HDR Photography
This image is definitely worth a click through to Flickr for the full-sized version. All those little boats on the Connecticut River are rowers racing or preparing to race, and the hints of colors and patterns in the solid blue of water match well with the early hints of color and patterns of changing foliage in the expanse of green leaves.
I recently moved into a new office with a huge, boring, blank wall totally ready for a huge, interesting, dramatic landscape. That naturally meant returning to one of my favorite land/cityscapes, this view of Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Marin from sabbatical in 2017. For an image I expect to stare at for years to come, I really pulled out the stops in terms of producing the best possible image. Click through to Flickr to zoom in and get all of the details!
The Netherlands’ relationship with water and land is such a long and complicated one. This site, Ommermars Natuurspeeltuin (which I believe translates to “nature playground”—Dutch speakers, get in the comments!), feels like it might be prepared to cast some sort of deep, ancient magic to influence that relationship.
This is a sight I haven’t seen since I lived in the Bay Area: a layer of low-lying clouds caused by a temperature inversion that look remarkably like the marine layer. Though I know the origins aren’t the same in the Central Valley of Connecticut, that mix of perfectly clear sky and rolling clouds brought me back in time and made rising at dawn worth it.
As an American enamored with the idea of walkable towns and cities, I was curious on visiting the Netherlands whether it could stand up to its reputation. I was surprised to find a country that resembled nothing more than the vision of utopia as it is typically presented in American science fiction. Now, I know the Netherlands is a real place with real challenges and limitations, but the infrastructure alone paints a very different vision of priorities. Consider this bridge in Ommen over the Vecht river: Less than 50% of the width of the bridge is allotted for motorized vehicle traffic. The majority is covered by bike lanes and pedestrian areas, including benches and art.
Utopian mornings begin with a friendly boat trip into town.
Windmill, bicycle paths, boats… This is an extremely Dutch picture.
A blue hour expanse in the Netherlands with everything expected of the location: steeples, windmills, bike paths, fields of grasses, and… A beach? Given the sub-15ºC weather, this felt particularly charming but out of place.
A summer trip to the Netherlands provided me with opportunities for some incredible shots this summer—I’m excited to share them soon. Let’s paradoxically lead of with a photograph from the end of the trip: the sunset over Schiphol Aiport. The solarpunk utopian Netherlands mix of public transit and greenspace is on display here and it will quickly become an obvious theme throughout the other pictures from my trip.
An aerial view of Coachella Valley reveals the artificial irrigation-induced greens amid the natural desert.
Even in a classic tourist town like Kilkenny, the stone walls and churches are accompanied by the features of modern Ireland. The auto mechanic and filling station in the left foreground (not to mention the cars) provide little hints of the century when this image was captured.
Views high above beautiful countrysides are more commonly the results of a drone in 2024, but I captured this shot of Kilkenny, Ireland the old-fashioned way: climbing the worn ladders of an old round tower to reach its windy pinnacle.
A work truck heading into a rainy desert valley whisper tales of a working-classic California life that gets glossed over in many depictions of Coachella Valley.
Definitely click through to Flickr for the full-resolution detail on this panorama covering the approach of the Palms to Pines Scenic Byway into Palm Springs.
Days of rain covered Coachella Valley in mud, but the clouds broke in time for a Christmas morning hike at the La Quinta Cove trailhead. Out in the misty distance is the Salton Sea.
Decaseconds 