awesome

Desert Geysers

“These are the Hot Spring Geysers at Block Rock Desert, Nevada. Wind played havoc with the spray but after 2 days circling these unusal forms the weather settled and I was happy with the end result. What a wild place!”

Nice Clouds

Mammatus Clouds

“A typical storm came through Minnesota late one evening. It wasn’t very exciting, so I hadn’t gone out to get pictures of any lightning or wall clouds. Then all of a sudden I saw these clouds out the window. I grabbed my camera and ran out of the house (no tripod, no shoes even). All I could do was brace myself against a wall of the house and start shooting. They started out a very light yellow and proceeded through to this deep magenta. I managed to get just 10 pictures before the moment was gone.”

nature

Lake Bubbles

“Abraham Lake in the winter has to be one of the best kept secrets in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. A lot of people pass it on their rush from Banff to Jasper but never bother to take the turn on to Highway 11. It is such a beautiful area though! The lake is situated in a rain shadow area of the surrounding mountains and receives little snow in winter. These conditions keep the ice practically snow free. The ice is just perfect, filled with air bubbles and cracks as water levels drop over the winter time. When I took this shot, I was visiting the lake for the first time. The sun started to get lower on the horizon and the day was running close to its end when beautiful pastel pinks appeared in the sky. I had to move fast! Not having any cleats on my boots, it was very challenging to get down to the lake surface. Mix in a lot of wind and you can imagine me, being blown all over the lake’s icy surface. I sure had fun! If you are around during winter time, make sure to stop by this beautiful lake.”

Rainbow

Double Rainbow

“On a trip to photograph wildflowers near Crested Butte, Colorado, I had settled into a campsite nearby, and waited out a summer rainstorm under some trees. As the rain was tapering off, I spotted part of a rainbow through the trees, grabbed a camera and ran onto the dirt road in the foreground. I think the thing that makes this rainbow photo unusual is that the rainbow is so close to the ground, literally underneath the mountains in the background, not just up in the sky. So the rainbow is the photo, not just an element of it.”

Eruption

Volcanic Eruption

“On the 14th of April 2010, Eyjafjallajökull resumed erupting after a brief pause, this time from the top crater in the center of the glacier, causing melt water floods (also known as jökulhlaup) to rush down the nearby rivers, requiring 800 people to be evacuated. This second eruption threw volcanic ash several kilometres up in the atmosphere which led to air travel disruption in northwest Europe for six days. This image if from the 19th of April when the eruption was calming down quite a bit and the first signs of magma could be seen. I shot this through the open window of a small Cessna which I charted. I used my Nikon D3x with a 50mm f/1.4 lens shooting at f/2.0 and 1/250s. The light was disappearing fast and I was already up to ISO 6400. I continued shooting with my Nikon D3s and got usable stuff even at ISO 25600. You have got to love the the latest digital cameras and their low light performance. Only a few years ago I wouldn’t have dreamt about getting usable shots in these conditions.”

 

“On April 14, 2010, Mt. Eyjafjallajökull awoke with a fierce volcanic ash eruption after 180 years of quiescence. Disrupting air traffic worldwide for a number of days, the volcano became one of the most notorious in historical times.”

Borealis

Aurora Borealis

“I’ve viewed hundreds of displays of Aurora Borealis and although the technical process of photographing this spectacle isn’t overly difficult or challenging after you initially ‘figure it out’, I never fail to be inspired when I’m out there, in the cold and dark, shooting. Photography of the aurora is one way to force yourself outside to view it. Believe it or not, many northerners don’t ‘see’ the aurora that often; they don’t want to leave the comfort of their warm houses. I myself have fallen victim, at times, to the line of thinking ‘ah, they’re always out – why bother looking?’ which is a little sad. We take for granted one of the world’s most amazing natural sights. It only lasted minutes, and then moved on to some other wonderful formation… but it reminded me of a breath, or a whisper, or wind coming from the stars themselves.”

Aurora

Aurora Borealis

I’ve viewed hundreds of displays of Aurora Borealis and although the technical process of photographing this spectacle isn’t overly difficult or challenging after you initially ‘figure it out’, I never fail to be inspired when I’m out there, in the cold and dark, shooting. Photography of the aurora is one way to force yourself outside to view it. Believe it or not, many northerners don’t ‘see’ the aurora that often; they don’t want to leave the comfort of their warm houses. I myself have fallen victim, at times, to the line of thinking ‘ah, they’re always out – why bother looking?’ which is a little sad. We take for granted one of the world’s most amazing natural sights. It only lasted minutes, and then moved on to some other wonderful formation… but it reminded me of a breath, or a whisper, or wind coming from the stars themselves.”