One of the first open views from the hike up to the top of Nevada’s Tikaboo Peak.

After the long drive over to the Tikaboo Trailhead, I almost backed out and didn’t make the hike. There were scattered storms and thunder, and after I walked a quarter of a mile up the trail the hail arrived. It was small, but still… I thought about turning around and heading back to the truck. There were a few flashes of lightning off to the distance, and that also made me think long and hard about not achieving that day’s goal: to camp at the top of Tikaboo Peak, the only legal viewpoint of Nevada’s notorious Area 51.

Looking to the southwest from Nevada’s Tikaboo Peak

I also didn’t realize that the hiking instructions that I printed out were really for mountain climbers. It wasn’t a terribly tough peak to ascent, but it was harder than I expected. My directions claimed that it would take an hour to make it to the top, but it took me closer to two. It rained during the entire hike to the top. A few times I thought about being hit by lightning, but I figured that it would be just as likely to be hit going down the mountain as up the mountain. I was probably wrong about that, but the optimism helped keep me motivated to make it to the top.

Desert Detail During Breaking Storm, Area 51, Nevada

When I finally arrived, the rain completely stopped within minutes, and gorgeous stormlight surrounded me from all sides. The panoramic view from the peak stretched for miles, and I was there all alone, except for the weather tower, which I think is really a spy cam for the Feds. I waved at the camera a few times, gave a thumbs up, and took photos until dark. It was cold and windy, and I was exhausted, so I fell asleep pretty fast. My sleeping bag was a little wet, but thankfully it still kept me warm.

I always feel like somebody’s watchin’ me…

One thing that really surprised me was how incredibly beautiful the views were from Tikaboo Peak. I’m sure the dramatic stormlight helped make everything look lovely, but I’ll honestly put that view up against anything I’ve seen in Nevada. I used a 420mm lens and tried to find the Area 51 structures, but I couldn’t really make anything out. I found a runway and a long road across the desert floor. A few cars drove along it, and that was the only military procedure that I noticed.

Area 51 Distant Detail (the scene was at least 15 miles away, probably further)

Once I had settled in, setup the tent, and sorted through the gear for the night, the amazing Nevadan light show began. I immediately forgot about being cold and wet and was super duper happy that I decided to keep heading up the mountain and didn’t turn back. My photographic hero, Ansel Adams, once said that bad weather makes great photographs, and I don’t think there are many things more beautiful than a breaking storm in the desert. It’s not just a visual experience either. The smell is better than anything, and the moist, clean air feels so good to breathe and feel. I’d like to try to describe it in words, but I will have to play the trope of ineffability card and just say that it’s too awesome to be described in words. Photographs work much better.

Rainbow to the east of Nevada’s Tikaboo Peak

There was also a beautiful rainbow to the east of Tikaboo Peak, and this coincided with the golden hour of light. Being up there was like a religious experience. The light, the colors, the smells, and the feel of it all confirmed to me that even though being a photographer isn’t always profitable, us shutterbugs do live a very rich life and experience things that a lot of other people will never see. This was one of my best evenings of photography since I moved to Nevada in 2008. I haven’t seen many photos taken from this spot because it’s just not easy to get to. In fact, it’s kind of difficult. And Nevada is often overlooked by landscape photographers. Actually, I’m writing this from the Las Vegas airport and am waiting to pick up my mother, so we can spend a week traveling on the Colorado Plateau, and I went to all the art galleries that I could find along the Las Vegas Strip, and there were no photographs of Nevada, not even Red Rock Canyon or Lake Tahoe. I absolutely love making photographs in Nevada; it’s challenging and fun, and the light is just as good, if not better, than anywhere else in the world.

Tighter and Vertical View of Rainbow Seen from Tikaboo Peak, Nevada

Light Rays Over Mountains on Western Side of Area 51

Area 51 Sunset

Some of my photography students during hour golden hour photography meet up at the TMCC overflow parking lot.

I know what it’s like to have taught a class that the majority of the students hated from day one. I’ve done it, and it’s tough. It was always disheartening to declare on the first day that students would be reading hundreds of pages of texts that are difficult to relate to and older than dirt, and I could often sense the fear and resentment after they were told that they would write several essays about these texts which would be meticulously graded. I’ve taught classes like that a few times, and I’m relieved to finally have the chance to teach photography, a subject that both I am passionate about and students choose to take on their own.

It was a  lot of hard work getting started, and learning how to approach teaching sophisticated software like Photoshop and Lightroom was challenging. Honestly though, I think everything went well, and I’m confident that my first group of image-engineers thought of this as a very positive experience.  I expected the motivation factor in the class to be much higher than what I was used to, but being overzealous was the one thing that made me wary. I’ve had a few professors in the past who tended to feel the need to prove themselves by loading their students down with tons of work and requiring them to do much more than an experienced professor would require. All this being considered I still wondered if I could get away with being overzealous in this photography class? I really wanted to because I wanted to make sure that my students got their money’s worth. I also wanted to know how much I could feasibly teach them during one semester, and overzealous or not, the students in my photo class basically did more work than the photo 1 class at one of the most distinguished universities in the world. My goal was to make sure that every assignment would teach them something new and help them develop into a better photographer. I think that there was a significant improvement in every students’ photography throughout the semester, and I received permission to use some of their images in this blog which shows some  photos from each of the assignments and describes a little bit about what I hoped they’d learn. Enough about that, let’s get to the good stuff: their photos.

Assignment 1: Bad Photos  For this assignment, my goal was to show them some of the things that ultimately make a bad photo, but I wanted them to intentionally make their “bad photos” with the goal of creating something aesthetically pleasing. These weren’t the best batch of images from the class, but I did like some of the photos, and I think they learned some things to try to avoid. One of the requirements was to intentionally shoot something out of focus.

Out of Focus Fire Embers — Photo by Kyla Kosher

Assignment 2: Sports and Action For the second assignment, the goal was to get the students thinking about shutter speeds, and how they handle motion in a photograph. They were asked to turn in images that froze motion, blurred motion, and a set of images that represented a burst of motion in three photos. This was my own first assignment during my first photography class back in the 1990s, and I think it is a great way to introduce manual exposure. There were several images turned in that I liked a lot. These are just a few of them.

Might as well Jump at Reno Airport — Photo by Kyla Kosher

Capturing Motion — Photo by Mayra Santiago

Action Series — Photo by Maximus Ciesynski

Assignment 3: Macro For their third assignment, I wanted the students to take closeup photos. The assignment teaches how critical focusing is when composing a photograph, especially when the subject is very close. All lenses have different minimum focus distances, and this is a good way of learning how close that one can get without losing focus.

Totally Buggy — Photo by Deborah Rife

Closeup of Orange Peel — Photo by Mayra Santiago

Old Soccer Ball Detail — Photo by Adriana Aguirre

Closeup of Snake photo by Lori Ketner

Assignment 4: Architecture The architecture assignment is a good way to show students how lines are distorted in photographs. Most cameras don’t allow tilts and shifts to correct the way that lines bend in an image, and it’s hard for a beginner to notice this until they see it. I also introduced panoramic stitching in this assignment and showed them how to stitch together panoramics by shooting vertical images which overlap each other.

Repeating Patterns of Architecture — Photo by Jovanna Rivera

No Vanishing Point in Architecture — Photo by Frank Testa

Framed from Nevada Museum of Art — Photo by Jovanna Rivera

Assignment 5: Still Life The still life assignment was a lot of fun for me because I taught them some Photoshop magic tricks. Part of the assignment was to make something appear like it was levitating, and that was the most challenging part of the assignment.

Photoshop Magic, Levitating Coffee Cup — Photo by Mayra Santiago

Assignment 6: Portraiture With the portraiture assignment, I asked the students to make photographs of people in various types of light. It was intended to show how changing the light source can drastically change the way a person looks. My favorite part of the assignment was the environmental portrait requirement. It forced the students to get out of their comfort zone a little bit, and some of them went out and asked complete strangers to pose at a location which defines them. A lot of these images reminded me of my days as a photojournalist.

Environmental Portrait — Photo by Adriana Aguirre

A Child’s Perspective photo by Teresa Hunsaker

Portrait with Flash & Ambient Light photo by Jovanna Rivera

Assignment 7: Landscapes The landscape assignment was my favorite, and that’s because it’s what I do the most with my own photography, so I saved the assignment until the week before spring break. I asked them to shoot in various lighting conditions, and they also had to put together another stitched panoramic. The hardest part of the assignment was for them to find an S-curve in a photo. A lot of their s-curves weren’t obvious, and I doubt I’ll keep the requirement in future classes. One really fun thing about this assignment was that I cancelled class one day and instead met the class during sunrise and sunset at an awesome overlook of Reno that can be seen from the community college’s overflow parking lot. I couldn’t require them to show, but most of them did, and it was a lot of fun.

S-Curve along Nevada Road — Photo by Kyla Kosher

Stamped Reservoir — Photo by Deborah Rife

Highway S-Curve — Photo by Teresa Hunsaker

Reno Panoramic — Photo by Rickie Archer

Assignment 8 – Lighting For the eight assignment, I printed out a document with descriptions of several different types of lighting and asked them to make at least five different photographs that use different types of light. Finding aesthetically pleasing subjects was not required, but many students went ahead and searched out some really nice stuff.

Dusk on the Edges of Reno — Photo by Josh Brownlee

Late Evening at Sparks Marina, Photo by Adriana Aguirre

Assignment 9: Photojournalism This assignment seemed to be one of the least liked assignments of the semester, and I think it’s because it forced the students to get out of their comfort zones a little bit. I felt kind of mean, but I banned images of family members, and the photographer was required to submit 3-5 images that work together to tell a story. I also required captions. Out of my 11 assignments, they were allowed to flake out on one without any penalty, and this one was the most flaked. Regardless, here are two photojournalism projects from the class.

I had been to the museum once before about 8 years ago and this car was the one that I have been wanting to get back there to see. I tried to capture the exterior of the car but restriction with lens, light and positioning did not do the car justice. The car is a stripped 1938 Corsair Westchester Sedan with a Granatelli modified 192 horsepower supercharged Cord motor, the body was constructed by Maurice Schwartz of Bohman & Schwartz Body Company. It starred in the 1938 movie The Young at Heart where it was called the ‘Flying Wombat. The body is a one of a kind shell That changed the dynamics of the interior greatly. one passenger out of 6 can sit on the left of the driver. Photo by Josh Brownlee

Late 1800s horseless carriage. I thought that this perpendicular angle help capture the simplicity of the vehicle. It appears as though safety was not a big concern in the 1880s. Photo by Josh Brownlee

Late in my visit to the exhibits I had switched back to my wide lens and knew that I would want a shot showing how big the rooms are that hold the cars. My tripod can get down to about one and a half feet off the ground or just over six feet high. I always want to capture a unique angle so I collapsed the legs of the tripod and held it up so I was holding the lower sections of the legs and I tried pushing the camera against the air ducts above me to try and brace and keep the shot still. If you notice in the mid to upper left of frame by the yellow car Docent Stan had just come into the room. He caught me holding my camera up high. After I showed him this file he agreed that my innovative technique was a good idea. Photo by Josh Brownlee

Stan is a very accommodating, gracious gentlemen and his wealth of knowledge that will keep you riveted to the fine details in the history of a lot of the automobiles on display. In a good list of amazing facts he talked about he pointed out the crude old style wheel balancer that is in frame just above his right hand. The examples of the progression of technology in one building is hard to wrap your head around. Photo by Josh Brownlee

Dave worked as a volunteer to start then made a new career. Photo by Searra Marie

Small tourist town glasswork shop tuns big time! Photo by Searra Marie

Assignment 10: HDR The tenth assignment covered HDR (high dynamic range) photography. It’s really popular right now, and a lot of people are interested in it, so I decided to add it to the semester. For the assignment, they were to shoot at least 3 images of the same thing but have each image exposed for a different part of the subject. It requires at least shooting one exposure for shadows, one for midtones, and one for highlights, and after the photographic procedure, the files are blended together into one image. It can be used very conservatively where most people will not notice, and it can also be really cooked and will resemble a Star Trek movie set.

Surreal Mt. Rose in HDR photo by Teresa Hunsaker

Assignment 11: Nighttime Photography The last assignment, night photography, was one of my favorites. I liked saving it for last because it is probably the most challenging, and this was an easy decision for the spring semester. I might have to do it earlier in the fall semester because of the cold weather. Another thing that added to the fun of this assignment is that nearly half the class joined me for a three hour photo shoot at Fort Churchill State Park. For the assignment, they were required to photograph one nature scene and one architectural scene at night. They were also asked to turn in another image which contained some sort of light painting.

Fort Churchill Stars, Nevada photo by Josh Brownlee

Moonlit Waterfall Near Big Springs photo by Teresa Hunsaker

Nighttime Reno Bridge photo by Adriana Aguirre

Photography has always meant a lot to me, and I am thankful to have finally had the opportunity to teach it. It didn’t feel like work, honestly. I mean the grading and the attendance taking, that’s work. But teaching some techniques that hopefully students will be able to use to richen the rest of their lives is too much fun and rewarding to be work. I’m already looking forward to doing it again next semester.

Stitched Panoramic from Huffaker Hills Trail, Reno, Nevada

A lot of people think that deserts are always hot with unbearable triple-digit temperatures, but the residents of Reno know that this is a misconception. The winters can be rough, and there have been years when the temperature doesn’t rise above 50 degrees for several months, and spring is really just like an epic battle between winter and summer which could represent Ali – Frazier IV. So during these cold and often windy days, outdoor fanatics have to pass their time with winter sports or travel to warmer climates to the south or further to the west. However, once it does warm up a little, and the wind calms its gusty temper, the area offers some of the best hiking opportunities that can be found. It looks like this year is going to be milder than most, and I’ve already been lacing up the boots and busting out the silk-weight boxer shorts and synthetic, non-cotton clothing, so I thought I’d share a few of my favorite hikes that are within an hour’s drive of the “Biggest Little City in the World.” This will be a four part blog, and it will very likely be spaced out between other blogs.

Moonlight on Hunter Creek Canyon, Reno, Nevada

Hunter Creek Trail: When I first moved to Reno and started looking through a hiking guidebook, I read about Hunter Creek Falls and decided to make it one of my first hikes because it was hard for me to believe that there was a waterfall on the western edge of town. This was almost five years ago during a warm July day, and I wore shorts and quickly regretted the decision. The trail was in horrible condition back then, and my legs were all kinds of scratched up from working through the brush. I also lost the trail a few times and kind of forgot about it after finishing the hike. Recently, I heard that there was a lot of maintenance on the trail and decided to make my second hike to the waterfall. The amount of improvement was very surprising, and honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a trail ever have such a nice makeover. It was so nice and easy to follow that I stayed at the waterfall until after dark and made the hike back to the truck under guidance of moonlight and my headlamp. I don’t recommend night hiking for everyone, but it worked out well for me. To get there, head west on Mayberry Drive off of West McCarren, make a left on Plateau and head up the hill until the road ends at the parking lot. There are even nice restrooms to use before the seven mile hike.

Early Spring at Hunter Creek Falls, Reno, Nevada

Steamboat Ditch Trail: As a photographer, I don’t find the Steamboat Ditch Trail all that aesthetically pleasing, but I’ve hiked the trail more than any other in the area. It was my exercise / brainstorming / blow of steam hike when I lived nearby, and, on a positive note, it does offer many spurs and separate routes which climb up into the mountains towering over the edge of town. The trail actually has several different starting points, and I’ve always began from parking area near the Patagonia Outlet and the old bridge over the Truckee River. The ditch actually brings in some of the city’s water supply, and there is an interesting man-made irrigation tunnel about two miles from where the hike begins. On the downside, the trail can be very crowded, and many people let their dogs run wild and unleashed. One time a pit-bull ran straight at me from about twenty yards away, and I was very frightened. I nearly tried giving my totally amateur Bruce Lee impersonation on the dog, but the owner called the it away and my moderate good looks were preserved. To get there, take west 4th Street a few miles west from it’s junction with West McCarren. Make a left on Woodland Avenue and a quick right on White Fir Street. The railroad runs right across Woodland Ave, so don’t be in a big hurry if stuck at a crossing.

Evening along Steamboat Ditch Trail, Reno, Nevada

Huffaker Hills Trail: Along the opposite, southeastern edge of Reno lies the Huffaker Hills Trail. I’ve only hiked it a few times because it’s a longer drive for me, but it is a very nice place to hike, and there are phenomenal views available of Washoe Valley and Mt. Rose. I’ve only made the hike at sunset or sunrise, but I’ve heard that there are good wildflowers there late in the spring if the conditions are right. I didn’t see any during my last visit, but I think overall, this will be a bad year for flowers because of the low amount of rain and snow. There is a small reservoir nearby, and bugs were annoying during a late June visit a couple years ago. To get there, take East McCarren towards Sparks. It’s a little easy to miss the turn, but after passing Trader Joes on the left, look for Alexander Lake Road on the right. It’s kind of hard to see, but it’s right after Longley Lane.

Tahoe Meadows Interpretive Trail: Other than sometimes being covered in snow, the Tahoe Meadows Interpretive Trail is designed to be accessible for nearly everyone. It’s wheel chair friendly and almost completely flat. There is a lush meadow and some really beautiful trees, and some of the higher vantage points have views of Lake Tahoe. I went there three times to participate in the orientation for my graduate program at UNR, and one time we had really cold weather and a little hail there during the end of August. The location is much higher up than Reno, and it requires a drive along one of my favorite roads in Nevada: the Mt. Rose Highway. To get there, take Mt. Rose Highway (SR 431) towards Lake Tahoe. Once hitting the high point of the road, keep an eye out for a parking are with restrooms down the hill on the left. A little further down the road is the official Tahoe Meadows area. I’ll write more about that in a future blog.

Remnants of a Late Spring Snow along Tahoe Meadows Interpretive Trail

Chimney Beach Trail: The last trail mentioned in part one of this blog is located along one of the most scenic areas of my favorite lake in the world: Lake Tahoe. How could I ever write a blog about the hiking opportunities near Reno without mentioning it. It’s been a place of refuge for me and almost like a girlfriend during the past five years. I’m terrified of needles and won’t do it, but I’ve been thinking about getting a tattoo of the outline of the lake on my shoulder. It’s that freakin’ awesome and means that much to me! No offense to California, but much of the shoreline on the western side of the lake has been californicated. There are mansions, residential areas, and boat docks all along the shoreline, and most of it is inaccessible. Thankfully, however, much of the eastern side along the Nevada shoreline is protected and accessible to visitors, although the parking is very limited. It does get crowded though, and once it gets warm nudists will be present. I learned that the hard way, no pun intended. A little over a mile down from the Chimney Beach Trail is a place that some call Secret Cove, but I refer to it as Junk-Jigglers’ Cove. It’s an amazingly beautiful spot, don’t get me wrong, but once it warms up, it’s not a place for children, the elderly, or the squeamish. And there’s really nothing exciting to see except for a bunch of naked dudes who like to let it all hang out… The trail-head is located along Nevada Highway 28 about 4.5 miles north of the U.S. 50 intersection. There is a small parking lot which is often closed to traffic, and there are a few places to park legally along the highway. Remember… go early in the morning or when the weather is still fairly cold unless you want to see the junk-jigglars.

Quiet Early Morning at Secret Cove, Lake Tahoe, Nevada

While looking at the blogs and postings of several of my favorite photographers on New Years Day, I noticed a current trend for photographers. Many of them are posting what they believe are their top ten images of 2011. I’ve never made a retrospective look at my work from an annual perspective, but I like the idea and think it would be nice to do every year. Looking back could help me find tendencies that I need to break. Picking these top ten images will also help me document my improvements and regressions over time, and it could also assist me  on deciding which geographic locations that I need to spend more or less attention. It’s hard to be objective with picking the top ten. Some of them have personal reasons for being chosen, and I have dropped a few from the list for that reason. Anyway, I’d like to thank the other terrific photographers for giving me the idea, and I  hope you enjoy my photographic review of 2011.

The first image I want to mention is “Lake Tahoe Fog.” I made it during an early morning snowshoe on the Tahoe Rim Trail. It was dark when we started, but an hour later, from this overlook, the soft warm light began to shine onto the famous and fog covered Lake Tahoe. This photograph surprised me. Typically I try to have something previsualized photographically, but during this morning I was just snowshoeing with a friend and brought my camera gear. The early morning departure sure didn’t hurt. Regretfully, I think that was probably my only top ten image of the winter. It was a crazy time of the year for me with trying to graduate from grad school, and I’m grateful that I did make it out the few times that I did.

Lake Tahoe Fog

However, I did make this image in early April that looks winterish. It was during a full moon that was rising behind me at a cemetery in Virginia City, Nevada, a very historical location that’s as important to the history of the American West as anywhere. These graves are from the 19^th Century, and the wooden pole grave markers are supposed to represent prostitutes. I made this a few hours after dark and used the moonlight along with a little bit of my headlamp to light the graves. I used a twenty-minute exposure for the star trails.

The rest of these were taken after I graduated; this one was taken the night that I turned in my final grades as a graduate teaching assistant. After the long drive from Reno to Las Vegas, I went to Red Rock National Conservation Area on the west side of the city. In my opinion, this place is better than anywhere in Sin City. At first I was disappointed because the sky was completely overcast, but late in the evening the incoming weather looked otherworldly. The incoming clouds appeared like melted marshmallows on the mountains. This scene was surreal and reminded me that patience is the key to a lot of good photographs. A few years ago I might not have waited it out and would have ended up at a casino.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

These are all in order of when I took them, and this number four slot was the hardest to pick. I spent almost a month on the Colorado Plateau and had quite a wonderful time. The lottery for hiking to the Wave of the North Coyote Buttes worked out for me, and I ended up there instead of at the graduation ceremony that I skipped. But for some reason, instead of picking one of several fine images from Utah or Arizona, I’ve decided to pick my early morning photograph of Shiprock, New Mexico. It’s always been a special place to me since my first visit over twelve years ago. I like its aesthetics and how sacred it is to the Native Americans who live in the Four Corners Region. I left Farmington, NM about two hours before sunrise and drove to the site in time to watch the first pink clouds and rays of sunlight on the rock.

Shiprock, New Mexico

The fifth entry has been my bestseller since this website went live. I know it’s an iconic and familiar location, but I also have to give credit to Galen Rowell and the epic early summer snowmelt. Rowell comments in his book, Mountain Light, that the light at Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay is particularly good around the Summer Solstice. My graduate committee was cool enough to allow me to have Rowell’s book on the list of books for my comprehensive exam, so I still remember quite a bit of the book’s still relevant information. One morning a few days before the solstice, I woke up at 4 AM and drove from Reno to Emerald Bay. There were a few other photographers with the same idea, and I think this overlook above the Eagle Falls was the best location. The light was terrific for a few minutes when the waterfall reflected the sunrise’s pinkish glow.

Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay and Eagle Falls

In late July, I finally made it to the Jarbidge Wilderness in Northeast Nevada. It’s a spectacular and wild place that is really off the radar of most photographers. It’s a long way out there and is very remote. Because of that I’ve decided to try to go there every summer. I really love the solitude and the original photographic possibilities. This one was made at an aspen grove near the southern edge of the wilderness. Next summer, I would like to do a two or three night backpacking trip.

Jarbidge Wilderness, Nevada

Cedarville, California is on the western side of the Black Rock Desert, and I was lucky to attend a creative writing conference there in September. It was a real treat. The people were very nice, and I learned a lot. Honestly, I’m embarrassed that I haven’t been writing more. During the great conference I had the chance to venture out a couple times to enjoy the early autumn light on Surprise Valley’s corner of the Great Basin. This one was made during a late afternoon on an overcast day. I wasn’t sure it would be worth it to go for the long drive that I had heard about, but thankfully I went and was ready when the sun burst through a small hole in the western horizon and lit up this section of Surprise Valley. I have a show booked for October at an art gallery in Cedarville, and I’m going to make this one my largest print of the show.

Surprise Valley, California

The fall color arrived rather late this year, as it appears will also happen with the winter snow. Actually, I found quite a bit of snow during my early October visit to the Eastern Sierra and found better fall color later, just before Halloween. This one was made on after an early morning hike in the dark. I was the first photographer there and had it all to myself for about twenty minutes. The first few moments of dawn were the best. The water was still, and there was no wind. Most of the scene was also evenly lit; once the sun was above the horizon, the scene became a lot contrastier, and other hikers and photographers arrived.

Eastern Sierra Nevada Autumn, California

During this past fall, I was responsible for six different classes and had about 135 students. It took most of my time, and I loved it, but I was longing for some time away with the camera that was free from worrying about my daily to-do-list. I headed to San Francisco first for an early morning hike at the Golden Gate Bridge, and then went to Big Sur to try and get the light show that happens at Pfeiffer Beach around the solstice. It’s a really cool phenomenon; watching the tide and sunshine flow through the hole at Pfeiffer Rock is a glorious demonstration of natural eye candy. However, it’s a little bit too crowded, and someone needs to tell these camera clubs that they need to keep their lawn chairs out of the scene. The photography was kind of a community event; everyone was huddled up like a bunch of paparazzi waiting for the Queen to walk out of the front door of her palace. I also found a route to the top of a bluff for a different view.

Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, California

The last entry is from Christmas Night at Joshua tree National Park. I was hoping to match up some unique trees with the star trails; there was only a crescent moon, and it set at around 8 PM. At first I was captivated by the trees along the roadside, but I quickly realized that the traffic would ruin any long exposure that I tried to make. So I headed down the Geology Tour Road and found this group of trees. The scene looked familyesque to me… the big tree could represent the father, the medium tree the mother, and the small tree could represent their child. I tried to make it look like the father and mother were dancing, but I’m not sure that other viewers will get the impression.

Joshua Tree Star Trails, California

So there’s what I believe are my ten best images of 2011. It was a fun little project, and I hope you enjoyed viewing these photographs. One thing that is noticeably obvious is that I need to make more vertical images. It’s really easy to always try to view everything from the classic horizontal perspective.

Happy 2012, everyone!

Taking the comprehensive exam last March for my Master’s degree was the most stressful day I can remember having in a very long time. I was prepared, but the giant amount of pressure on my shoulders and the fear of what would happen if I failed soured my desire to write anything serious ever since I turned in my exam. Since that day, I have yet to read anything that wasn’t on a website or in a hiking trail guidebook, and the writing that I have produced has been laden with jokes and a flippant attitude. Keyboard anxiety and a brief sense of anti-intellectualism overrode my attitude for several months, and I thought I would never again attempt to write anything with a completely serious tone.

Stormlight and Farmland, Surprise Valley, California

Thankfully, my attitude changed during a long September weekend at the Surprise Valley Writer’s Conference in Cedarville, California, where I was awarded a scholarship and the gift of learning from experienced and knowledgable creative writing instructors. I used two of my previous blogs as my writing sample and received positive feedback, but one thing the leader of my nonfiction group, Ray March, said really stood out.

“Beau,” he said, “You need to think of photography and writing as your children and give them both equal respect. Right now it seems like writing is your stepchild.” Looking back, I think he is right. Photography is, and always will be, my golden child, and I rarely give writing the same amount of effort that I give to photography. The main reason for this is that photography was the first thing that I ever felt I was really good at. Another reason is that I’ve always considered timing the most important factor for both. After fifteen years of practice, I have the art of timing, in regards to photography, down to a science. A photographer has to be there in the moment and ready to create compelling images, but it’s different for a writer. Yes, being an eyewitness will help you gain credibility and provide accurate descriptions about a topic, but the real work takes place after the event is over. While a photographer is nearly finished with their work after they return home with memory cards, a writer has to take time to recollect and reproduce interpretations at a later time. Journalists typically work quickly in order to get the news out fast. Other writers have to decide when they want to take the time to sit in front of their keyboards and type up their first, and usually somewhat sloppy, draft.

Photographers need to have good timing. Being somewhere at the right time and being ready will often put a photographer in a winning situation. Writers, on the other hand, have to make time after the fact. If they sit around and wait to feel inspired, or for a perfect day that will make writing easier, then they most likely will rarely produce anything that makes them proud and will have passed on several potentially great stories and articles.

Summit View from Wheeler Peak, Nevada

I have been guilty of this on multiple occasions. I intended to write about my four days on the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park and my recent ascent of Mt. Wheeler at Great Basin National Park, but I never felt inspired to do it and only wrote some short captions for a select few of my favorite photographs. Leaving with good intentions just won’t cut it though. Time has to be spent in front of the keyboard working on verbally expressing the ideas that need to be typed into a word processor.

Murphy’s Hogback, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Honestly, I doubt that my writing will ever achieve the golden child status that I have given to photography. First of all, it just isn’t as fun, and I doubt that anything I write will ever have the same wow-factor as my best photographs. That said, writing does have the potential to be fun and is very important. I do enjoy the process of organizing thoughts and impressions into symbolic metaphors and am 100% convinced that more time has to be made. Many of my favorite photographers, such as Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Galen Rowell, had eloquent writing skills, and after returning home with their perfect timing on film, they each made the time to write.

From someone who was totally burnt out from being a student for six years straight, I was a little hesitant to go to the writing conference in Cedarville, CA. But since it was strictly about creative writing, I decided to attend. I’m not a big fan of theory.  I think it sucks a lot of the joy out of art. It makes reading less enjoyable and makes me want to watch something stupid on television like the Jersey Shore. But I’m really glad I went. I feel like I made the most of my time there and even snuck off a few evenings to relish the beautiful light around Surprise Valley, California. The lecturers were inspiring, and I came home with a new attitude about writing and a joyous feeling about making it through many challenges that a few years ago would have been impossible for me to overcome.

Dawn at Surprise Valley, California

My love of reading has also been rekindled. I really never was a big reader, but once I returned to college as a thirty-year-old, I realized what I had been missing. I devoured books while working on my Bachelor’s degree in English and couldn’t get enough of the classic texts. I remember one New Year’s Eve when I stayed home and read Moby Dick. I also remember finishing Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath and calling many of my friends on the phone to tell them that it was the most amazing thing that I’d ever read in my life. I lost a lot of this enthusiasm in grad school, because many times I felt like I might as well be reading a Greek phone book.

Hole in the Sky, Surprise Valley, California

Ray motivated me to try to reinstitute my love of reading, and as soon as I returned to Reno, I ordered a couple books that I’ve been wanting to read: Craig Childs’ The Secret Knowledge of Water and John McPhee’s Basin and Range. I’m almost finished with Childs’ book, and it has been such a pleasure to read solely for the purpose of being educated and entertained. I don’t have to worry about Derridian drivel or any other depressing theory.

Clouds on the Mountain, Surprise Valley, California

Joseph Stroud, the keynote speaker at the Surprise Valley Creative Writing Conference, spoke about the practice of writing and applied it to surfing. He talked about the surfers around Santa Cruz, California, who go out into the cold water of the Pacific every day in hopes of catching a wave. Some days there aren’t any waves worth riding, but they are always out there just in case. Sometimes they are in danger; there have been shark attacks on an annual basis. But they are surfers, and they live for it, so they take the gamble. Most of them don’t profit from their experience financially; they do it solely for their love of the sport. Writers and photographers need to share this same enthusiasm. The effort won’t always pay off on a daily basis, but the time spent honing their craft and improving their technique will pay off in providing a rich life experience. The more time spent in the water, the better the chance one will have at being successful.

Hay-Bales and Windmill, Surprise Valley, California