A sunset Christmas Eve drive through the less-inhabited parts of Coachella Valley has to end eventually. The palm trees mark the seconds of the drive back into town.
Lighting a Candle in the Wilderness
One of St. Lawrence’s monikers is “A Candle in the Wilderness,” and this drone shot of the bright campus with the dark forests beyond explains the name.
Margaux Barn (One of Many)
Everything the sun touches is Margaux Farm. This red-roofed barn in the foreground is but one example; look off into the distance and count how many additional structures appear with a matching color scheme.
While other cows in this field were hanging out in a herd together, this loner was keeping the Sun company.
Desert Clouds
Brush and tire tracks in the North Palm Springs desert look extra-tiny beneath the enormous Christmas Eve clouds.
New Fountain
Over the course of the past few years, Canton’s park fountain has been graciously renovated and restored. The aerial view of the fountain at the lower edge of today’s image is nicely highlighted by the light streaks of passing vehicles.
Hanging with the Herd
The white heifer in this herd already stands out, but then she was polite enough to be the only one with her head fully up when I stopped to snap a sunset shot.
Wind Farm
The iconic arrays of white wind turbines at the northern end of Coachella Valley scatter whatever color of light is available—quite a blue situation as the sunset fades over the mountains.
Mohonk from Among the Clifftop Trees
Atop forested cliffs, the view to the porch and dock of Mohonk Mountain House has a “child’s treehouse” quality that matches well with the magical feeling of the place.
California Road at Dusk
Enter the Grid
The expansive grid of warehouses and industrial facilities in what was once Chicago’s meatpacking district have an eerie, cyberpunky regularity. An aggressive teal/magenta color grading maxes out the Matrix/Tron vibes.
Mohonk, Year 152
Goats and Power Lines
If you zoom all the way in, there are tiny goats in the fields between the power lines. They convey a pretty mind-boggling sense of just how big those lines are.
Main Street Lights in Canton, New York
Route 11, the main road connecting the whole North Country (we don’t have any Interstates), runs through a series of quaint downtowns, where it temporarily becomes Main St. The impressive stability of the DJI Mini 3 Pro meant that I could capture long, smooth light trails from headlights and taillights representing the evening’s traffic.
Miyazaki’s Kentucky
Hayao Miyazaki’s films are notable for these beautiful landscape/establishing shots of windswept grassy hillsides beneath huge cumulus clouds. The gentle, rolling limestone hills of northern Kentucky, with some cows grazing quietly in the distance, made me feel like I was in a Miyazakiesque setting.
Decaseconds 