sad looking tiger cubs being used as show-pieces, leashed monkeys used for performing tricks, and several other endangered animals treated with wanton cruelty.
But it was learning about inhumane treatment of elephants in the various 'nature' parks showcased in the movie that brought me to tears. These intelligent gentle giants were chained up with very little ability to move, or being prodded with sharp metal rods to perform tricks. This 'tourism' experience certainly did not earn any sympathy from me. While I was glad I didn't venture on such an experience, I would have rather not traveled to such a destination that supports such inhumane experiences.
This specific elephant was living its retirement years at the Elephant Nature Park, one of the parks that cares for rehabilitating and improving the lives of elephants.
Thailand