I have mixed feelings as I write this post. The image is a favorite location in the Sierras and a fond memory of a special trip with my kids to the wilderness. But it also holds a deeper meaning for me, a realization that future generations may not see the value in protecting such areas especially if they have little opportunity to experience them and ultimately appreciate and preserve them. Many children today are losing the basic understanding that nature exists even in their own backyards and neighborhoods, which further disconnects them from their knowledge and appreciation of the natural world. It’s important to realize that enjoying a city park can be just as valuable as visiting a wilderness area in terms of instilling a life-long connection with nature.

Richard Louv, in his book Last Child in the Woods, explores research linking the absence of nature in children’s lives to rising rates of obesity, attention disorders, and depression.  His findings point to an overload of electronic media combined with an understandable concern for safety from parents unwilling to just let their kids roam free. Fortunately Ken Burns recent series America’s Best Idea spurred new interest in our national parks, bringing families together in the outdoors and reversing a trend in recent years refered to as “nature deficit disorder”.

I am a member of several conservation organizations whose common goal is to preserve the natural world and to remind us of the less obvious ways that nature enhances our lives. It can improve our physical health and mental outlook, and most importantly it nurtures our souls.  ”In wildness is the preservation of the world” -  today Thoreau’s words are as meaningful as ever and if embraced by the next generation will ring true long into the future.

The sea nettle (Chrysaora fuscescens) is one of the most fascinating creatures of the open ocean. These jelly fish, as they are commonly known, are invertebrates with tentacles up to 15 feet long and a bell of up to 3 feet in diameter. Their deadly sting paralyzes their prey which includes pollock, plankton, and other jellies, and they can travel as much as 3,600 feet up and down in the water daily in search of food.

This image was made at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is a wonderful place to experience the undersea world without getting wet! The graceful movement of the jellies is mesmerizing to watch and the large displays offer unlimited possibilities for creative photography.

Contrary to popular belief lightning can strike the same place twice as shown in this timed exposure in the Ajo Mountains of Arizona. Although there are devices available for capturing lightning images, I find that composing a shot and then making a timed exposure of one to three minutes in sync with the rhythm of the strikes works just as well.

This image was made with a 300mm lens at a distance of about ten miles. While heading back from a day of shooting at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, I noticed the storm in the distance just after sunset and was surprised by the consistency of the strikes on the ridge. Shooting lightning can be dangerous (a tripod makes a good lightning rod!), but the conditions were perfect on this evening with clear skies above me and the long lens bringing the drama safely into view. The challenging part was actually framing the image in complete darkness using only the light from the strikes to compose. After opening the shutter, I watched and waited as mother nature created her elaborate light painting.

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Here’s another image from our recent Southern California wildflower trip made near Gorman in the Angeles National Forest. It was fun to experiment with slow shutter motion blurs (a good creative outlet when the wind is blowing!) and the variety of colors made for some very impressionistic images.

It was banner year for the Antelope Valley poppies.  The El Nino winter followed by warm weather created ideal conditions for the California state flower. Waiting for the constant winds to subside is always the real challenge in capturing these delicate beauties.

The saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) is an icon of the American southwest. These lone sentinels thrive in the harsh environment of the Sonoran Desert, which can exceed 120 degrees in the summer, but is also one of the wettest deserts in North America.  Encompassing parts of Arizona, California and northern Mexico, this region averages 3 to 16 inches of rain a year and has two rainy seasons, one in the summer and another in the winter, which sustains a wide range of flora in addition to the saguaro.

Mature saguaros can reach up to 50 ft in height. They bloom for the first time when they are 50 – 75 years old and may live to 150 – 200 years (and weigh up to 10 tons). Ironically, the saguaro is so synonymous with the southwest that their likeness has been used in commercials and western films in places like Texas and New Mexico where they have never lived in the wild.

This image was made on a recent backcountry ski trip through the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park.  A storm had just passed in the night and although we were anxious to reach our destination, I knew the fresh snow in the trees wouldn’t last. As I wandered through the grove scene after scene unfolded before my lens, but after only an hour or so the delicate flocking was already beginning to melt.

It’s always a humbling experience to walk among these stately giants – to ponder the fact that they’ve been here long before us and will be here long after we’re gone. But the winter season adds a heightened sense of clarity to the scene and these magnificent trees seem to peer out from their cloaks of white as if to say, “I am wise”.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone! Hope all the moms had a great day today.

I often praise the benefits of digital photography when compared to the old days of film, but one area where the digital world falls short is the constant need for power. People often ask how I manage this obstacle when traveling in the wilderness. The answer is the sun!

In addition to taking along a good supply of fully charged lithium-ion batteries I have a solar panel that rolls up into a small tube and cranks out a powerful 14 watts. That’s enough juice to power a laptop or sat phone and will even charge batteries on overcast days. So between that and several large capacity CF cards the sky really is the limit to shooting in the backcountry.