Kevin Palmer

  • Portfolio
  • Time Lapse
  • About
  • Archive
    • All Galleries
    • Search
    • Cart
    • Lightbox
    • Client Area
  • Links
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
x

Search Results

Refine Search
Match all words
Match any word
Prints
Personal Use
Royalty-Free
Rights-Managed
(leave unchecked to
search all images)
Next
123 images found
twitterlinkedinfacebook

Loading ()...

  • Even though this looks like a tropical beach, it is actually Lake Michigan in Illinois. Most of the shoreline in Illinois has been developed and does not look natural. But at Fort Sheridan, there is a small stretch of beach that is protected as a forest preserve. The light made it even more beautiful shortly after sunrise on this August morning.
    Tropical Illinois
  • Normally I like to explore a location during the day before taking pictures there at night. But the Southern California traffic robbed me of the time to do that here. Arch Rock was a little bit hard to find in the dark, but it wasn't too bad. I just had to be careful to avoid rattlesnakes. The 30 foot long arch is located near the White Tank campground in Joshua Tree National Park. The eastern part of the park has very dark skies the farther you get from the desert cities. To illuminate the scene, I shined my headlamp on the rock wall opposite the arch. A soft, warm light was reflected backwards. I was grateful the skies cleared up long enough to see the milky way. A few minutes after this clouds started to cover the sky as monsoon thunderstorms moved past the area.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 19, 2014
    The Opening
  • Every summer I try to climb at least one big mountain, and this time it was Darton Peak. It's one of the highest peaks in the Bighorns, and is very prominent from Highway 16 far below. With a goal of standing on the summit at sunrise, that meant a 3:30AM wake up time. But the bright moonlight helped illuminate my route as the stars faded out. The wind chill up here was in the lower 20's and fresh snow lingered from a couple days earlier despite it being August. Darton is typical of other peaks in the Bighorns and is covered with car-sized boulders. With towering cliffs on 2 sides, the long and rounded peak requires a 16 mile roundtrip hike, but I was able to camp at Lost Twin Lakes the night before. At an elevation of 12,275 feet, the air is only 63% of what it is at sea level. There's always something beautiful about the way the the light appears at high altitudes at the edge of day. It's amazing how the colors can seem both soft and intense at the same time.This view is looking south towards Bighorn Peak.
    Bighorn From Darton
  • At 9200 feet in a beautiful valley of the Absaroka Mountains is a collection of abandoned buildings: cabins, a hotel, general store, stables, a post office, and shaft houses. This is the ghost town of Kirwin. Kirwin was established in the 1880's after gold and silver were discovered nearby. But the mines were never profitable and life was rough up here. Very heavy snowfall and avalanches were a regular occurrence. A bad avalanche in February of 1907 swept away buildings and killed 3 people. The town has been abandoned ever since, although some buildings have been stabilized in recent years. Another interesting tidbit of history is that Amelia Earhart and her husband loved this area so much that they had a cabin built. But when she disappeared it was never finished. I visited here at the end of August. The road up is steep and rocky, with river crossings that make it a fun drive. A storm was clearing and the sun came out for just a few minutes before disappearing again behind the high peaks.
    Evening in Kirwin
  • It was half past midnight on the last day of August. A solar wind stream blowing at 700 km a second reached Earth a little sooner than predicted. The northern lights had been dancing on and off for the past few hours. But then I noticed a strange pattern, which was dim enough that I wasn’t sure it was really there. A long exposure revealed greater detail and color. The picket fence pattern is related to a rare, recently classified type of aurora called STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement.) STEVE most often appears as a bright, pinkish ribbon of light found away from the main band of aurora. STEVE may or may not be accompanied by this green picket fence, but on this night the brighter streak of light was absent. It was my first time seeing it this far south in Wyoming. Lake DeSmet provided a beautiful blurred reflection when the wind let up. This night was the first of 4 in a row that I’d capture the aurora. The weeks surrounding the spring and fall equinoxes tend to be the most favorable for geomagnetic storm conditions. But around here the weather tends to be a lot clearer in the early fall, which is why I have more aurora sightings in September than in March.
    Emerald Waters
  • In early August the aurora made an appearance and I was able to see it for the first time this year. The sun follows an 11 year cycle where the solar activity that causes the aurora (sunspots, solar flares, coronal mass ejections) increases and decreases. As we head toward solar minimum predicted in 2019, the aurora will become increasingly rare in the mid-latitudes, but will continue to occur around the arctic. Last year I was able to witness the aurora 10 times, mostly from Illinois, but this year has been a lot different. This picture was taken from the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains above Dayton, Wyoming. It was a spot I scouted out in advance and knew it had a good view north. While I was taking pictures, a sharp gust of wind came up over the ridge. I held on to my tripod, but the wind blew my camping chair down the side of the mountain.
    Dayton Aurora
  • While climbing Ryan Mountain, I got a great view of a distant thunderstorm, along with shadows and sunlight. The road at the bottom is Park Boulevard.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 20, 2014
    Ryan Mountain Panorama
  • Distant flashes of lightning kept me awake much of the night at Joshua Tree National Park. Finally at 4am, I got up to try to photograph it. I never got any bolts because the lightning was too sporadic. In this image a flash of lightning behind me lit up the rocks, while a smaller storm moves under the moon and stars.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 20, 2014
    Night of the Monsoon
  • A distant lightning storm moves south past the Badlands in South Dakota. The red sky in the west was casting a soft glow on the tops of the cliffs. This was a typical late summer evening when a thunderstorm formed over the Black Hills and moved out across the plains.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 7, 2013
    Stormy Badlands
  • In the northwest corner of Washington state is one of the wettest places in the US. Up to 10 feet of rain falls here annually, which creates a lush rain forest. The dense canopy blocks out the sun, and the forest floor is covered with moss and ferns. When the massive trees do fall, many of the logs end up in rivers and are carried out to sea, where they become piled up along the beaches. Marymere Falls is a 90 foot high waterfall found not far from the shore of Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park. This hot August day was the perfect time to photograph the rain forest, since thick wildfire smoke was blocking out all of the big views.
    Falls and Ferns
  • In this part of Montana there’s a whole lot of nothing. The sprawling ranches have more acreage than many towns. I’ve previously driven hours along this road east of Decker without seeing another human. You're more likely to encounter wildlife such as pronghorn antelope, which I've raced across these plains and found that they really can run 60 mph. On a warm August evening I followed this storm for awhile. The radar showed it was producing hail the size of baseballs. But since the core passed through a roadless area, any severe weather went unseen and unreported. Abandoned houses are not hard to find as they are more common than lived-in houses. By now I know where most of them are so I kept driving until I could shoot the storm above this one. When the evening sun came out it highlighted the puffy cumulonimbus clouds receding into the distance. The white containers next to the tree are bee hive boxes. I've noticed them popping up more and more across Montana as it's one of the top honey-producing states.
    Home On the Range
  • I don't know how much of this rain was hitting the ground. It was in the direction of Yucca Valley from Ryan Mountain.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 20, 2014
    Desert Rain
  • When the sun rose at Joshua Tree National Park, a vivid rainbow appeared. The rainbow was almost at a 90 degree angle to the ground. This can only happen right at sunrise or sunset.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 20, 2014
    Joshua Tree Rainbow
  • This morning in Joshua Tree National Park was unlike any other. Distant thunderstorms passed by throughout the night. Then around 5 am, it started raining. When the sun rose an hour later, it shined through a gap in the clouds which created a dramatic sight with vivid red and orange everywhere. To top it all off, this giant rainbow appeared. I know my photos did not do the scene justice. It was amazing how fast the light changed. One minute the sky was nearly colorless, then it exploded in color, and a few minutes later the display ended when the sun went behind a cloud. I felt blessed to see rain, considering I was only there for about 18 hours. Joshua Tree receives barely over 4 inches of rain in a normal year. When you consider that California is currently experiencing its worst drought ever recorded, this is a rare sight indeed.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 20, 2014
    Magical Morning
  • It is no wonder that lenticular clouds often get mistaken for UFO's. This kind of cloud forms often in the California deserts as strong winds lifts air up and over mountain ranges. The air then condenses to form a cloud that stays in the same area for quite awhile.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 19, 2014
    Flying Saucer
  • Stars rise over Salt Creek in Weldon Springs State Park. This startrail sequence covers shows the stars movement in 73 minutes. <br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 13, 2014
    Weldon Springs Startrails
  • Puffy cumulus clouds float across the sky as they build into small thunderstorms. These storms passed over the farm fields of rural Mason County.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 11, 2014
    Fluffy Clouds
  • The line in the sky is the International Space Station, 262 miles above the earth. The ISS orbits the earth every 93 minutes at speeds of over 17,000 mph. When it passes overhead, the ISS becomes brighter than any star and can take as long as 6 minutes to cross the sky. There are many apps and websites (such as http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/) that tell you when to look for it. <br />
In the foreground is a mysterious abandoned structure that resembles a lighthouse. I don't know how old it is or what it was built for. I first found it a few months ago at Banner Marsh near the Illinois River.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 3, 2014
    Space Navigation
  • After climbing a couple thousand feet I reached the summit of Darton Peak. A cold wind swept across the barren boulder field. It did not feel like August. The moon which had helped illuminate my route in the dark was overtaken by the light of the coming day. Lost Twin Lakes where I had started at 3:30AM now looked small far below. In the western sky, a vivid pink band of light known as the Belt of Venus could be seen. Below this is the curved (not flat) shadow of the Earth projected out onto the atmosphere. The shadow gets lower and lower until the sun finally crests the horizon. The rays are the shadow of clouds found on the opposite side of the sky. The Belt of Venus is visible on any clear morning or evening, but there’s perhaps no better place to see it than on a mountaintop. Despite the breathtaking view, it was a miserable morning. A bout of altitude sickness caused a pounding headache and made me lose my breakfast. And just when I started to feel better on the way out I stepped in a hidden hole and sprained my ankle. Next time I climb a 12,000' mountain I'll have to take it a lot slower.
    Rays of Pink
  • Keys View in Joshua Tree National Park is a great place to watch a sunset. You can see 5,000 feet below to the Palm Springs area, the Salton Sea, and the San Andreas Fault.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 19, 2014
    Keys View
  • A distant lightning storm moves south past the Badlands National Park. The red sky in the west was casting a soft glow on the tops of the cliffs. The black dots in the center are turkey vultures.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 7, 2013
    Badlands Lightning
  • American Alps. With countless towering peaks, alpine lakes, verdant meadows, and waterfalls, there are a lot of similarities. The mountains aren't as high, but it's more wild than the European Alps, since the majority of this rarely visited national park in northern Washington is pure wilderness. 312, or 1/3 of all the glaciers in the lower US are found within it's borders, although many of them are shrinking. While passing through in August I only had enough time for one hike. So I climbed a ridge up and around Ann Lake, which is a small, round tarn with it's own island. Sunlight began to disappear as a storm was moving in. But I should have expected to get wet, the trail started from Rainy Pass.
    Ann Lake Wildflowers
  • Normally I like to explore a location during the day before taking pictures there at night. But the Southern California traffic robbed me of the time to do that here. Arch Rock was a little bit hard to find in the dark, but it wasn't too bad. I just had to be careful to avoid rattlesnakes. The 30 foot long arch is located near the White Tank campground in Joshua Tree National Park. The eastern part of the park has very dark skies the farther you get from the desert cities. To illuminate the scene, I shined my headlamp on the rock wall opposite the arch. A soft, warm light was reflected backwards. I was grateful the skies cleared up long enough to see the milky way. A few minutes after this clouds started to cover the sky as monsoon thunderstorms moved past the area.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 19, 2014
    Arch Rock Galaxy
  • I was in Joshua Tree National Park when monsoon thunderstorms passed by throughout the night keeping me awake. Just before sunrise it started raining. With thick clouds above I was not expecting a very colorful sunrise. But then this happened. The rising sun highlighted the wisps of rain as they fell into the dry air. The clouds cast an orange glow across the desert floor as flashes of lightning streaked across the sky. And a minute later a spectacular rainbow appeared behind me. This entire light show only lasted a few minutes so I had to rush to capture it all. It was the most awe-inspiring sunrise I've ever seen and my pictures could hardly do it justice.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 20, 2014
    Raining Fire
  • These little lenticular clouds repeatedly formed over the same area as seen from Keys View. Lenticular clouds form when strong winds encounter a mountain range. The air is forced upward where it condenses into a cloud. These strange disc-shaped clouds form often in the California desert.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 19, 2014
    Little Lenticulars
  • I spotted this rainbow a in rural Mason County. The small pop up thunderstorms made it a great day for rainbows, and this was one of the lowest ones I've seen. The height of a rainbow can be determined by the height of the sun. The radius of a rainbow is always 42°, centered at a point opposite the sun called the "anti-solar point." If you subtract the height of the sun (in this case 33°) from the 42°, then you get the approximate height of the rainbow above the horizon (9°). That is why the biggest rainbows are found near sunrise or sunset. They cannot occur in the middle of the day when the sun is higher than 42°.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 11, 2014
    Partial Rainbow
  • The rainbow was contrasting strongly with the dark storm clouds and sunlit rocks. But seconds later, it faded away as the sun went behind the clouds.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 20, 2014
    Sunlit Rainbow
  • Mammatus clouds are a cellular pattern of pouches that hang beneath a much larger cloud. The formation isn't very distinct here as the wind breaks it up. This stormy scene occurred over the Bighorn Mountains in northeast Wyoming.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: August 8, 2013
    Bighorn Mammatus
  • In mid-August I photographed the annual Perseid meteor shower. But this was no ordinary year, as there were twice as many meteors as normal. Beartooth Lake, at almost 9,000 feet in the Beartooth Mountains was the perfect place to watch from. I was worried about the weather, with thick clouds at sunset and a wildfire only 7 miles away. But it ended up being a beautiful night. The show got started at 1AM when the moon set, leaving the sky completely dark. While listening to every little sound around me (this is grizzly bear country) I counted 250 meteors in 4 hours. This was one of 93 that my camera captured over  Beartooth Butte. The radiant (Perseus) was to the upper right outside of the frame. As dawn approached, fog swirled around the glassy surface of the lake. Hand warmers strapped to my lens prevented the glass from fogging up. I don't know how cold it was, but I do know my water bottle froze and I was snowed on at the pass earlier in the evening.
    Green to Red
  • In mid-August I photographed the annual Perseid meteor shower. But this was no ordinary year, as there were twice as many meteors as normal. Beartooth Lake, at almost 9,000 feet in the Beartooth Mountains was the perfect place to watch from. I was worried about the weather, with thick clouds at sunset and a wildfire only 7 miles away. But it ended up being a beautiful night. The show got started at 1AM when the moon set, leaving the sky completely dark. While listening to every little sound around me (this is grizzly bear country) I counted 250 meteors in 4 hours. With my camera pointed northwest at Beartooth Butte, I captured 93 of them. I combined them all into this composite image. The radiant (Perseus) was to the upper right outside of the frame. As dawn approached, fog swirled around the glassy surface of the lake. Hand warmers strapped to my lens prevented the glass from fogging up. I don't know how cold it was, but I do know my water bottle froze and I was snowed on at the pass earlier in the evening.
    Night of the Falling Stars
  • A bright Perseid meteor burns up in the earth's atmosphere while the milky way stands on end in the west. After finding the nearby campground full, I drove a dirt road up to 10,000 feet until I found a spot flat enough to camp. With no trees up here, there was a great view of the sky and the lights below are from the town of Greybull. Over the 2 nights of the Perseid meteor shower in mid-August I captured nearly 1,000 images with about 10% of them containing meteors. This one was the brightest and the longest, spanning over 15 degrees of sky. I nearly missed it because it was the very first frame of my time lapse. Perseid meteors are made up of small pieces of comet debris that cross the Earth's orbit every year. It is the extreme speed at which it enters the atmosphere (over 100,000 mph) that causes the debris to vaporize and glow. The color of the trail reveals the chemical composition. The green is nickel or magnesium, and the red is ionized oxygen or nitrogen in the upper atmosphere.
    The Longest Streak
  • Known as the "Diamond Ring" effect, this is when the first bit of sun emerges from behind the moon. It lasts only seconds. I was surprised by just how suddenly the sun popped out with all the brightness of the sun concentrated into a single point. If anyone was looking through an optical instrument at this time, it would probably be the last thing they would ever see. I shot this using live view and then quickly put a solar filter back on before I fried the camera sensor.
    Diamond Ring
  • After hitting the trail at sunrise I made it to the top of Laramie Peak shortly before 9AM and setup my gear. The true summit is littered with towers and communication equipment, so instead I pointed my camera at this subpeak to the south. The weather was perfect and the thick smoke from Montana wildfires that I was worried about stayed to the north. At 10:23 the partial eclipse began, visible only through a solar filter. Anticipation started to build as more of the sun became blocked out. After over 50% of the sun was covered the light became slightly dimmer but it was only noticeable if you've been watching the whole time. The temperature dropped by over 20°F and jackets came out. At 90% the sky became a dark blue and the landscape took on a smoky appearance. At this point the light began to change by the second. The moon moves from west to east, and the shadow approaches at 1700mph from that direction. At 11:45 the last piece of sun disappeared. Some of my favorite effects of totality were the parts I couldn't capture. Cirrus clouds in the west glowed orange like at sunset. It was similar to twilight but instead of the glow appearing in only one direction, it encircled the entire horizon. Venus came out first, then the other planets and brighter stars. It's a very strange feeling looking at the sun in what's normally the brightest part of the day and instead seeing a black hole. The ~100 people around me marveled at one of the most beautiful spectacles in nature. But just like that it was all over. The full disc of the sun returned at 1:11PM.
    Fleeting Moment
  • The solar eclipse was absolutely incredible. There's no way to capture it in 1 picture or 1,000 pictures and there's nothing really to compare it to. During the minutes surrounding totality the light changed so fast and there was so much to observe and photograph that it was overwhelming. It felt like time stood still and yet it was all over in an instant. I listened to the dozens of people around me who also climbed the 10,276' Laramie Peak to observe this eclipse. Cheering and exclamations of "WOW" were an almost involuntary reaction.<br />
<br />
This is a composite showing 3 partial phases of the eclipse with a solar filter, as well as 3 of the features that are visible during totality. A group of sunspots was visible before being hidden by the moon. The red fringes on the left are solar prominences. Bigger than any planet, prominences are made up of dynamic loops of hot plasma and will often explode. This outer atmosphere of the sun is sculpted by it's magnetic field. The temperature of the corona is up to 450 times hotter than the surface of the sun and no one knows why. At the top right is an effect known as the "diamond ring." It is the moment the first bit of sun emerges from behind the moon. I was surprised by just how suddenly it popped out, with all the brightness of the sun concentrated into a single point.
    Multifaceted Eclipse
  • This was my favorite image of the corona during the solar eclipse. The effects of the magnetic field can be clearly seen, with the coronal streamers aligned to the north and south poles of the sun. The star Regulus is also visible on the lower left.
    Solar Corona
  • I went back and had another go at processing my solar eclipse pictures. Here I combined several shots and tried to show every feature of the eclipse that I was able to capture. There is such a huge range of light that it's impossible to capture it all in one image. The glow around the sun is called the corona. Shaped by complex magnetic fields, it consists of super-heated plasma up to 450X hotter than the solar surface. The sun's north pole is located at 10 o'clock where the magnetic field lines are shorter. The red fringes on the right are fiery solar prominences, several times the size of Earth. Also shown is the diamond ring effect, when the first bright sliver of sunlight reappears from behind the moon. Details on the lunar surface can be seen because of an effect called earthshine (not to be confused with moonshine). Sunlight is reflected off of the Earth and faintly illuminates the dark side of the moon. Regulus is the star visible on the lower left.
    Eclipse All In One
  • When the lightning rod at the top of Black Mountain started buzzing, I knew I had to descend to escape the lightning danger. But I'm glad I returned afterwards, because the  sunset was incredible. Mammatus filled the sky as the storm cleared and it took on an orange color as the sun lowered. All the smoke in the air added to the surreal atmosphere. The fire lookout structure was recently closed to the public because it's fallen into disrepair.
    Lookout Above
  • The first light of the day illuminates the north face of Mount Hood. The Eliot Glacier is the largest in Oregon.
    Morning in the Hood
  • I had to pull off of I-90 to shoot this distant view of a thunderstorm rolling out of the Bighorn Mountains. But I nearly got stuck on a muddy road.
    Where the Rain Falls
  • On this evening I headed up into the hills to watch lightning. The first storm that made me head out the door wasn't any good for pictures, since most of the lightning was intra-cloud. But then I watched another cell pop up to my south. As this updraft exploded into the starry sky, it started producing positive lightning strikes. Positive lightning accounts for 5-10% of all lightning, and is up to 10X more powerful than negative strikes with a peak discharge of 1 billion volts. It originates from the top of a thundercloud and travels through miles of air before striking the ground. Positive bolts can hit up to 25 miles away from the parent thunderstorm. These "bolts from the blue" are especially dangerous because people may assume they're a safe distance away from the storm when they strike.<br />
The night couldn't have been more perfect for watching lightning.A full moon helped to light up the landscape and gave the thundercloud a silver lining. I stayed in the same spot for hours as multiple storms followed the same path.
    Under Jupiter
  • Young saplings grow among the older pine trees near Red Grade Road in the Bighorn Mountains.
    Young Saplings
  • A shelf cloud approaches a grassy field near Mackinaw, Illinois. This storm hit a half an hour before sunset. It actually became so dark that fireflies started to come out.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: 8/28/2014
    Mackinaw Storm
  • The milky way hangs in the sky above Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota. The light pollution along the horizon is from the small town of Luverne.
    Night at Blue Mounds
  • Fireflies buzz around under the milky way. This picture was taken in Weinberg King State Park in Illinois. This location has the darkest skies in the state.
    Lights of a Summer Night
  • In the Cascade Range in northwest Washington is a peak called Mount Baker. This peak is the 3rd tallest in the state, and is among the snowiest mountains on Earth. One winter saw a staggering 95 feet of snow fall, which is the most recorded anywhere in a single season. I hiked halfway up and set up camp on a ridge overlooking this volcanic peak. Into the clouds I ascended and waited until they finally parted just before sunset. My jaw dropped as the glacier-capped summit appeared high above me. But the view was short-lived as the winds shifted and brought in heavy smoke from Canada. Even though the meteor shower would be a bust, I was thankful to get this view, however brief it was. This volcano is still active with fumaroles found in the summit crater, but it hasn't erupted since the end of the 19th century.
    Between Smoke and Cloud
  • I stood on the slopes of Mount Hood with this view of 3 Cascade volcanoes to my north at sunrise. After days of smoke greatly limiting the views, it had finally settled into the valleys. Mt Adams is the closest peak on the right. Mt Rainier is the tallest in the middle, although it appears small because it's 100 miles away. Mt St Helens on the left stands out as the peak that's no longer symmetrical, since it literally blew it's top. When St Helens erupted in 1980, a 1300 foot high, 0.7 cubic mile chunk of mountain collapsed in the largest landslide in history.
    Three Volcano Sunrise
  • The temperature topped 100°F as I drove down a dirt road called the Calypso Trail. The terrain of eastern Montana may appear boring at first. But the Terry Badlands area is filled with all kinds of geological wonders including toadstools, pillars, caves, and these natural bridges. I couldn't find much information on this place and getting here wasn't easy. Washouts, sand, and sinkholes make the road in very rough. Any rain will turn it to mud and make it impassable. Once at the end it's only a couple mile hike through fields of biting flies. I didn't even know there would be 3 natural bridges until I arrived. It was tricky to get all of them in one picture until I went underneath. Just past the bridges was a strange tunnel carved by water, with the roof collapsed in places. Some of the only shade in the area is found by standing underneath the bridges which are up to 50 feet long. This is a dry, desolate place, but still it has a certain beauty to it.
    All 3 Natural Bridges
  • On this evening I headed up into the hills to watch lightning. The first storm that made me head out the door wasn't any good for pictures, since most of the lightning was intra-cloud. But then I watched another cell pop up to my south. As this updraft exploded into the starry sky, it started producing positive lightning strikes. Positive lightning accounts for 5-10% of all lightning, and is up to 10X more powerful than negative strikes with a peak discharge of 1 billion volts. It originates from the top of a thundercloud and travels through miles of air before striking the ground. Positive bolts can hit up to 25 miles away from the parent thunderstorm. These "bolts from the blue" are especially dangerous because people may assume they're a safe distance away from the storm when they strike.<br />
The night couldn't have been more perfect for watching lightning.A full moon helped to light up the landscape and gave the thundercloud a silver lining. I stayed in the same spot for hours as multiple storms followed the same path.
    Lightning and Moonbeams
  • As I drove into the Absaroka Mountains towards Kirwin, a storm was clearing. I loved this view looking up a valley with fog between the trees.
    Fog After the Rain
  • Clouds drift past the medieval village of Conflans in Albertville, France, as a storm clears.
    Conflans Fog
  • This is the view of the small French village of St-Pierre-d’Albigny as seen from the Miolans Castle.
    St-Pierre-d’Albigny
  • I took a few steps onto the Argentière Glacier, but didn't go too far. The top of the ice was covered in a thin layer of gravel, and there were a couple crevasses on both sides of me. The mountain on the top left is Aiguille du Chardonnet.
    Dirty Crevasse
  • These colorful wildflowers were blooming near the top of Big Pryor Mountain.
    Pryor Wildflowers
  • The Pryor Mountains are not a very large or tall range. But they hold lots of wonders including several mysterious ice caves. At this elevation (8,600') any snow would have melted away months ago. But snow and ice stays beneath the ground year round. The Crater Ice Cave is one of the harder caves to reach because it requires an 1,800 foot climb to the highest peak, Big Pryor Mountain. The cave is located just below the summit and has a side entrance as well as a skylight entrance overhead.
    Subterranean Snow
  • After a rough 35 mile drive on rocky dirt roads, I reached the Dry Fork Overlook at the top of the Pryor Mountains just before sunset. There was a large thunderstorm to the south in Wyoming, which lit up with color.
    Pryor Experience
  • This severe thunderstorm rolled across the grassland near Decker, Montana late at night. There were dozens of wildfires burning across Montana. Before this storm hit, the air was mostly clear. But the strong winds brought in thick smoke from the northwest. It smelled like there was a fire nearby, even though there were none in the immediate area. All the lightning had a reddish-orange tint to it.
    Orange Lightning
  • Evening sunlight shines on an unnamed peak near Bear Gulch in the Bighorn Mountains.
    Bear Gulch Sunset
  • The deep blue colors of twilight overtake the sky as dawn approaches at Beartooth Lake.
    Beartooth Twilight
  • Smoke from the Hunter Peak wildfire was trapped under an inversion layer as the sun rose over the Beartooth Mountains.
    Hunter Peak Sunrise
  • Brockway Aurora
  • Fueled by hot, dry weather and gusty winds, it only took a day and a half for the Apple Fire to explode to 32 square miles. As the forest went up in flames, the plume of smoke ballooned to 25,000 feet. That's more than twice the height of San Gorgonio Mountain, Southern California's highest peak seen in the middle of this photo. The behavior of this fire is extreme enough to make it's own weather. Pyrocumulus is a type of cloud formed when intense heat creates an updraft similar to a thunderstorm. Pyrocumulus lofts embers high into the air, creates strong unpredictable outflow winds at the surface, and in rare cases even generates lightning. The same phenomena is seen in volcanic eruptions. All of this hampers firefighting efforts and causes the flames to expand even more. But even in the devastation, there was beauty. From my vantage point northwest of the blaze, the smoke plume took on a deep red glow at sunset before the 97% full moon rose above it.
    Pyrocumulus Moon
  • When the sun finally appeared over Hurricane Ridge, it was a dark red, before slowly brightening as it rose higher. It seemed like I was looking through a solar filter, but it was only heavy smoke.
    Filtered Sun
  • The view from Tolmie Peak is spectacular, or at least it would be without the smoke. Eunice Lake sits in a valley below, while Mount Rainier rises above the forested ridges.
    Rainier Above the Smoke
  • On this evening I headed up into the hills to watch lightning. The first storm that made me head out the door wasn't any good for pictures, since most of the lightning was intra-cloud. But then I watched another cell pop up to my south. As this updraft exploded into the starry sky, it started producing positive lightning strikes. Positive lightning accounts for 5-10% of all lightning, and is up to 10X more powerful than negative strikes with a peak discharge of 1 billion volts. It originates from the top of a thundercloud and travels through miles of air before striking the ground. Positive bolts can hit up to 25 miles away from the parent thunderstorm. These "bolts from the blue" are especially dangerous because people may assume they're a safe distance away from the storm when they strike.<br />
The night couldn't have been more perfect for watching lightning.A full moon helped to light up the landscape and gave the thundercloud a silver lining. I stayed in the same spot for hours as multiple storms followed the same path.
    The Hills Are Electric
  • The 3,824m (12,545 ft)  Aiguille du Chardonnet Argentière towers above the Argentière Glacier. Part of the Mont Blanc Massif, the glacier is 9km long.
    Aiguille du Chardonnet
  • In the Pryor Mountains of Montana lives a herd of about 120 wild horses. Thought to be descendants of Spanish colonial horses, these mustangs were the first to be federally protected after nearly being removed in the late 1960's. The foal pictured here (named Renegade) was less than 4 weeks old. He is 1 of 5 foals born this year, although 2 didn't make it. This wild horse range is not easy to access. It requires a long 40-mile drive on steep, rough, and rocky dirt roads, where navigation can be tricky. It's not a place to go unprepared. After I couldn't drive any further, I walked the rest of the way since I finally spotted the herd in the distance. I counted a total of 22 horses near the top of Sykes Ridge at 8,000 feet.
    4 Week Old Foal
  • In the Pryor Mountains of Montana lives a herd of about 120 wild horses. Thought to be descendants of Spanish colonial horses, these mustangs were the first to be federally protected after nearly being removed in the late 1960's. This wild horse range is not easy to access. It requires a long 40-mile drive on steep, rough, and rocky dirt roads, where navigation can be tricky. It's not a place to go unprepared. After I couldn't drive any further, I walked the rest of the way since I finally spotted the herd in the distance. I counted a total of 22 horses near the top of Sykes Ridge at 8,000 feet.
    Chasing the Mare
  • Crepuscular rays emerge from a cloud as the sun sets beyond Tongue River Canyon. This was the view from the top of Steamboat Point.
    Tongue Canyon Sunbeams
  • Fog swirls around the glossy surface of Beartooth Lake shortly after sunrise.
    Breathing Fog
  • A misty fog covers a field as the milky way shines above. The patches of green in the sky are known as airglow, which is a very weak emission of light by a planetary atmosphere. I couldn't see the green light with my eyes but I could tell from the pictures it was quite active on this night. This self portrait was taken while camping at Sand Ridge State Forest, IL.
    Mist-ified
  • The beaches of Olympic National Park in northwest Washington are a special place. There are few stretches of coastline in the US that are this wild and undeveloped. Sea stacks dot the shoreline, some with trees growing on them. Many of the sea stacks are cut off at high tide, but can be reached at low tide. I spent the night on this beach, pitching my tent on the sand above the high-tide mark. Thick forests grow in the area, and rivers carry fallen trees out to sea. This leads to big piles of logs that have to be climbed over to reach most of the beaches. The sun didn't really set this evening. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but the red sun disappeared early into the thick smoke. The next morning it felt like I woke up on a different beach since the marine layer came in and the fog hid all the sea stacks from view.
    Sea Stack Sunset
  • It was just me and a marmot on the summit of Burroughs Mountain admiring this view of Mount Rainier at sunset. The enormity of this mountain is humbling. Rainier is the most prominent peak in the lower US and the most glaciated containing rivers of ice up to 750 feet thick. This volcano is dormant, but not extinct, and it holds the potential for major destruction if it erupts. The greatest hazard wouldn't necessarily be a lava flow, but what's known as a "lahar." A lahar is a mud and debris flow caused by magma destabilizing the rock and rapidly melting snow and ice. These mudflows can travel many miles (as far as the Puget Sound) and signs in the campground warn visitors to head uphill in the event of an earthquake or a rumbling sound. After spending a week in Washington, this was the first sunset I saw that wasn't extremely smoky. It was a long hike back by headlamp, but the pictures were worth it.
    Rainier Sunset Panorama
  • Horses graze under a building thunderstorm near Philip, South Dakota.
    Horses and Cumulonimbus
  • On this evening I headed up into the hills to watch lightning. The first storm that made me head out the door wasn't any good for pictures, since most of the lightning was intra-cloud. But then I watched another cell pop up to my south. As this updraft exploded into the starry sky, it started producing positive lightning strikes. Positive lightning accounts for 5-10% of all lightning, and is up to 10X more powerful than negative strikes with a peak discharge of 1 billion volts. It originates from the top of a thundercloud and travels through miles of air before striking the ground. Positive bolts can hit up to 25 miles away from the parent thunderstorm. These "bolts from the blue" are especially dangerous because people may assume they're a safe distance away from the storm when they strike.<br />
The night couldn't have been more perfect for watching lightning.A full moon helped to light up the landscape and gave the thundercloud a silver lining. I stayed in the same spot for hours as multiple storms followed the same path.
    Moon Behind the Anvil
  • Devil's Kitchen is an interesting geological area east of Greybull, Wyoming. Very colorful badland features range from red to yellow to white and change appearance depending on the light. I feel like anywhere else this would be a well-visited park. But there are no facilities at this out-of-the-way spot, not even information signs. I was wondering why this small cave smelled so bad, until I saw a dead vulture at the bottom.
    Stinky Cave
  • The Château de Miolans is a privately owned castle dating back to the 12th century. It was built on the side of a hill overlooking the French village of St-Pierre-d’Albigny.
    Château de Miolans
  • Mont Dolent marks the border of 3 different countries. The near side is France, the glacier on the left side of the peak is Switzerland, with Italy to the right of the summit.
    Triple Border
  • In the Pryor Mountains of Montana lives a herd of about 120 wild horses. Thought to be descendants of Spanish colonial horses, these mustangs were the first to be federally protected after nearly being removed in the late 1960's. The foal pictured here (named Renegade) was less than 4 weeks old. He is 1 of 5 foals born this year, although 2 didn't make it. This wild horse range is not easy to access. It requires a long 40-mile drive on steep, rough, and rocky dirt roads, where navigation can be tricky. It's not a place to go unprepared. After I couldn't drive any further, I walked the rest of the way since I finally spotted the herd in the distance. I counted a total of 22 horses near the top of Sykes Ridge at 8,000 feet.
    2017 Mustang
  • In the Pryor Mountains of Montana lives a herd of about 120 wild horses. Thought to be descendants of Spanish colonial horses, these mustangs were the first to be federally protected after nearly being removed in the late 1960's. The foal pictured here (named Renegade) was less than 4 weeks old. He is 1 of 5 foals born this year, although 2 didn't make it. This wild horse range is not easy to access. It requires a long 40-mile drive on steep, rough, and rocky dirt roads, where navigation can be tricky. It's not a place to go unprepared. After I couldn't drive any further, I walked the rest of the way since I finally spotted the herd in the distance. I counted a total of 22 horses near the top of Sykes Ridge at 8,000 feet.
    Renegade
  • When I woke up on East Pryor Mountain, it was mostly cloudy but there was no fog. As soon as I realized there was fog in the valley below, I walked here to look over the edge. But I was too late, the fog pushed up the mountain and visibility dropped to zero. The sun became visible for a short time, but then fog overtook it again.
    Fog Vs. Sun
  • Bar-C Road in Barnum, Wyoming passes between massive ranches flanked by red cliffs.
    Bar-C Road
  • I found this white horse along the side of the road in Barnum, Wyoming, with a backdrop of red cliffs.
    Barnum Horse
  • Lake Angeline is an alpine lake located 10,500 feet high in the Bighorn Mountains. There is a small permanent snowfield located at the end of the cold lake.
    Lake Angeline
  • A colorful rainbow glows above a dirt road near Hunt Mountain in the Bighorns.
    Hunt Mountain Rainbow
  • Piney Creek flows through the Bighorn Mountains west of Story.
    A Peaceful Place
  • As son as it got dark, the core of the Milky Way galaxy was centered directly behind Devils Tower.
    Galactic Monolith
  • Just before midnight the crescent moon rose east of Devils Tower. Smoke or haze near the horizon gave the moon an orange color.
    Tower Moonrise
  • There is a lot happening at the local pond at 2AM. This image shows the stars apparent movement in 45 minutes time. The aurora glowed to the north in hues of red and green. Meteors burned up in the atmosphere. Satellites and airplanes  flew past. It was far from quiet with flapping waterfowl, croaking frogs, and a splashing beaver. Startrail reflections are like mini seismographs, recording ripples in the water. With no wind, all the disturbances are from the beaver splashing.
    Beaver Pond Startrails
  • After being enveloped in thick fog all day, I got my first glimpse of Mount Baker from my campsite on Park Butte. The evening light was amazing on the glaciated summit. This volcanic mountain is one of the snowiest places in the world. The ski area on the northeast side once measured 95 feet of snowfall in a single season.
    Glaciated Summit
  • The strongest geomagnetic storm (G3) of 2018 brought the aurora down to lower latitudes. I wasn't expecting much with hazy skies and a full moon working against me. But I had to try shooting it, since opportunities to see the aurora have been exceedingly rare as the sun heads deeper into solar minimum. And to my surprise a faint green band of light was visible to my eyes, which ended my 9-month streak since I last saw the northern lights. There are several north-facing locations nearby that I keep in the back of my mind, waiting for nights like this one. This two-track road is just over the stateline in Montana. Strange noises filled the night air including crickets chirping, sandhill cranes calling, and coyotes howling. Even though the moonlight drowned out much of the aurora, it did help with lighting up the landscape for photos.
    Smoky Pillars
  • The last sunlight of the day shines on rock formations in the Terry Badlands.
    Golden Pyramid
  • It was a warm summer night at the Terry Badlands. I took this self-portait just before going to sleep at 1AM.
    Warm Montana Night
  • While driving the Calypso Trail near Terry, Montana, I passed by this area of rust-colored badlands.
    Rusty Badlands
  • Before visiting the Terry Badlands, I had no idea that Montana had it's own Chimney Rock. It looks remarkably similar to the one in Nebraska, but it's a little shorter. This one can be viewed from the rough road called the Calypso Trail.
    Montana's Chimney Rock
  • I had been wanting to shoot a storm rolling out of the mountains from this overlook next to I-90. But this particular storm was dying just after sunset and produced hardly any lightning.
    Dying Storm at Twilight
  • Standing on top of a 12,275' mountain, it's likely I was the first person in Wyoming to see the sun on this particular day. I'm not sure what all the lakes are named in this shot, but the biggest one is Willow Lake.
    First to See the Sun
  • A small pond next to the Wood River gave a perfect reflection of Dundee Mountain. But I had to place my camera very close to the water to capture it.
    Reflection Beside the River
  • This is the lowest part of the Argentière glacier at about 2,133m (7,000ft). The compacted ice was sliding down this cliff, creating a dramatic view. At the top left is the 3,824m (12,545ft) peak, Aiguille du Chardonnet.
    Sliding Glacier
  • The views opened up as I reached the summit of Big Pryor Mountain. East Pryor Mountain can be seen in the distance.
    Big Pryor Summit
  • Fog moves between pine trees near East Pryor Mountain.
    Dispersion
Next