So this is a little uncharacteristic of me, but this time, Iโm going to try to go easy on the words and let the images tell the story. Yosemite is just one of those placesโฆthe type that no matter who or what you are, will be affected by it. Itโs simply impossible to turn that final curve on Highway 41 and exit that 1/4 mile tunnel 30 miles past Yosemite National Parkโs South Entrance, without feeling like time slows down, at least for a split-second, to work out whether or not your eyes and senses have failed you as you try to come to grips with the sheer scale and beauty of the surreal valley that lies before you.
Read Moreclimbing
Thank Appleโs OS X Yosemite Announcement For This Collection Of Desktop & iPhone WallPapers
In honor of Appleโs latest operating system announcement, OS X Yosemite (which, if you know me, that word alone gets me excited) I figured Iโd rehash some of my images from my Yosemite adventures last year. In case you donโt want to (or canโt) wait until the fall for the official release, after the 'read more' break below, you'll find a few of my favorites optimized for your desktop backgrounds, and below those are the iPhone-optimized versions. To save them, just right click and choose โSave Link As...โ
Read MoreMore Than Just A Pretty Picture?
One of my best friends, who shoots a completely different style than me, mostly street photography with human subjects, asked me a few days agoโฆwhat do I see when I look at one of my pictures? Is it just a pretty picture? Or is it more? I knew what i wanted to say, but had to think about it for a little while before figuring out how to say it. I had to think mostly about what I was trying to capture. Then it just started coming out...
What I'm trying to capture is what seems to be pushed in the background more and more and more as technology begins to take over our lives in a singularity-esque fashion. While most people are so narcissistically involved in themselves and their cell phones and their tablets and their computers and their feeds and posts and status updates and whatnot, they're increasingly becoming less and less aware of theirs surroundings and those things that are outside of their little bubblesโฆjust outside of their little bubbles. We are forgetting more and more those things that are bigger than us, those that are more magnificent than any blog post or new app or making sure everyone knows what they're having for lunch.
My intentions with my subjects and photography are to try to do what I can to counter-balance that to the best of my abilities. What I'm trying to do is bring attention to those very things that we're paying less and less attention to, and those things that have been here long before us, and will be here long after we're gone.
The natural world.
I'm trying to document nature and life in its magnificent glory to the best of my abilities and hope that maybe, one person that sees it, will be inspired enough to unplug for just a little bit and look around them. see and feel and experience these things that we so take for granted. all these things that are more incredible and more amazing and more vital to our lives and our well-being and our survival as a species than any tablet or feed or pair of glasses we can ever find ourselves engrossed in. none of that stuffโฆNONE of itโฆmatters in the least. but all the stuff around us that we selectively ignoreโฆthat stuff does. that is the basis of our existence. that is the source of our happiness and our relief. and that is what i'm trying to bring attention to.
So with that, here's another one from last week's snowy trip to Yosemite. The peak of El Capitan peeking through the clouds. The grandeur of that chunk of granite is so ridiculously awe-inspiring that it has galvanized scores of ridiculously strong-willed people folk to climb the bloody thing with nothing but their bare hands. It's like that.