Greg Jahn Photography

October 12, 2023 - Back Home to Idaho

Well, it was an interesting Summer. I worked full time for a wilderness therapy program in southwest Utah, and on my days off explored new country with my camera. It was also interesting to experience living in my truck, aka unhoused. Now I am back to living in my comfy home up in the mountains of Idaho.

I was able to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for the first time, which was particularly enjoyable since the monsoon rains provided plenty of stormy weather to photograph. On a whim, I decided to give a try at visiting the Wave, which involves winning a permit in a pretty comptetive lottery system. On my second try I won a permit, and it turned out to be on my 64th birthday!

Once I was finished with work, in late September I spent some time hiking and photographing the Escalante area. Soon, I hope to sneak in some late Fall time backpacking in the Sawtooths. Stay tuned!.

July 28, 2023 - A New Adventure in Southern Utah

In May I packed up the truck and sorta moved to Southern Utah, for a while, perhaps for a bit over a year. I decided I was not done with working in Wilderness Therapy, and chose a program based in SW Utah. It has been a challenge, both learning a different wilderness therapy program, and, all the interesting challenges of living in my truck. The good news is that I am once again back out in the wilderness working with struggling teenagers to hopefully help them find a way to a better life.

Before beginning full time work I snuck in some time in favorite places photographing Utah. I found a way up onto the top of Found Mesa, where I camped with a wonderful view of the entire Gravel Canyon drainage.

For the foreseable future I will be living completely self-contained in the shell of my truck, with solar power and an ability to work my photography on my laptop and access wifi. As I type this, I am camping at over 10,000 feet in the forest near Cedar Breaks, with a wifi connection through my cell phone. Over many past years I had thought about retiring with a setup to camp remote and do my writing and photography. Now I am here, except of course, the working full time part. I hope to start taking more advantage of living in southern Utah to pursue more photographic adventures. Stay tuned!

April 4, 2023 - Springtime in Southern Arizona

Southern Arizona FINALLY got rain, and the flowers of Spring at Organ Pipe National Monument were quite nice. I was also able to pack into the backcountry and spend a wonderful peaceful evening camped on a high mountain ridge.

February 14, 2023 - A short Fall Utah trip

Last Fall I snuck in a short trip to the Escalante area, returning to one of my favorite places on earth - lower Stevens Canyon. Alas, the area just before getting to the grotto has grown into a serious patch of poison ivy ... serious enough it stopped me. I had perfect weather, and the Fall colors on Boulder Mountain were wonderful.

July 25, 2022 - The Owyhees and Sawtooths?

So far so good this Summer, landscape photography is still possible - no forest and brush fires smoke (yet) to contend with. In June I returned to the Mudflat Road area of the Owyhees to photograph the high desert Spring, and last weekend a friend and I packed up to the Upper Redfish Lakes. I had always intended on visiting these remote lakes, and I wasn't disappointed. Kathryn Lake, which is just above our camp, was a magical high lake - it had a unique rugged beauty and gave you a feeling of being on top of the world.

And now Summer is passing by fast. I hope to get back up to the peaceful wonderful world of the high alpine before the fires begin.

May 28, 2022 - NOW WHAT?

When I returned to working for the wilderness therapy program here in Idaho, in late March, I had fully intended on working there for another two years. However. Multi-nefarious circumstance led me to the conclusion it was time to move on, to spend more time on my landscape photography and catch up on a backlog of things I needed to spend time on at home. By the time I left, I had worked with and got to know a lot of wonderful young humans and see meaningful progress in their growth - 93 boys and 106 girls. I will miss this work, it was very challenging and incredibly rewarding.

So. It was time for a Spring trip to the desert of southern Utah. I picked an entirely new area to explore, the newly created Muddy Creek Wilderness area. We packed into the middle of Chimney Canyon and spent 3 nights and two full days exploring this canyon complex. We never saw anyone the entire time ... that is still possible in Utah. There are the remains of old uranium mining camps, including the only large chicken coop I've ever seen in the remote backcountry. Apart from the solitude, these canyons have some of the most interesting canyon walls I've ever seen, strange texture and shapes abound.

Next on my plate is to return to the high desert Owyhees now that it is Spring and green and I have the time to do more landscape photography there.Then up into the Sawtooths and Lost River range before the inevitable fire season begins once again. Stay tuned.

March 13, 2022 - A few days in Southern Arizona

After a full winter working in the Idaho high desert, in late February I took some time to go explore the Sonoran desert in southern Arizona. It was wonderful to become familiar with all the big prickly mysterious vegetation in this wonderful new kind of desert. After a brief stop at the Petrified Forest National Park, and the Chiricahua mountains, I spent most of my time exploring Organ Pipe National Monument. It was pleasantly warm, and unfortunately very dry ... hardly any Spring flowers this year. So far.

As I write this in my home in the mountains of Idaho, the snow is quickly melting and Springtime is coming. I plan to make more time for solitary contemplative landscape photography this year - stay tuned!

January 30, 2022 - A few images of the Idaho Desert

I sure spent a lot of time out in the Idaho high desert the past 6 months, not exactly in my past normal routine of being alone with my cameras, but at work with varying groups of teenagers at the wilderness therapy program I work for. The work has been very rewarding, and I normally include time teaching and talking about photography as a way to connect to nature and to heal. I am including a few of my favorite images I was able to acquire along the way, ones that I find special.

SOON, I will be taking time off from working for the wilderness therapy program and plan to go to the Sonoran desert in southern Arizona to photograph, and see for the first time, what Spring has to offer in this special kind of desert.

May 23, 2021 - A Quick Trip to the Utah Desert

I had an interesting, challenging and rewarding time working this winter and early Spring, with several groups in the wilderness therapy program I work for here in Idaho. I was able to rush some personal photography time on short trips, and in late April I fit in a quick 6 day trip to southern Utah, visiting my favorite place in Gravel Canyon, and then a 4 day trip into Halls Creek Narrows. It was nice to see some new country, and nice to spend some time in the wilderness on my own schedule and creative agenda.

Now my thoughts will turn to warmer days and hopefully some time alone in the high country in Idaho this Summer ... let's see what the fire season for 2021 will be!

November 1, 2020 - Finally a return to the Utah Desert

After a year and a half of nefarious circumstance I was finally able to revisit one of my favorite places on the planet - the desert country of southern Utah. I wanted to experiment with a couple new approaches to landscape photography, one to revisit experimenting with HDR, and to explore stacking multiple images of the same scene at difference focus points. I want to embrace new technology as long as the image keeps true to the experience of being in the place and moment - no gimics. Although not perfect, focus stacking images seems to work quite well. Although HDR seems to work quite well I did not find any photographs using this technique that I was pleased with, stay tuned.

After a few pleasant evenings at Burr Point Overlook, where the above photograph of the Milky Way was taken, we went to a mysterious area I like just northwest of Hanksville, where there is a funky mars experiment station ... apparently to test living on Mars. I find the area quite interesting and colorful, and took the following sunrise picture on a perfect beautiful Fall morning.

From Mars, I visited the wonderful slickrock and canyons at the end of the Hole in the Rock road south of the town of Escalante. The area around the head of Davis Canyon is definitely one of my favorite places to wander at sunrise with my camera. Boy, the Hole in the Rock road was in terrible condition, and there was absolutely no water in potholes ... very dry. But the weather was perfect, perhaps even a bit too hot for October.

And now I look forward to winter, and back to work for the wilderness therapy group. It feels like we are maybe due for a tough winter, stay tuned.

Sept 6, 2020 - Summer in the High Country of Idaho

Well, the crowds have definitely come to Idaho this Summer. I have never seen so many people in Stanley Basin before. The good news is that there is still one effective way to avoid ALL the people - hike off trail. I spent a few peaceful solitary days up at the base of Thompson Peak in the Sawtooths, and, a brief period of time on the summit of Thompson Peak also ... there have been so many earthquakes centered just north of the Sawtooths recently that I found myself hesitant to spend all day on the summit. The north face of Thompson Peak is scoured by fresh rockfall, and the entire time I camped nearby I could hear rock fall on the face. Having spent my entire adult life in the Sawtooths, it is exciting to know I am seeing the mountain range in a state of flux. Heck, the top of Finger of Fate ( one of my favorite climbs ) FELL OFF this year!

Among my favorite images captured this year is the following one of the distant White Clouds at sunset.

The Pioneers - I am finding this area to be more and more my favorite place to explore. The high country is spectacular, varied, and, thankfully relatively uncrowded still. The following image is of flowers in a wonderful high meadow, up an obscure off-trail area up at the upper end of Wildhorse Canyon - it was a wonderful simple Summer day hiking in the high country.

Wildhorse Canyon Flowers

July 19, 2020 - Wonderful New Challenges and Adventures In Life

I have something new and exciting to report - I have begun a new career that I think significantly adds to my life and is an excellent addition to my work with natural landscape photography. Starting in October of last year I have been working as a wilderness instructor with groups of teenagers in the high desert and mountains of Idaho in a fairly intense wilderness therapy environment. For half of each month I now live with and work with small groups of wonderful young people, the work is intense, challenging and incredibly rewarding. I have always felt a debt to the people that introduced me to the outdoors and made a difference in my life by giving me a meaningful connection to nature, and now I am happy to report I am passing on that favor in significant ways. This work has been a life changer for me, and I hope I have made a lasting impact on all the many teenagers I've spent time with.

And the good news is that I am still inspired to spend my half of each month 'off work' wandering in nature doing my nature photography. Please stay tuned as I continue to work on combining two wonderful careers that I think inspire and support each other.

July 25, 2019 - The Idaho High Country WITHOUT forest fire smoke

SO FAR, it has been a pretty mellow fire season. It seems like it has been over 10 years since I was able to get into Idaho's high country before the forest fire smoke invaded. In early July I spent a few days photographing Stanley Basin flowers ... surprisingly the mosquitoes were not their normal attacking hoard in early July, and sky, light and weather were pleasant.

Mid-July I spent several days in the Sawtooths at Alice Lake and Twin Lakes, again with clear skies and agreeable weather. This was my first opportunity to use the new digital camera in the high country, and the flexibility and wide range of capabilities of the new technology was a joy to explore. Often I did not need a tripod, and I could explore more fully taking interpretive images without the limitations of medium format film.

Early dawn on the last morning, I stepped out to see a full moon over Alice Lake. It was magical. As I took the exposure, I found myself thinking that 50 years ago, the first man walked on the moon. And, as it turned out on the drive home later that day, I passed an active forest fire, and I suspect that the Sawtooths are now covered in smoke once again.

June 18, 2019 - Springtime at the Alvord Desert

On June 10th I joined 3 friends for a casual two night car camping trip to the Alvord Desert in remote south east Oregon. I am pleased with the 8 new images I got on such a short trip. Springtime colors were nice and it was wonderful to wander the playa at all times of day, with a nice soak in the hot springs in the evening. Like everywhere else, there are a lot more people there than 20 years ago. With a half moon, I was still able to photograph a hint of the milky way at midnight ... a magical and peaceful walk on the playa.

June 9, 2019 - Exploring new country and revisiting familiar places

I have been exploring the desert country of southern Utah for many decades now, and it is always a struggle to think of new places to explore. Up until now I have avoided exploring the desert in the Navajo Nation because it often requires fees and a Navajo guide. Well, it turns out that the remote North Trail hike to Rainbow Bridge only requires a minimal daily fee for hiking and commercial photography, and no guide is required. This hike takes you along the north side of Navajo Mountain, an area I have often looked at from the Escalante and wanted to explore. It was a wonderful hike, crossing many beautiful canyons, and many of the days it was raining, which made photography difficult but made the hike pleasant. The flowers were magical.

It was interesting to hike 18 miles through remote country, to arrive at the Rainbow Bridge National Monument. Fortunately when we arrived there was only one nice couple that was doing the same hike we were, and it was only after we were preparing to return that a large crowd hiked up the short trail from their boat on 'lake' Powell. One irony not lost on me, was the signs explaining how sacred this place was to the Navajo, and to show a reverence and respect for the place ... well, the entire time we were there the constant drone of tour planes and helicopters buzzed above the bridge!

The second week I hiked with other friends revisiting familiar country on the Escalante - the Red Breaks area. The weather was wonderful, and it was a joy to be using my new Sony camera which rarely required the use of a tripod. We knew that rain was coming, and we were able to hike and drive out just in time. We spent some rainy days at Capitol Reef before splitting up and I went off for a week of solitary time photographing.

For my third week I spent all my time in the White Canyon area. This Spring there was a flower bloom like I have never seen before, and the smell of all the flowers was intoxicating. Needless to say, I enjoyed the greater flexibilty that my new camera offers.

It was a wonderful trip. I find it perfect to spend a week hiking with a friend, another week hiking with other friends, and then spend another week by myself focusing entirely on my photography. Tomorrow I'm going to the Alvord Desert for more photographic adventures. Hopefully we will have a much-needed break from all the fires the past many years and I will be able to photograph the mountains in Idaho!

January 13, 2019 - A NEW CAMERA!

I am excited to announce that I have finally made the turn to the dark side, and bought my first professional digital camera - a spiffy 42 megapixel Sony A7RIII and Sony 24-105 G series zoom lens. I will continue to use my 6X7 film camera, but for backpacking and serious off trail photography I will be using the Sony camera more - the Sony camera and lens weigh 5 pounds, the film camera and lenses weigh about 20 pounds ... it is time to give my knees and back a break!

The Sony camera comes with many new mind boggling capabilities and I have been enjoying exploring photography in new fresh ways. And, the final test is the final print, and I am pleased to say that I find the first 22 by 32 inch print from the new camera to be very nice - just as sharp and clean, just mysteriously different than using film capture. But enough of that!

After very little time to learn my new camera, I rushed to the Maze District in early November - election day. It was nice to spend 5 days backpacking away from the election results. A friend and myself drove down to the Golden Staircase trailhead and packed into Ernie Country and the Fins. Just to mention, I have always called it Ernie's Country and it is noted as such on the maps, but at present I am reading a book with interviews of the first ranchers in the Maze, and they all named and called it Ernie Country, so I am sticking to their name. The image above was my first experiment at testing the Sony camera's ability to photograph the night sky - it is pretty wild what the camera can do. The above image was only a 6 second exposure!

The next image was taken of sunrise in Ernie Country and is one of my favorite new images.

After backpacking in the Fins and Ernie Country, we snuck in a visit to the Great Gallery panel in Horsehoe Canyon - I had been there twice before, but I wanted to try out the new camera and, I did not even have to carry a tripod - the new camera removes the need for a tripod in many circumstances. I was able to take multiple shots to stitch together into a very high resolution panorama of the entire Gallery. The next image is a single shot close up of my favorite group of the pictographs

After Horseshoe Canyon, I went off on my own to have some solo time in the desert, just me and Sony! Being pretty tired with sore knees from so much hiking, I spent a couple days relaxing. AND, I had a 300 page book to read on how to use the Sony Camera. I spent most of two afternoons just laying in the back of my truck reading and learning the new camera. I found that it took me reading about 100% of it's capabilities in order to find the 20% that was useful for me. I spent many days exploring mostly familiar country around White Canyon, and the last day and night exploring country I only had time to drive through on the way to trailheads in the past. I took the following image at sunset there, and it is definitely one of my favorite.

After White Canyon I spent an evening in North Wash and then headed to the Temple of the Sun and Moon in Capitol Reef National Park. The following image was taken at night with a quarter moon behind me to illuminate the temples.

After the temples, I snuck over to the badlands northwest of Hanksville, where the Mars Research station is located. I am pleased to mention that they continue to run the research station, but alas I didn't see any astronauts riding ATV's in spacesuits this time! The following image is one I took of the badlands.

After returning home, I snuck in a visit to a friend on the Oregon Coast right after Christmas. Once again, it was fun, exciting to try my craft at photographing the Oregon Coast with the new camera. The following image was made possible by using the exactly needed amount of telephoto to compose the shot

Of course, I enjoyed experimenting with many different photographs of the Oregon Coast. I even participated in the Labyrinth walk on Bandon Beach, a fun experience - just look it up on the net, the artist and team draw a fun winding pathway in the sand that you walk with many other people.

And so that was the end of 2018 for me, with new adventures with my new camera. I can't wait to see what I scheme up for images of the natural landscape in 2019. I will end this with one more image, of the sunset on Bandon Beach on New Year's Eve. Please enjoy!

July 10, 2018 - Just a few days spent on the Upper Pahsimeroi and in Copper Basin

If I can, I try to spend the Summer Solstice in the Upper Pahsimeroi Valley. This year I did. The weather was a pleasant mix of heat, sun, rain, hail and storm. I had the intrepid company of good friends and a pleasantly lazy time spent pretty much in lawn chairs by the trucks. I continue to be surprised by how few people visit this special place, but, well, I am not complaining.

I also spent a couple days in Copper Basin, where the flowers were wonderful. Below is a shot I took of Bellas Creek, with mystical silky water and the glow of green moss.

June 18, 2018 - A few weeks of many hikes and adventures in Springtime Southern Utah

My Spring outdoor adventures began with a cross country hike into the west side of remote Gravel Canyon, full of typical Spring desert weather, with cold, snow, heat and sun. The ruins we found there seemed less sophisticated, older, and unfortunately completely scoured seemingly a long time ago. The good news is that despite the area being recently removed from Bears Ears Monument protection, we did not see any evidence of returning the area to the uranium mining activity from back in the 50's. Yet.

My 2nd week was spent doing many day hikes with other friends, exploring the Circle Cliffs area, including a nice hike into Little Death Hollow. I think I have some more exploring to do with the big camera around Little Death Hollow.

Then I went solo, driving for the first time up onto the 50 Mile Bench, above the lower Escalante Canyons. It is an interesting drive to get up there, quite a sustained steep road, one I would not want to drive in a rainstorm! The area looks to be very rarely visited, and the road to the end barely wide enough for one vehicle. From there, I spent some wonderous time in one of my favorite places on earth, the slickrock above Davis Canyon near the end of the Hole in the Rock road.

After a few days of stormy weather, including sitting in the back of my truck reading a book written by a woman recovering from a lightening strike (while lightening struck around me), I finished my time photographing in Long Canyon on the Burr Trail road. The light that reflects off the canyon wall in the mornings makes the shadowed other side of the canyon acquire very color saturated effects.

And now it is almost Summer. I hope to do a bit of photographing in the Lost River Range soon, and then I will just have to see how the rest of Summer pans out. Hopefully the fires will not be too destructive, including up my own forested valley!

February 25, 2018 - A bit of Idaho Summer and late Fall in many places of the Southwest and Oregon coast

My Summer in Idaho was seriously side-tracked by taking a 60 hour a week seasonal job with the National Fire Center, but I am pleased with what little time I had to photograph nature in short spurts - this picture of the outlet stream of Goat Lake is one I find very pleasing to the eye. By mid November I was free once again to pursue my photography, and in the course of a month the two road trips I took produced quite a large number of good photographs, so I do not feel like my 2nd half of 2017 suffered much in the creative department.

I started my Fall trip in Zion National Park, which was disturbingly crowded even for the last week of November. Oh well. One interesting experience was on the hike back down from Hidden Canyon. For anyone familiar with the hike, there is a quite exposed narrow walkway, and this is where I ran into a young woman forcing a reluctant bull dog up the trail ... I didn't say anything, and I suspect she would have claimed that her dog was a service dog and did not have to adhere to the Park's rules against dogs on the trails. I also had a quite enjoyable return hike to the top of Angel's Landing, with perfect Fall weather. Unfortunately it was not a hike I could justify carrying 35 pounds of film gear, getting around other hikers going the other way was enough of a challenge already.

I had never been to the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada before, so it was an enjoyable new adventure. I really like this image of last light, which I took off the beaten path in the north part of the Park, the colors of stone and sky seem just wonderful to me.

I am very excited about this image of a solitary moving rock at Racetrack Valley in Death Valley. There was a sandstorm coming in from the north, and it made an interesting 'feel' of backdrop to the last light shining on this rock. It is one of my all time favorite images of nature, and it was heavenly to spend time walking on the playa enjoying this unique place.

My 2nd road trip was to the Oregon coast, where for several days a friend from high school days was a wonderful co-hiker and excellent tour guide. This was my first experience with photographing an ocean coastline, and I feel like it was productive, and as always I feel pleased when I think the set of images I get are not necessarily common calendar picture material.

And now I look forward to a Springtime adventure and many weeks of continuing my experiment of photographing nature. I am planning to visit a remote and pristine area of upper Gravel Canyon, both for photography and to explore seldom visited ancient ruins. I feel somewhat worried about this area, which has recently been removed from the protection of the Bears Ears National Monument. In years past I have run into old uranium mines and exploratory drill holes from the 50's, and I sure hope I don't run into a new batch! The scars, as far as human time is concerned, are permanent.

June 18, 2017 - A month of Springtime adventure in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona

I started my adventures in an interesting area just northwest of the town of Hanksville, an area of mysterious badlands that looks like what one would imagine Mars to be like. As a matter of fact, there is a space station in the area that claims to be doing field testing for the first astronauts that go to Mars. Don't believe me? Check this out - http://mdrs.marssociety.org/

It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I have always been drawn to the most mysterious and other-worldly that occurs in nature. This area was wonderful for that, and since it is so easy to get to I just may revisit the place in the future and continue the adventure of finding compositions, shapes, textures, in different light of day. One of my biggest regrets of the visit to the area came one late afternoon as I sat in the windbreak of my truck with a whiskey, pleasantly tired from a day's exploring with the big camera. Without warning, and with not enough time to go find my digital point and shoot camera, a 'crew' of 8 astronauts in full suits, including helmets, sped past me on 4 ATV's! A very unusual ATV scene if I may say so.

My second week alone was spent exploring many places, but mostly in the Cedar Mesa area. In the past I remember liking the carved slickrock area above Owl Canyon, and it was nice to spend some time there for the first time with medium format film gear. I did ask where the signs were for the new Bears Ears National Monument. Stay tuned ... at least as of June 18th it is still a national monument. Count me in as an aggrieved party if this changes.

My third week of adventure began two weeks of enjoying the desert in the company of friends. We first met at White Canyon, to drive up to the head of Cheesebox Canyon to car camp then backpack into the middle part of Gravel Canyon. Gravel Canyon is becoming one of my favorite places, one still lacking crowds and retaining a feeling of the wild. The precariously balanced boulders in the bottom of the canyon in the above picture are very rarely seen by a person.

From Gravel Canyon I drove across northern Arizona to meet other friends in the Vermillion Cliffs area, a place most interesting for the simple fact that it is not very crowded unless you are scampering to get to the same place, 'The Wave'. Like Antelope Canyon, I personally never saw the sense in paying and scrambling to stand in line to take a copy of a picture taken at least a hundred times every day of the year. Still thankfully relatively un-crowded, it was nice to visit White Pocket again, it is a quite photogenic unique place. I have a special place at White Pocket that I photographed again - it is a quite challenging thing to do, I find, since film shots of the pre-dawn light put such strange things on film to interpret, to try to make an image of what it looks like when I saw it in low light.

Now that I have been back for a bit over a month and have finished scanning the film work, I am pleased with my efforts just because I feel they represent things that I want to share of the moment - not with the intent to make 'market' images, but simply because I find them special that I want to share. As I wait for the Idaho high country to shed it's high snow levels to get up there before the possibility of another bad fire season, I otherwise refill my hummingbird feeder and enjoy the other happy birds up my forested valley.

I suspect my next set of new images will be the result of the next 4 months of work, stay tuned for the next outcome of the adventures of the Greg Jahn Experience.

December 18, 2016 - Summer and Fall in Idaho, and the Whole Month of October in Southern Utah

It has been well below zero at my home the past few nights, so it seems a bit strange to write about the Summer forest fires just a few months ago. However, August had it's share of fire. Many places I take for granted to go for simple one day mountain bike rides were closed because of the fires. However, I was able to get into the White Clouds in July, before the fires, and, I spent a few days in the Sawtooths trying to do what photography I could despite the smoke. It was nice to scramble up Thompson Peak again, I had not done that in a few years. I also went to the Yellowpine Harmonica Festival for a guaranteed good time with friends ... it was on the drive to Yellowpine that I took the photograph of the South Fork of the Salmon River.

I managed to spend part of September in Stanley Basin, with some pleasant day hikes into the White Clouds and Sawtooths. I always look forward to the Fall season, no bugs and the cool fresh air that comes with the first snows.

Then, since I had the confidence of owning a newer truck, I decided I could justify spending the entire month of October exploring and photographing southern Utah. I dedicated the first week of October to photographing fall colors of high mountain aspens, then spent the last 3 weeks exploring new country more in the area surrounding Moab. It is amazing what has happened to Moab when I compare it to back when I first went there in the early 80's!

In past years I tended to get to southern Utah closer to the middle of October, when much of the high mountain aspen groves are past their prime Fall colors. This year I made sure I was down there right at the beginning of the month. I had never been in the Fishlake Forest, not far from the town of Torrey, so I decided I would start my explorations there. I had become aware of what is called the Pando Forest - an aspen grove determined to be all the same genetic male aspen tree, estimated to be 80,000 years old! It is considered to be the most massive living thing on the planet, and is located in the Fishlake Forest. It was magical to spend several brisk Fall days among this living giant.

After a full week of high mountain aspens I headed to the Moab area, first revisiting the Fisher Towers and then new country in the LaSal Mountains area, ending the week at the Needles Overlook. I had been to the Fisher Towers once back in the mid-80's, when you could still backpack into the area. Things have sure changed ... I got my first exposure to the brave new world of experiencing nature, namely, very motorized with drones and people flying paragliders. I was reserving judgement on the use of personal drones until I had seen them in action - it took me less than a minute of listening to one to conclude they are very irritatingly noisy. I am very glad they are banned in National Parks. Still, it was nice to see the Fisher Towers again, and I will have many fond memories of sunset and sunrise at the Castle Valley overlook.

Then ... back to Moab to meet friends to go into the Maze for a week. This was only my 2nd trip into the Maze, and I was very excited to explore more of that amazing country. Instead of risking destroying trucks to get into the Maze, we took what I consider a much more sane alternative approach - we paid a relatively minimal fee to have a jet boat take us the many miles down the Colorado river to be dropped off and picked up at Spanish Bottom. It had not occurred to me that after all these decades of exploring southern Utah, I had never actually been on the Colorado river! The ride down and back up the river was quite entertaining ... meeting many different personalities and generations of outdoor folks.

The week spent in the Maze was wonderful and we covered a lot of country. The area definitely gives me the feeling that I could spend several lifetimes exploring there and still not be tired of the country. Just to mention ... if anyone by chance finds a nice little foam sit pad in Water Canyon, well, it is/was mine - large winds ripped it out of my pack the first night and I can only imagine how far it flew!

The last week of October was spent in the Cedar Mesa area. It was a pleasant surprise to see that in October there is still somewhere you can go in southern Utah to avoid large crowds. The entire time we spent on Cedar Mesa my friend and I had it all to ourselves! I always find it thought-provoking to spend time among the ruins of an entire civilization, not knowing what exactly happened to them ... I will resist the temptation to compare it to our own immediate future as a people! My trip ended in the Valley of the Gods, an area I just had to check out because of the name. I can see great possibilities for landscape photography, and, it is BLM land and thus free to explore and photograph it's 'Monument Valley' similar look and feel.

And so, this has been a long month and a half push to work on this recent set of film work of the past 6 months. I hope, as always, that people are enriched by the experience of viewing these recent works. And, HANG ON! Next year proves to be interesting!

August 1, 2016 - A New Truck, and New Images of Utah and Idaho - Spring 2016

My dark purple 1999 Toyota Tacoma truck has been with me since the beginning of my full time professional photography career ... well over 200,000 miles of adventure. It never let me down, and it is now time for it to settle into a comfortable retirement doing light duty at a friend's home in north Idaho. I have already been on two photography adventures with my 'new' 2009 Tacoma truck, which has much more room and comfort features ... I must admit being able to open the passenger side window on a hot day just by pushing a button, and, not having my head touch the top of the shell while sitting up to read are ... nice comfort features.

My first backpack trip of this year was a pleasant hike up into colorful slickrock, approaching the Red Breaks area in the Escalante Canyon system this time from the south. We found a wonderfully comfortable spot to pitch tents next to copious amounts of water in a series of wonderful pools, and the character of the landscape was a continuous joy to experience.

This Spring's Utah trip was much shorter than normal for me, only a week, so my only other place to explore was the canyon rim and interior of Long Canyon in the White Canyon area. Much of the White Canyon area continues to be one of the few nice places left anywhere in southern Utah where you can find true solitude and peace ...

After experimenting with photographing lupine flowers near my home this Spring, I snuck back to a remote area very seldom visited - the Upper Little Wood River. Other than outfitters during the Fall hunting season, people just don't go there! I like this unusual photograph of lupine flowers with the remote view of the Pioneer snowcapped mountains on the remote horizon. I can guarantee you you will never find another photograph from anyone else from this spot!

In June I drove to north Idaho to retire my old truck and ... pick up ... my new pickup. I took a somewhat leisurely drive back home through Montana, spending time exploring the wonderfully magical cedar grove forests. I spent an evening at the Hobo Cedar Grove Botanical Area, where I had the wonderfully magical experience of sitting on a simple bench on a trail at sunset, next to a small stream - while I sat there enjoying the peaceful evening a marten came hopping along up the stream and into the interior of a large decaying cedar tree next to me. For about 5 minutes the marten repeatedly peeked its head up out of a hole and looked at me, sometimes with a dead mouse in its mouth, sometimes without.

I also camped near Lolo Pass at a very nice high mountain meadow ... this was a particularly nice evening for me, since after reading Lewis and Clarke's journals last winter, I was camping in the same meadow that they camped at when they crossed the continental divide on their explorations..

And now ... it is forest fire season! I am glad I managed to get into the White Clouds before the fires began, and now I guess I will just have to see how much smoke I will have to deal with on August trips into the Sawtooths.

It has been a very busy Summer for me, evidenced by the fact I was only able to finish Spring film work by late July. One new exciting development is that I have now worked out the details for being able to offer my images printed on a metal surface. It has an entirely different look and feel that I am sure many people will like. AND, the prints on metal will be ready to hang - no mat, no framing costs! Please contact me if you are interested in this new option.

January 6, 2016 - New Images - October in Nevada and Utah 2015

I began my Fall trip by exploring central Nevada, hoping to find good landscape photographs of the Fall season. I liked the idea of having very little information about the area, and just letting my exploration develop without a plan. While I did find the area interesting to explore, with a lot of solitude, my search of the hinterlands of Nevada revealed no Fall color and hardly anywhere that lent itself well to landscape photography. I did, however, find some interesting petroglyphs in an area called Mount Irish. In the future, I plan to explore Nevada's high country for the ancient bristlecone pine. By October there was already a lot of snow up high, and I guess I just didn't have the gumption for what it would have required in hiking and cold temperatures, to properly photograph in the snow at sunrise and sunset.

One of the most entertaining places I visited had nothing to do with nature photography - I visited the town of Rachel on the Extraterrestrial Highway, and I even drove to the entrance gate to nearby Area 51, just for the fun of it. Alas, they did not let me in.

I then meandered my way to Zion National Park, where I had no problems finding both aesthetically appealing landscapes, and, Fall color. I had not spent time photographing Zion since the very wet Spring of 2005, and I am very glad I gave it a shot ... no pun intended. However, I was a bit in shock as I saw just how crowded Zion has become in the last 10 years. Even in late October it was 'full'. Just to mention, I did spend one night at the remote Lava Point campground in the park, which turned out to be not only Halloween but the last night the campground was open for the season. I mention this campground because it is at high elevation, small, quiet and free. Campsites are available as first-come first-serve, with no reservations. If you have several days to visit Zion, I would suggest planning on spending one night in this quiet and cool place with a wonderful forest and an amazing view down into the main canyons of Zion.

The Fall color in Pine Creek Canyon, the east entrance to Zion, was in it's peak, with some wonderful descriptions of leaves in a mix from green to extreme red. For the year 2015 and the last week of October, Fall color wasn't yet in peak in the bottom of Zion's main canyon.

I enjoyed many of the hikes in the canyon, and finally for the first time hiked up the Narrows section of the Virgin River ... a quit popular hike for many people, many of whom I noticed were hiking in the water with the exact same foot gear. I asked, and apparently these shoes are commonly rented for the day from shops nearby in Springdale. If you choose to make this hike, this footgear will seem worth it when you do not have the unpleasant sensation of frozen wet feet for a few hours. I already had proper footgear, but nonetheless, when I reached my turnaround point at a side canyon, I was pleased to meet a stranger brewing hot coffee ... he offered me a fresh cup of hot coffee, and I shared the whiskey I had in my pack. After the long hike in the cold water, the whiskey-laced hot coffee really hit the spot!

The photographic highlight of the trip was my hike to what is commonly called the Subway. Technically, it is called the oddly uninteresting name of the Left Fork of North Creek. Be forewarned that the Park limits the number of hikers to this spot, and you have a get a permit. For me, someone who still has no desire to own a cell phone let alone a smart phone, I was shocked to find out that I could not take care of the entire permit process unless I got on the government's web site! I had to drive to the nearby town of Springdale and go to their library, where they allow strangers 30 minutes of free internet access. I first had to enter the permit lottery, giving the web site my credit card information for the $5 fee, then, if you 'win' a spot, you still have to appear in person at the visitors center the day before the hike to pay a $10 permit fee ... I found this all quite surreal - the notion that in order to get a backcountry permit you had to have a credit card and internet access ... just so you could, supposedly, get away from the humdrum of 'civilisation'!

ok enough of that. The Subway area was, as expected, quite phenomenally photogenic.The Fall colors were perfect, and I had to laugh at how easy it was for me to find and select dramatic compositions. The following image is derived from a 30 second time exposure, during which each leaf of Fall color had time to swirl in interesting patterns.

And now it is January, with finally a good winter season of snow up at my homestead in the mountains. As I type this report, my thoughts turn towards what new and exciting things nature will reveal to me this coming year. Nature seems to be an endless source of inspiration and ideas of what the natural landscape can be. I wish you happy trails and warm comfortable hiking toes for the coming year.

October 10, 2015 - New Images - Summer in Idaho 2015

Well. I had a wonderful Summer. At last count I managed 6 different backpacking trips in the mountains of Idaho. AND, most importantly, there were only about two weeks of forest fire smoke in August to thwart my photographic efforts. The photograph taken above, of Elephant's Perch and Shangri-La Lake, was taken after a dramatic mid-Summer storm. The Summer's backpack trips involved all possible weather, from hot and dry to rain and lightening, even one afternoon snowstorm.

I began this Summer's photographic explorations by going backpacking in the Owyhee Mountains to a place called Camel Falls. I rarely backpack in the Owyhees for some reason. Hopefully this trip will inspire more exploration of this wonderful high desert country.

My next trip was to McGown Lake, just a short hike over a pass from Sawtooth Lake. I had never been there, and I found the combination of still-standing burnt tree forest and green meadow and stream quite magical. I also spent a night at Sawtooth Lake, pitching my tent in what I remembered as being the first place I pitched a tent in the Sawtooths way back in the early 70's. The following photograph was taken by my trusty digital point and shoot camera, made from multiple wide angle shots stitched together ... it embraces a wonderful view of the majestic Sawtooth Lake, and how it is so dramatically perched high in the mountains. In the final large print you can also see the town of Stanley in the upper left corner.

My next destination was to the Pioneer Mountains, and in particular to photograph sunrise from Goat Lake. At over 10,000 feet in elevation, Goat Lake is claimed to be the highest named lake in Idaho. The following sunrise image of Goat Lake is derived from two wide angle medium format film shots stitched together ... a technique I am finding often useful to express what I feel being there in person.

Whenever I go backpacking in the Sawtooths I prefer to spend one night car camping up Iron Creek, and I did this on both pack trips I took to the Sawtooths this Summer. I took the following photograph of Iron Creek in early August, on a perfectly calm afternoon, and it was possible to get this long exposure shot of the fireweed flowers and creek in low light.

After spending many wonderful days at aptly named Shangri-La Lake, exploring the deep dark forest and small meadows, I headed to the Lost River Range. The Lost River range has a wonderful and unique character to it, with curious disappearing streams and massive high walls of incredibly loose rock. Fossils are common in the rock wherever you go, and on the east side of Leatherman peak are a couple high mountain lakes that I think are only very rarely visited. The following sunset photograph is of the lake we camped at, with the distant view looking down into the West Fork of the Upper Pahsimeroi river. Technically, according to the map, this lake is considered the source of the West Fork.

And now my thoughts are turning towards scheming up an adventure back in the Utah desert ... in fact I should probably be there right now! I hope you enjoyed the results of my Summer's adventures in the mountains of Idaho. And, as always, if you are in the Boise area I encourage you to contact me and come visit in person at my gallery. Happy trails!

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Sunset at Red Breaks

Morning at Burr Point Overlook

"Sandstone and Sky" - Gravel Canyon

Sunrise at Mysterious Red Breaks Stone

Navajo Mountain

The Photographic Moment!

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Fall Colors of Coyote Gulch

Cramer Lake Panorama

Bear Grass Flowers and Hard Butte Mountain

Coyote Gulch

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Spring Colors of Idaho Stream

Truck Wreck in Slot Canyon

Wahweap Hoodoos at Night

Sunrise Color on Slickrock

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Moonlight Reflections

Sculptured Stone of Happy Canyon

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Sunrise Color on Escalante Slickrock

My first goal was to backpack into Llewellyn Canyon, where I spent a couple nights. This canyon is one of the most remote in southern Utah, I think, and it was very nice to see one of the few canyons in the area I had never been to. The bottom of the canyon has a wonderful stream and pools of water, and the upper part of the canyon turns into a challenging slot. I have a feeling that I will return to Llewellyn, and to the endless slickrock country nearby.

Llewellyn Canyon

My Front Yard

Towards the end of my second week I decided to just wander out across the slickrock for the night. Since I did not know what I would find, I carried enough water for two days. I think I will do more trips like this in the future - it is quite liberating to be fully self-contained with no particular place as a goal. Not knowing what you will find is definitely nice to experience in these days of guidebooks, GPS and cell phone coverage - I had none of these distractions. I ended up camping in a nice complex of slickrock arrangements of domes encircling floor-like areas. It was the highest spot in miles, and there was a wonderful view. I could look south past Navajo Mountain towards endless mesas in Arizona, north I could see all of the Escalante River system and the distant Henry's Mountains. Looking west I could see the Kaiparowits Plateau ... that was the view in my 'front yard' outside my tent. It was very peaceful, and I had the feeling that perhaps I was the first person to ever camp there.

Peekaboo

After two weeks, as I drove back up the Hole in the Rock Road, I decided to camp for a night near a complex of popular destination slot canyons. I felt that I had unfinished photographic business in a very nice slot canyon called Peekaboo. I was able to get into the exit of Peekaboo with my camera gear before the crowds, and I had a wonderful photographic session on a wonderfully peaceful morning. Since I had to negotiate several somewhat deep pools of water, I worked my way up the canyon with my boots in my pack, scrambling barefoot using my tripod for balance. It was one of those rare photographic sessions where everything went at what seemed a perfect pace with everything flowing with a calm solitary sense of perfection. As I finished my work, the first crowds appeared and I stealthily exited the upper canyon feeling very good about the morning.

Morning light in Sand Creek Canyon