Tag: landscape photography

Saturday in the Park

We visit Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah during November; despite the chilly weather, the stunning vistas are worth it!

That’s quite the catchy title for a blog post, as we’re visiting one of the National Parks in the United States. For this post, I’m using an image from last year’s visit to Bryce Canyon in Utah. November in Bryce Canyon is definitely cold, and the altitude added to the windchill that we experienced. Nevertheless, it was well worth facing the conditions, as the vistas are simply stunning!

Here’s one of those views…

Bryce Canyon Expanse

Shooting this with the wonderful long view, as well as the canyon seemingly inviting us in, I still enjoy this image. Nature is filled with wonders and Bryce Canyon is definitely happy to provide us with a sense of those wonders!

Looking forward to hearing about all of your favorite landscapes!

iPhone Friday

A simple iPhone photo taken in winter 2015, showcasing lovely sunlight.

After last week’s installment of iPhone Friday with a panoramic view of Temples and Towers in Zion National Park, we’re going for something really simple! Just a simple iPhone shot from the winter of 2015 with some rather lovely sunlight.

Here’s that view…

Winter Sun

Of course smartphone technology has advanced a tremendous amount over the past 10 years and a lot of the artifacts in this image won’t show up any more. Getting a Raw Max image from the iPhone 16 Pro Max delivers incredible results and fidelity.

Enjoy your smartphones and be sure to take photos!

Sunday Serenity

On a pleasant Sunday, let’s take a look back at Bryce Canyon and the magnificent Natural Bridge.

As we’re enjoying another lovely Sunday, I thought it might be nice to process one of the many landscape images that are still in my backlog (almost feels like I should project manage this backlog 🙂 ). This is from last November’s visit to Utah and Nevada, where Zion, Bryce Canyon and Valley of Fire were the featured parks.

Here’s a sunny view for today…

Natural Bridge

This feature is along the wonderful drive that goes to so many great vistas. Its name is Natural Bridge, even though this is not a bridge, but rather an arch. Shooting into the sun for this one, I went for a bracketed sequence to increase the overall dynamic range.

Enjoy your Sunday and the view!

Saturday Landscape

A reflection on some of my early experiences with the Fujifilm X-T1 camera, which I purchased for travel photography.

Looking for an image that caught my interest this morning, I decided to take another look at some of my experimentation with the first Fujifilm camera that I have owned. The Fujifilm X-T1 was my first acquisition with the intent to have a somewhat light camera for travel photography. Of course, once I started using it, there was no way that I’d stop using it!

Here’s the image for this morning…

Oxbow Inversion

Walking along the shore of the Nashua river, as it flows through the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge, I couldn’t help but notice the lovely colors of the trees on the opposite bank. Combined with the stillness of the water surface, this made for a lovely upside-down worldview.

And, yes, I took a look at this view flipped…

Oxbow Inversion Flip

I have my preference for the version that I like best. I’m curious to hear what yours is.

Thursday Throwback – 20

A view from a past commute using the byways, allowing me to appreciate scenic views like the somber beauty of Fruitlands Museum on a rainy day.

We’re staying out in Nature this week, even though it is a rather rainy day. There are those times when you’re happy to have a camera with you, so you can capture the mood that the landscape is presenting. A lot of my more local commutes have provided me with those opportunities, as they tended to allow for staying off the highways and partaking of the byways. For me a lot of my commute time was about making that switch from home to work and vice versa.

Here’s an image from one of those commutes in 2016…

Fruitlands’ Rainy Day

On my commute from Westford to home, one of the options was to take a road that goes past the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Massachusetts. At one point, a wonderful vista presents itself to look across the hills into the distance. On a clear day, mountains are visible. On this warm, rainy day low-hanging clouds presented themselves in many of the valleys, creating a somber, autumnal landscape.

Hope you get to stay dry and enjoy your day!

iPhone Friday

Sometimes all it takes is stopping by the side of the road to appreciate the stunning desert landscapes and warm light just before sunset.

This week’s edition takes me back to February of 2023, when I spent some quality time in Valley of Fire state park in Nevada. Arriving from the East coast at Las Vegas airport, I hopped in my rental car and drove toward Overton to check into my hotel. As it was still early in the day, it was exploration time!

Here’s one of the roadside vistas…

Desert Vista

As you can see, there is great landscape just about everywhere in this area, as I literally pull to the side of the road to take in this view. As it was January 31, sunset was on the early side, which made for wonderful, warm light across the desert floor.

Just another great moment to take in the view! Enjoy!

Thursday Throwback – 17

In September 2009, I explored the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts, capturing its vibrant colors.

For this week’s edition I’m going back almost 16 years to September of 2009. During a day of exploring the colors of New England and finding interesting spots to photograph, I traversed part of the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts.

Let’s take a look at what I captured there…

Harvard Forest Pond

This forest is an ecological research area of about 4000 acres that is managed by Harvard University. There are two major programs that are run on this property. The first is the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation to sturdy New England’s natural ecosystem. The second is the National Institute of Global Environmental Change program funded by the United States Department of Energy, which emphasizes the study of physical and biological processes in relation to climate change.

These are key programs to further our understanding of the impact that we’re having on our environment. We can hope that they are not affected by the current set of changes, but I do have concern about that.

Alien Landscapes

Iceland’s diverse and otherworldly landscapes, shaped by volcanic activity and erosion, offer a paradise for landscape photography.

The landscapes found on Iceland are amazing in their variety and sense of otherworldliness. Volcanoes continue to create new landscapes; the erosion due to ice, water, and wind sculpts intriguing shapes. This is paradise for landscape photography!

This week another one of these strange, imaginative formations…

Mars Rover Playground

This area near the fumaroles of Hverir is a bit of a climb up the hill. With this climb one is rewarded with a rather alien landscape. I would not be surprised to find out that the Mars rover went for a test-drive here!

Seeing this landscape wants me to return to this area to explore it even further and work out the kinks of my photography from ten years ago!

iPhone Friday

A 2015 capture with the iPhone 5s; a simpler smartphone camera, still capable of catching an interesting scene.

After last week’s iPhone Friday with a gorgeous image from a recent iPhone, I’m going back to the iPhone 5s that I had in 2015. The camera didn’t have all the bells and whistles that it has now, but nevertheless it could create some interesting shots.

Let’s take a look at 2015…

Rocky Pond Autumn

I captured this autumnal scene of Rocky Pond in Boylston, Massachusetts. I would take backroads into work and regularly make a stop or two for photography. Some mornings, I’d look at the sky and decide to go one way or another to check the views.

Even though the iPhone 5s was a lower pixel-count camera without some of the smart adjustments that we have today, it’s still a fun shot! The cold air creates a haze across the pond, the lens flare offsets the dark trees. Just some fun items that still come together well for me.

Snaefellsnes Sunset

Photography in Iceland during winter offers advantages. One of these is that dramatic sunsets and sunrises are more easily available.

A possible advantage of photography in Iceland during winter is that you don’t have to stay up late to catch a sunset. Similarly, there was no need to get up early for a spectacular sunrise! Shooting days in February are a lot shorter than those in July or August! With the Sun a bit lower in the sky, the hours in the day are all amazing.

Here’s a shot that I captured as sunset was getting closer…

Snaefellsnes Sunset

We had been doing some photography around the black church in Budir, and it didn’t quite satisfy my inner eye. There were definitely some good shots among those, but nothing that pulled together the sense of drama that I wanted. So I went exploring across the snowfield to the west of the church.

This is one of the landscapes that I found. The light raking across the snow-covered field and already long shadows piqued my interest. This image stimulates not only the visual cortex, but also works its magic on my limbic system. There’s something with a bit of mystery here. That includes the footprints in the snow…