I've been partial to this photo for a long time, finally decided to post it here. Something about the light conditions and the massive red cliffs rising over the Virgin River gives this an old timey image quality to me. Seems like something the earliest explorers (and of course the indigenous peoples) might have seen exactly the same way hundreds of years ago. I must admit there's a little assist to the old timey feel created by a hint of smoke in the air as there were wildfires not too far away and the smoke drifted in and out of the canyon. This was taken from a section of the Narrows farther up past the Orderville Canyon split.

The Narrows is one of my all-time favorite hiking experiences and I was feeling pure joy as I explored the canyon with friends Kevin Benedict and
Josh Krasner. In fact, I was so excited by the combination of massive cliffs and fall colors that I might have run up ahead a little too recklessly and left some stragglers behind. Can't wait to visit Zion again!

Tags:   Zion National Park The Narrows Virgin River rock cliff canyon fall. yellow aspen smoke Pentax K-1 Sky Matthews photography

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A hint of mist covers one end of Vestrahorn mountain while the sun rises to the east, lighting up this little misty intrusion with a glorious infusion of pink. The emerging sun also gives some pink highlights to the exposed flanks and peaks of the mountain.

On a trip through southern Iceland last fall, we set upon Vestrahorn multiple times in widely varying conditions. On this particular morning the sunrise was a bit odd, teasing a bit of color but ultimately fizzling out. I had decided that the still waters of the morning at low tide were providing some beautiful reflections so I shook off my typical "there might be a better comp just over there" approach which has me wildly sprinting around a location at peak light desperate to find a comp. Instead, I settled in at the same spot for a good hour snapping through various changes in lighting. The just-emergent pink dawn hues against the still dominant blues provided the most appealing result to me. So I was pleased with the outcome here, but also pleased with my own patience in the process. Patience is not a trait I'm not blessed with an abundance of unfortunately, so I managed to surprise myself a bit this day..

An additional surprise was that I came to really like Vestrahorn! It is one of the most commonly shot landscapes in all of Iceland, which is to say, possibly in all of the world. I've struggled in the past to see what was so great about it. Yeah, yeah, there's black sand. And a reflecting tidal pool. And it has a pleasing shape. I get all that but I never quite got the whole as the sum of its parts before. Not that I disliked it before but I never quite got what all the fuss was about. But on this morning it all came together for me and I particularly loved the minimalism of it, making that protrusion of color all the more dramatic.

Tags:   iceland vestrahorn pink blue mist reflection sunrise Pentax K-1 Pentax 15-30mm pixelshift sky matthews photography

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I took this photo a few years back on a drive through the Skagit River valley along the 'Crowsnest Highway' (Highway 3) that runs from Hope through the interior of British Columbia along the US-Canada border all the way through to Medicine Hat Alberta.

I had been visiting relatives in the Okanagan valley and I was making my way back to Seattle in the fall and the Skagit River valley fascinated me visually. It is nestled between some taller mountains and in the fall it frequently has stretches of mist and low lying clouds. The views along the way on this day were tantalizing me, however, there aren't a lot of great spots to simply pull over and set up a camera (busy highway with a lot of particularly large logging trucks). I finally found a pull over and put my 70-200 on to zoom in on this one dead, moss-covered tree sitting among the red fall vegetation (Ok, I confess I once knew what plant this was but I've forgotten - it is extensive along the river banks of southern BC and turns an exquisite shade of maroon in the fall) surrounded by this misty atmosphere right out of a scooby-doo cartoon.

This past spring I did a wonderful road trip with my younger daughter (now an astonishing 20 years old) and she taught me this super fun Irish folk song called "the Rattlin' Bog". The lyrics go something like:

"Ho, o, the rattlin' bog
The bog down in the valley-o
Real bog, the rattlin' bog
The bog down in the valley-o
Well in the bog there was a hole
A rare hole and a rattlin' hole
Hole in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-o
Ho, o, the rattlin' bog
The bog down in the valley-o
Real bog, the rattlin' bog
The bog down in the valley-o
Well in that hole there was a tree
A rare tree and a rattlin' tree
The tree in the hole
And the hole in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-o
Ho, o, the rattlin' bog
The bog down in the valley-o
Real bog, the rattlin' bog
The bog down in the valley-o
On that tree there was a branch
A rare branch and a rattlin' branch
The branch on the tree
And the tree in the hole
And the hole in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-o
..."
and on for about 6 more verses each adding new things. The tempo keeps getting faster with each verse and the idea is basically to be very drunk and shout along with all these crazy things on the tree (the bird in the egg in the nest on the limb on the branch on the tree in the hole in the bog down in the valley-o...) presumably until one passes out from lack of oxygen.

Well every road trip I do with my family now we end up putting on this song on (usually about five or six times) and singing along and laughing hysterically until we're gasping like fish. And even though I'd not heard of The Rattlin' Bog when I took this picture, whenever I see it now I think of that song. I wish the tree here had a nest on it, that would've made it perfect. It won't win any awards, but it's one of those "small scene" photos that I like to try sometimes.

You can find a version of Rattlin' Bog sung by just about any Irish band you care to name, but I have to go with the Irish Rovers because these guys are iconic for Canadians and I have a strong fondness for Irish drinking songs from my time in Nova Scotia, and since one of my daughters also followed in her old man's footsteps to experience the unique cultural experience that is university in Nova Scotia

youtu.be/aLHuu3Ygvns

Tags:   British Columbia Crowsnest highway Manning Provincial Park fall autumn mist tree atmosphere red burgundy maroon sky Matthews photography Pentax K-1 Pentax 70-200mm Irish Folk Music pixel shift

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Ok, it's been a very, very long time since my last post. More than 6 months. I have many excuses... but it really comes down to momentum, a rolling stone stays at rest and all that... but the truth is I just kinda lost my voice for a while. Does that make sense? A big part of my joy of photography is the story that goes with the photo. Not literally, but figuratively, what I feel, what the picture brings out in me to write. And it was just all bottled up. Words wouldn't come out. I also lost the motivation to take the photos, not totally but just enough.

Well, a trip to a very special place last fall restored the desire, the satisfaction, of just being in the moment in the field taking photos. I spent 8 days in Iceland with Kevin Benedict, traveling to some favorite spots on the South coast.

It's kinda my thing to write titles that have layers of meaning, supported by the image. "Flow" perfectly expresses what is so ultimately satisfying about photography to me. First, flow is obvious in the constant movement of water through these unique and mesmerizing icebergs - works of natural frozen art framed and lit against the beautiful black sand beach of Jokulsarlon. Trying to catch a fleeting moment of a wave crashing over a small iceberg turns out to be not that easy.

I spent many hours on this beach, sitting, kneeling, standing, or lying in the wet sand with soaking wet feet and a cold wind blowing in my face... and I was *completely* happy, just wandering around with total focus, trying to get just the right 'berg with just the right wave in just the right light. It's never perfect, of course, but just being in the moment, completely focused on that next shot is absolutely glorious. You don't even really "feel" it at the time, but afterwards, you've spent 6 hours not thinking about taxes, or work, or food, or politics, or that annoying pain in your left shoulder. Whatever. It's just you and the void. Floating. Flowing. One with the Universe. Unlocking its secrets. just Being. It's a very satisfying feeling.

Phew! Now that's outta my system, hopefully things can begin to flow again in my head Thanks for visiting, and to all my long time friends on flickr, I owe you some visits!

Tags:   iceland ocean jokulsarlon diamond beach iceberg beach flow waves sunset splash Pentax K-1 sky matthews photography

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First trip in quite some time and I'm not sure there is a better place for renewing my photographic wanderlust than Iceland. Recently Kevin Benedict and I spent several days wandering the south coast of Iceland photographing pretty much everything that doesn't move and then some.

We also brought along a new tool - our very own top-down eye in the sky! I have long admired the aerial views of the braided glacial rivers snaking their way across the black sand deltas, but have been reluctant to jump on the drone bandwagon. In truth, I'm not really sure why other than some combination of technological obstinance, cost, and not wanting to add more weight and bulk to my already hefty camera bag.

We finally decided this was the trip we had to include a drone, and both the size and cost have come down considerably to the point where between a phone and a drone I'm now wondering why exactly I'm stuffing my bag with 20 pounds of obsolescing DSLR gear. In any case, after a few days of procrastinating, a couple of hours of reading and setup, and a few minutes of basic flight training, we were launching our drone in to the treacherous North Atlantic winds praying not to lose it. We not only did not splash our drone or lose it to the clutches of Njörd (Norse God of Wind), but got off some pictures of exactly what we'd hoped and watched in amazement as the little critter auto-piloted its way back to us and landed itself right in front of us.

Tags:   iceland river delta turqoise drone dji mini 3 sky matthews photography aerial photography glacier water

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