Explore Landscapes #78

Highlights this month included the ImagingUSA conference, a JTNPA meetup, an adventurous hike to Garrett's Arch, and a wonderful sunset workshop.

February 2025 | Dallas (TX) | Joshua Tree (CA)

OK - where did February go? It seemed to go past in the blink of an eye.

I started the month in Dallas for the ImagingUSA (PPA) conference. It was my first time there, and I made the most of all the educational sessions. Even though many of the sessions were more geared to portraiture or commercial photography, there were still plenty of great education opportunities for landscape photography and marketing.

Thanks to Julieanne Kost, Terry White, Lindsey Adler, Jared Platt, Rachael Boer, Mary Fisk-Taylor, Benjamin Davis, Kenneth Hines, and Alexsey Reyes for their excellent presentations. Their talks gave me a headful of ideas for future articles.

A highlight for me was hearing Chris Greer and Paul Daniel talk about their View Finders landscape photography TV series (available on PBS). Their dedication and energy in producing that series was inspiring and great to hear.

Later in the month, I spent a day with the Joshua Tree National Park Association (JTNPA) team, fellow instructors, and volunteers for our 2025 orientation. This was an excellent opportunity to catch up with everyone and prepare for the Spring Desert Institute classes. Please check out the Spring 2025 Field Guide - so many great classes to sign up for.

I spent the next day searching for Garrett’s Arch in the Wonderland of Rocks, which was quite the adventure (read more).

I wrapped up a four-day weekend in Joshua Tree and finished my photography month by leading a fun-filled sunset workshop with Kristen and Stephanie. Thanks to both of them for making the workshop so much fun. I thoroughly enjoyed all the banter and showing them some of my favorite places in the park. And of course, we ended the workshop at my favorite Joshua Tree (see this month’s image).

February 2020 | Yosemite National Park (CA)

I had wanted to visit Yosemite National Park for such a long time ever since I first saw Ansel Adams’ iconic 'Moon and Half Dome' image when I was a teenager. Finally, I had the opportunity for a weekend visit over Valentine's Day weekend, how romantic, just me, my camera and tripod for 48 hours. The fifteen-hour road trip (round trip) was well worth it - if you ignore the 3-hour mind-numbing traffic to get from OC to North LA.

Yes, I knew I was going during the Fire Fall season, but I had read that it was unlikely to occur this year due to a lack of water. So, I hoped that traffic in the Park would be OK, which, for the most part, it was.

The suspense of experiencing my first view of Yosemite Valley grew steadily during my long evening drive from OC. I arrived at Cedar Lodge (located in El Portal, 8 miles from the Yosemite Arch Rock Gate Entrance) quite late, and despite being tired, I got very little sleep because I was so excited about the morning. I woke before my 4 a.m. alarm, grabbed my stuff, drove up into the Park, and headed for the car park at Tunnel View.

I was pleasantly surprised to find only about a dozen photographers there at 5 a.m. After finding an excellent spot to set up my tripod, I started framing my first composition by cranking up the ISO to 32,000 so I could make out the features of the valley. What an incredible experience it was to stand and watch the sunrise illuminate this astonishing view, with El Capitan, Half Dome, Cathedral Rocks, and Bridalveil Falls laid out before me.

I was delighted that the sun and sky played ball, at least for a few minutes, by serving up some wispy orange and pink-tinted clouds. It was a cold morning, but a flask of coffee and warm gloves put pay to that. I took many shots of different compositions, in both landscape and portrait orientation, changing lenses from wide to telephoto and bracketing each image to make sure I could expose for the entire tonal range.

After researching locations in the Valley that I wanted to visit during the weekend, I had a good idea of where I wanted to be and when. However, being there in person was almost overwhelmingly exciting, so I stopped regularly every time I spotted something I wanted to explore further.

One example was when I first drove over the El Capitan Bridge, spotted the gorgeous morning light on the Merced River, quickly parked, and then hiked back to the bridge. I spent a long time exploring compositions shooting from the bridge and then from both river banks.

I shot all my images during this trip on my Peak Design Travel Tripod, which is quickly becoming my tripod of choice. It's light, packs down small, and has an amazingly intuitive and responsive ball head. The head lets you flip the camera between orientations, frame the shot, and lock down the position very quickly.

This Yosemite trip was the first time I had used the tripod 'in anger,' and it performed flawlessly all weekend.

After spending two long days shooting from sunrise to sunset and exploring as many viewpoints within Yosemite Valley as possible, I wound up at the Valley View car park and snuck into the last available parking spot.

I was exhausted but very happy. I spent a couple of hours sitting on a large fallen tree beside the Merced River, enjoying the dappled light falling through the trees onto the river and appreciating the view.

I can't wait to go back.

I know—there’s more than one photo—but I was just so excited after my first visit to Yosemite. Hard to believe that was five years ago now.