Photographer's Journal (Travel)

Welcome to my online journal, otherwise known as a blog. Here I'll be sharing pertinent information, inspirational stories, trip reports, behind-the-photo stories, photography tips and techniques, and various random thoughts that you might find interesting. If you have any questions or comments regarding the opinions and information shared here, feel free to contact me. Thanks for your interest in my work!

Behind the Image: Sand Harbor Tahoe
May 11, 2023  |  Sand Harbor, Lake Tahoe, Nevada

It's not unusual for me to go back through my photos months or even years after I've taken them, and find an image I've never edited or shared before. You might think that something I didn't choose to edit immediately after I made the photo would be a lesser image, or filler...

2022: My Year in Pictures
December 30, 2022

“Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.” - Ansel Adams

Well, to be sure, I've shared more than 12 photos in my year-end review here, but to be fair, using a digital camera allows me to produce many more photos than Ansel Adams using a view camera that took one sheet of film at a time...

Trip Report: Autumn in the Smoky Mountains
October 26, 2022  |  Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers a wide variety of subject matter for any landscape photographer. Grand vistas, flowing waterfalls, historic cabins, and expansive meadows with majestic trees are all on the menu...

My Favorite Maine Harbors
October 13, 2022  |  Maine, USA

Maine is a state with a lot to offer and explore. There are over 5700 lakes. 65 lighthouses. 14 mountains over 4000 feet tall. Many people visit to see lighthouses, to go hiking, or just eat seafood...

Autumn, The Golden Time
August 19, 2022

With roughly one month of the summer left to go, I find myself already thinking about the Fall. I've already stacked all my wood for the colder weather, in piles taller than me in my shed. I'm anxious for the cooler weather, lighting the fire in my wood stove, and of course, the autumn foliage...

Photographing Movie Locations
July 21, 2022

It's always interesting to see places I've been in a big time movie. Often, it takes me a second to recognize it because the context is so different. Other times, I know immediately where the camera operator was standing when he was filming...

Trip Report: North Cascades National Park
July 18, 2022  |  North Cascades National Park, Washington

“Going to the mountains is like going home” – John Muir

Having been raised in the suburbs of New Jersey, I was never really exposed to the mountains. Sure, we had the Catskills nearby, and the Watchung Mountains in New Jersey, but let's be real, they pale in comparison to those mountains out west- the San Juans in Colorado, the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, and the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest...

An Angry Ocean
June 12, 2022  |  Cape Disappointment, Washington

Last Saturday, I flew into Portland, Oregon, a couple of days in advance of my Landscapes & Seascapes of Coastal Oregon photo workshop. It was pouring rain all day, but I needed to visit the locations I had planned for the week and ensure that there were no surprises like impassable trails, limited access, and other obstacles like that...

My Top 5 Maine Dining Spots After Photographing
May 12, 2022  |  Maine

Since moving to Maine almost six years ago, I've spent a lot of time exploring the state and photographing it. Because my favorite times to photograph are at sunrise and sunset, I often find myself hungry after an outing...

Trip Report: Shenandoah National Park
April 24, 2022  |  Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Shenandoah National Park, located a few hours west of Washington, D.C. in the Blue Ridge Mountains, is a treasure of incredible vistas stretching forever, mixed with more intimate scenery such as waterfalls, meadows, and rock formations...

Five Favorite Places I've Eaten
April 14, 2022

As a fine art travel and landscape photographer, I'm on the road quite a bit. I often work long days, up before dawn, out photographing, scouting locations, hiking to locations, and back to my base after sunset, so rather than getting home late and cooking, I often try to find a place for a good meal after a day of photographing...

My Favorite State Parks
March 6, 2022

National Parks get all the love, but there are some amazing state parks across this country that are well worth a visit. While I can't claim to have been to all of them, or even most of them, Here's a list, in no particular order, of my favorites that I have been to...

Maine's Bold Coast: Exploring Down East
February 25, 2022  |  Lubec, Maine

The Maine coast is known for its rugged beauty, its working fishing harbors, adorable coastal villages, and of course, lobster rolls. Almost as soon as a visitor crosses the bridge over the Piscataqua River, there are sights to see...

America's Best Idea: My Favorite National Parks
February 17, 2022

"National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst." - Wallace Stegner, Writer, Environmentalist, & Historian

Other than having seen this quote many times over the years during my visits to our National Parks, I had no idea who Wallace Stegner was...

Death Valley Report Part 3: Exploring Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
February 2, 2022  |  Death Valley National Park, California

One of the things that draws me to the work I do, and drives the passion that I have for it, is the variety of landscapes I see and explore. I think that's what made the trip to Death Valley National Park so special for me, the variety of landscape within the hottest, driest, and lowest national park...

Death Valley Report Part 2: Badwater Basin
January 30, 2022  |  Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, California

I'm still going through photos from my recent trip to Death Valley National Park. It was a whirlwind trip, only spending four days in the park, but I had a chance to see some truly amazing sights. Last week, I highlighted my visit to Zabriskie Point, so today I thought I'd tell you about another spot in Death Valley that I found fascinating: Badwater Basin...

Death Valley Report Part 1: Morning at Zabriskie Point
January 27, 2022  |  Death Valley National Park, California

It's been a few months since I last traveled to photograph anywhere- the Oregon Coast in September, and Acadia National Park in October- so I was excited to get on a plane last week and head to Death Valley National Park with Kristen Wilkinson for a few days of photographing the desert...

Subject Spotlight: Portland Head Lighthouse
January 16, 2022  |  Cape Elizabeth, Maine

One of my favorite subjects (and that of many other photographers) to photograph in Maine is Portland Head Lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth. Standing majestically atop the headland at the entrance to the main channel into Portland Harbor in Casco Bay, the lighthouse was completed on January 10, 1791, after being commissioned by George Washington in 1787...