Most of the time I’m in nature I’m thinking. About the meaning of life. About how everything is connected to everything else. How all of us — human, plant, or animal — are just trying to get by.
Monday, March 31, 2025
Whispers and shouts
Friday, February 28, 2025
What's the purpose?
If, right this moment, I could be anywhere in the world, I might choose to be in a national park in an exotic country. But I’m at home, in front of my computer. And I just got back from taking a walk in my neighborhood.
My route is largely the same every time I do it, and I try to walk it at least every other day. Someone I regularly see on these walks asked me once why I don’t choose a different path. “I would be so bored,” she said.
Friday, January 31, 2025
Getting under the surface in the Cook Islands
Photography is one of the tools I use to satisfy my curiosity about the natural world. But while 99 percent of my photos are taken from land, more than 70 percent of Earth’s surface is covered by water. Life is short and nobody can see everything, of course, but my choice of subjects had significantly limited my worldview.
It’s a discrepancy that I’ve been trying to resolve off and on over the past decade or so. Just over a year ago, I made my greatest effort yet to explore the world beneath the waves as I explored the lagoons surrounding three of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific.
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Finding meaning in the darkness
My goal with any time in nature — as it is with my photography — is to get closer to the world around me. To make connections. To see something I never noticed before.
Here in the northern hemisphere, we’re now in the midst of our longest nights of the year. While some bemoan perpetual darkness — where I am nearly two-thirds of the day is night — I’m finding myself staying out late more often.
Saturday, November 30, 2024
The rain in Spain
One of the things I love most about nature photography is that every moment is a fleeting moment. The scenery is in a state of constant change. I was reminded of that recently while hiking in La Vera, a valley-filled region in the mountains of western Spain.
I was there during heavy rainstorms, though I escaped the worst. In the eastern part of the country, 229 people died in the worst flooding to hit the country in years. You can donate to relief efforts here.
Monday, September 30, 2024
This, too, shall pass
When curators talk about the artistic vision behind a photograph, they sometimes start by explaining how the picture represents a singular moment of time and space. The artist found something special right there and then and crafted the image to capture and share that feeling.
By extension, this means that that particular moment was over by the time the film was developed or the file saved to the camera’s memory card. For the picture to represent a truly unique slice of time, everything must ultimately be ephemeral.
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Finding the inner light
Photography is all about light. Its very name comes from Greek words that mean “painting with light.”
Often when we think of photography, we speak of ‘light’ in literal terms. That’s partly because without light, any photograph would be but a solid block of black. But quantity of light is just one component.