12-Jul-2019
Shower at Sunset, Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts, 2019
I made this image while crossing Boston Harbor in a water taxi. A summer storm was moving across the area, yet the setting sun managed to shed its rays through the cloud-laden evening sky just as most threatening clouds arrived. The masts of the world's oldest commissioned naval ship, the USS Constitution, which is permanently docked at the Charleston Navy Yard, are silhouetted against the oncoming storm, adding a sense of place to the scene. The waters before us range from black to blue to golden as the dark clouds sweep in a billowing arc overhead.
I had to work very fast, because this unique evening light would linger for only a matter of seconds before becoming obscured by the storm clouds.
26-MAR-2013
Sky at sunset, Gold Canyon, Arizona, 2013
A large jet begins its descent into the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, about thirty away from my camera position. I caught its long diagonal contrail as it echoes a cluster of diagonal clouds gathered about a setting sun. By spot metering on the setting sun, I underexpose this image, abstracting a cluttered horizon lined with what would be distracting buildings and trees. I thereby simplify the image, and allow the rich colors of day’s end to tell the story here.
10-JAN-2013
Desert celebration, Palm Springs, California, 2013
The main street of Palm Springs is adorned with promotional banners, some of them superimposed upon holiday decorations. I use one of these illuminated banners to symbolize a time of festivity. The banner itself promotes the “Fabulous Palm Springs Follies,” a local vaudeville show. I made this image at dusk in order to abstract the banner itself, and only imply its cartoonish character. The glowing orange, yellow and red holiday lights, forming a flag-like bunting as well as a star, dominate the image at this time of day. The sun has already set, yet the night has not yet begun. Storm clouds, sweeping over the neighboring mountains, frame the banner, while an array of palms and a nearby hotel add local context.
13-NOV-2011
Desert camp, Wadi Rum, Jordan, 2011
Visiting Wadi Rum at day’s end offered stunning views of desert landscapes. After sunset, we gathered in a large desert camp for dinner, and while it was being cooked, I wandered off into the rows of empty tents intended for large tourist groups. (This year’s political upheavals in the Middle East have cost Jordan dearly in tourist revenue.) I noticed that the pointed roofs of the tents echoed the range of mountains that cross this desert, made famous by Lawrence of Arabia’s exploits here during the First World War. The sun had already gone down, leaving its golden imprint on the evening sky and on the range of thin clouds that floated overhead. A 90mm short telephoto focal length helped me weave the layers of tents, mountains, and sky into a harmonious scene.
09-NOV-2011
Dishes at dawn, Cairo, Egypt, 2011
Mosques and satellite dishes dot the skyline of downtown Cairo – I made this image at dawn from the balcony of our hotel room. The warm first rays of the sun cause a mist to rise from the cool streets of the city, creating a characteristic haze that lingers into the day. The golden hour is upon us, and those dishes seem like giant ears and eyeballs turned toward the circling satellites far above the city. Cairo both makes and seeks news in this particular month – its people had just shed an authoritarian regime, only to face new threats to freedom from their own army’s generals. Just a few days after we left Cairo, Tenihir Square, only a mile or so beyond these very buildings, would once again be teeming with angry protesters.
Dusk, St. Martin, French West Indies, 2011
The first day of 2011 was near its end as our cruise ship churned past the island of St. Martin. An enormous cumulous cloud hovered over the hilly island, reflecting the fiery pink glow of the sun that had already gone down. Along the shoreline, a strand of lights defines the border between the ocean and the island.
10-SEP-2010
Waiting for sunset, Mission Beach, San Diego, California, 2010
The sun hides behind a band of clouds, which sets the horizon afire and tinges the shoreline with golden light. The two figures make the image real – they are as stunned by nature’s beauty as we are and no doubt savor the sight. We can sense the emotions they must they must be feeling here. I compose the image by stacking five alternating variations of color in the sky, water, and land.
10-SEP-2010
Evening surf, Mission Beach, San Diego, California, 2010
The sun is already dropping below the horizon as a surfer raises his arms, saluting the end of his day riding the waves. If we listen, we can almost hear him shout. I am sure his small child is doing just that.
11-JUL-2010
Midtown sunset, New York City, New York, 2010
A setting sun burnishes the facades of these New York office buildings and shops, yet day's end does not slow the pace of activity here. We can see the traffic approaching us, the pedestrians crossing the street, and even two silhouetted photographers waiting in the distance -- they were (dangerously) shooting the setting sun from the middle of the street. A passenger jet is suspended in the distant sky as it descends for a landing at Newark Airport. I exposed for the golden sky, and allowed the rest of the image to recede into shadow and glittering reflections.
Sunset, The Plaza, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2010
The sun was fading slowly behind a lightly overcast sky. I liked the horizontal streaks in the clouds and the way the diffused sun warmed the facades of the vintage buildings surrounding Santa Fe’s famous Plaza. I did not count on a pigeon to fly through my frame at the moment I shot, but I will accept this gift of nature. The pigeon’s fluttering wings elevates this image from an evening mood piece to a memorable salute from the natural world.
14-NOV-2009
Cloud of gold, Navajo reservation, near Kayenta, Arizona, 2009
The evening sky was overcast, but on this night, the setting sun found a thin spot, creating a cloud of gold bearing a red halo on its shoulder. To add context, I include a rising road, and waited for two cars to pass below the cloud, their red taillights echoing the red halo in the sky. This is one of those images that can only be made very early or very late in the day, when the sun’s path lies close to the earth.
22-OCT-2009
Double sunset, Mogosoaia Palace, outside Bucharest, Romania, 2009
The houses and trees on the opposite of a lake appear twice in this image, along with the sun, by virtue of reflection. The two silhouettes in the center become the focal point of the image. I had the advantage of following these people to this spot – they brought us to this remarkable palace that once controlled late 17th century Wallachia. Pbase photographer Lorin Niculae, who hosted us in Bucharest, along with his daughter Silvia, are standing in the right spot at the right time – at the glowing fringe of the day itself.
20-SEP-2009
Street sweepers, Montreal, Canada, 2009
I followed these street sweepers as they entered a deserted street in Old Montreal and began their work. It was very early on a Sunday morning, and all of the stores and offices were closed – the only activity came from the sweepers and two pedestrians moving in opposite directions. I was drawn to the play of light on the facades of the old buildings, and the translucent flags that carry the eye through the image. The scene seems very Parisian, much of it due to the romantic early light.
22-JUL-2009
Annisquam Light, Gloucester, Massachusetts, 2009
The forty foot high Annisquam Light was built at the mouth of the Annisquam River in 1897, and is still active, although now it is fully automated. I made this image of it just after sunset from the deck of a tour boat. I built the image around the pink diagonal cloud leading from the upper left hand corner of the frame to the lighthouse. The cloud suggests a symbolic beam of light, coming at the moment when day meets night.
13-APR-2009
Last light, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, 2009
Exposing on a distant sliver of golden sun setting behind a curtain of clouds, I only suggest the vast canyon itself. I tried to barely define the buttes rising from the dark floor of the canyon. allowing my viewers to fill in the details with their own imaginations. It is not what we see here that is important. It is what we think we see.
24-MAR-2009
Church columns, New York City, New York, 2009
The fringe of the day lingers at dawn on the streets of Manhattan. Patches of light magically appear and vanish on building facades as the rising sun seeks a path between high buildings. I had only a few moments to catch the glow of warm light and the play of shadow on this church entrance. I made sure to also catch it on the branches of the tree that point to the ornate capitals on the columns. The image refers both to the work of nature and the mysteries of faith.
13-NOV-2008
Coming home, Douz, Tunisia, 2008
Shooting from the driver’s seat of a horse-drawn carriage, I followed our tour group returning from a Sahara Desert camel ride. As my carriage passed them, two of them waved to me – their silhouettes frozen in timeless salute against the glare of the setting desert sun. From my vantage point, I was able to abstract the camels by merging them into the dark sand below the horizon, while stressing the waving riders outlined against a darkening sky. An image such as this can only be made in the waning moments of a day. The camel excursion has originally been scheduled for earlier in the day, but heavy crowds forced our guide to move it to late afternoon, enabling me to make an image I otherwise never could have made.
13-NOV-2008
In step, Douz, Tunisia, 2008
Douz is where paved roads end and the Sahara begins. Tourists come here to visit the desert and enjoy a camel ride. In this image, the final riders have dismounted, and the camel handlers are bringing the animals home for the night. I made numerous images of this process, and this two-camel shot was my favorite. The setting sun abstracts camels and handlers alike, the sky is aflame with color, and for an instant, the men and animals match each other, step for step.
13-NOV-2008
Sliver of sun, Douz, Tunisia, 2008
I waited for the setting sun to slip below the horizon, catching the last sliver before it vanished. Transmission lines carry the eye deep into image, framing what is left of the day within a field of deep orange.
13-NOV-2008
Farm animals, Douz, Tunisia, 2008
A setting sun provides a bright yellow background for this braying donkey. A camel stands just behind the bush at left. The backlighting abstracts the donkey, yet leaves enough of it visible to convey its response to my presence. The backlighting also illuminates the form of the donkey, creating a thin line of gold under its chest and jaw. I never mind shooting directly into a setting sun – it is a magical time of day, and the photographic results are unpredictable and always atmospheric.
18-SEP-2008
Mt. Jefferson, Willamette National Forest, Oregon, 2008
This craggy 10,000 foot high volcano is the second highest mountain in Oregon. I made this image a few hours after dawn from Timberline Lodge, about 6,000 feet high up the southern slope of Oregon’s highest peak, Mount Hood. I used a 420mm telephoto lens to reach across a fifty-mile distance to bring Mt. Jefferson’s snow-splashed slope into focus. The soft texture of the morning mist carpets the rhythmic flow of the forested valleys that begin in darkness and gradually brighten as they approach Mt. Jefferson. The pinkish glow of early morning sun creates an atmospheric band of hazy coloration across the face of the peak. Later on, a higher sun would render this scene as crisp and clean as a picture post card. But in the early morning light, this hazy image offers more of an impression than a description. The Lewis and Clark expedition named the mountain in honor of US President Thomas Jefferson in 1806.
13-SEP-2008
Shadows in the ruins, Pondosa, Oregon, 2008
The early morning light casts eerie shadows of encroaching weeds along a paint smeared wall of an abandoned structure in the tiny ghost town of Pondosa, the remnants of a once busy lumber mill town in central Oregon. The low angle of the sun brings the shadows into play, as if they were the hands of time itself.
13-SEP-2008
Graffiti, Pondosa, Oregon, 2008
Just a few feet higher on the wall I photographed in the previous image, the splashes of graffiti produce an effect resembling Asian characters. The patches of light, color, and shadow that play upon the wall at this moment seem to energize these characters – they appear to dance before our eyes. The effect lasted only a few minutes. As we left the ruins of the Pondosa ghost town, the light on the wall had faded into a bland shadow, erasing the magic of the moment. This example offers a lingering lesson for photographers – early (or late) light is transient. We have only a few minutes to reap its benefits.
14-SEP-2008
Canada Geese, Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Tule Lake, California, 2008
At first, they resemble a stand of reeds in the water, echoing the thrusts of the grass that line the shoreline in the foreground. But look more closely, and those reeds become the necks of geese -- hundreds of them. These migrating waterfowl are resting for the moment on the open water of this 40,000 acre wildlife preserve in Northern California, just south of Klamath Falls, Oregon. It is about seven o’clock on a fall evening, and the backlighting divides the image into six banded layers. The distant hills on the opposite shore fill the top of the image, ending abruptly at the darker band of greenery at their base. An open stretch of water leads to the strand of silhouetted geese. Below the geese, more water and the grassy shore in the foreground fill out the image. My 420mm telephoto lens compresses these bands within the frame, offering an ideal context for the late light that adds texture to the water’s surface.
13-SEP-2008
Meditation, Mount Shasta, California, 2008
Some say that the Mount Shasta volcano in Northern California is inhabited by the Native American spirit chief Skell, who descended from heaven to the mountain’s 14,000 foot summit. A group of Native Americans from the McCloud River area practice rituals on the mountain, as do other religious groups and cults. I made this image of a man meditating on the slope of Shasta at 7:30 pm on an autumn evening. The evening light bathes the scene in a soft gold color, coloring both the man who sits in silence, and the misty ridges that flow away from the mountain towards the gathering dusk.
13-SEP-2008
Volcanic slopes, Mount Shasta, California, 2008
We could drive almost half way up Mount Shasta, ending in a parking area at the base of the slopes leading to the summit. We waited for the sun to warm these slopes, creating low shadows that made the mountain’s barren surface above the timberline rich in craggy texture. That same sun turns brownish lava to golden sands, enhancing the mystical lore of a volcano that last erupted 200 years ago.
17-SEP-2008
Dusk, Mount Hood, Oregon, 2008
The lingering light of a sun that has already colored the glacier-streaked face of Oregon’s highest mountain as it rises above the timberline. Mount Hood is considered the Oregon volcano most likely to erupt, and this reddish image offers an inkling of its latent threat. The 11,200 foot high mountain is visible up to a hundred miles away. I made this image from a pullout less than 15 miles away.
15-SEP-2008
Ring of Fire, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, 2008
Crater Lake is the only National Park in Oregon. The lake rests in the remains of a destroyed volcano, once known as Mount Mazama. The 2,000 foot deep Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the US, formed by the eruption and collapse of Mount Mazama more than 7,000 years ago. The rocky shore was formed from hot lava, and what could suggest the heat of this fiery eruption better than the play of the setting sun itself on the edges of the lake.
15-SEP-2008
Phantom Ship, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon 2008
Fifteen minutes after I made the previous image, the illusion of fire has spread across Crater Lake, enveloping the mysterious outcropping known as The Phantom Ship. I made this image by using my spot meter to expose on just the reflected color, allowing the balance of the image to darken and become even more mysterious. The light at the end of the day changes very quickly – we were fortunate to be standing at the overlook on this end of Crater Lake, just as the reflected color of the setting sun grazed its rippled waters.
14-SEP-2008
Sanctuary, Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Tule Lake, California, 2008
Dusk, the fleeting period of twilight between sunset and nightfall, is perhaps the most beautiful light of all. What we are seeing, of course, is the lingering reflection of the fading sun itself on the atmosphere. It is dark enough to be night, yet light enough to be day. The prevailing colors of twilight are purple and violet, colors that soothe the soul and stimulate the imagination. In this image, an autumnal harvest moon is rising over the lake, and I made this image just as two white pelicans glided below it. The lake behind them is dotted with hundreds of ducks and grebes, and the purple hills on the far shore reach out to embrace the rising moon hanging above them.
13-SEP-2008
Moonrise near Mount Shasta, California, 2008
Many travel photographers enjoy making images of the moon for its own sake, but such images are usually more closely related to astronomy than to expressive travel photography. Our task as expressive travel photographers is primarily to define the essence of where we are – how it feels, and what it might mean. If a rising moon can become part of that story, as it is in this image, all the better. This image is really about the tree-covered foothills of Mount Shasta. The moon adds dramatic atmosphere – its circle replicating the curves of the hills below. The reflected sunset lends its warmth to the image and underscores the texture of the pines that fill the foreground.
14-SEP-2008
Moonscape, Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, California, 2008
Four elements combine to make this image expressive. The dusk has faded to night, yet it still holds traces of light. The moon hangs over the scene, and also reflects its trail in the water below. The image is built around a dead tree that seems to reach out and grasp the moon in its arms. And finally, the colors harmonize to create both mood and meaning -- orbs of gold in sky and water, wearing a mantle of purple sky.
15-SEP-2008
Pink sunset, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, 2008
Nearby forest fires cause this setting sun to turn a pinkish red, while the sky below echoes the threat. In this case, it’s the nature of the color itself that tells the story. I brought this image about as close to the fringe as I could by underexposing it as much as possible. I wanted the trees to virtually vanish, leaving a blush of fire in the sky and featuring the incongruity of the pinkish red sun.
13-SEP-2008
Full moon, Mount Shasta, California, 2008
Night has fallen, and the moon is full. I exposed on the brilliance of the moon itself, yet still was able to retain the shapes of the pine trees acting as nature’s cathedral just below it. I did not use a tripod – the moon was bright enough to allow me to use a fast shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, and still use a 250mm telephoto focal length. When shooting images of the moon, it is important to use a focal length that will make the moon large enough in scale to show detail and command attention. In this case, the moon does both. The moon is still low enough in the sky to relate to the trees, and show a trace of warm color.