Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. The Cathedral Valley Loop is one of the most fascinating drives I've done in the southwest. The scenery along this route is just unbelievable. This overlook of the South Desert and Jailhouse Rock was one of the coolest views along the entire loop.
Utah is literally loaded with surreal landscapes. This is one of them. The Bentonite Hills near Capitol Reef National Park.
Flashbacks to Utah from last spring... and craving the endless intrigue of the southwestern landscapes. This is a photo of Factory Butte near Hanksville.
Gunflint Trail, MN - A beautiful afternoon overlooking West Bearskin Lake from the Caribou Rock Trail.
The night sky this past week has been incredible. First we had nice cold temps around zero or just below, now we've got really mild temps with daytime highs approaching 40 degrees. This usually will bring in cloud cover but that hasn't been the case the past couple of nights. I heard the northern lights were even visible one night. Unfortunately I've been recovering from a cold for much of this week so I haven't been able to get out and enjoy the warmer temps. This photo was made on one of the colder nights. It was taken along Old Highway 61 in Grand Portage, MN.
Here is another photo from the other night when I went out to photograph the ice and stars. For this one, there was a vehicle approaching behind me on Highway 61. It was about a mile away but due to the curve of the shoreline and the road and the lack of trees between the highway and the lake, the headlights illuminated the ice in front of me for about 20 seconds out of this 30 second exposure. It was a subtle illumination though and I rather like the way that it accented this scene.
Last night I got out to enjoy the clear, cold weather and the crisp views of the night sky. I drove about a half hour down the shore to a place where there are some awesome ice formations. Waves from Lake Superior have splashed up and coated a bunch of the shoreline trees in ice. I've been wanting to photograph the icy trees with the night sky for some time. Last night the conditions were perfect for doing just that.
