Living about an hour and half drive away from San Francisco, the city by the bay resides just at the edges of what I call “local”. Although I enjoy getting away from it all and being outdoors in nature, the one obvious exception is San Francisco. Call me biased, but this certainly is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Granted my worldly travels have yet to take me very far, nor will they likely in my lifetime. But the views offered up by the Marin Headlands and the many islands (Yerba Buena, Treasure, and Angel) are incredible. I recently went through my complete library of images and came across quite a few that never saw the light of day until recently. I’ve added them to my “Bridges Gallery”. Here is a small sample.

Instead, I decided to go through the seasons and recall memorable moments along the way. I hope you enjoy.

Winter

The winter of 2012 was spent along the eastern Sierras and into Yosemite for the start of the year. And something was different, something unique. Tioga Pass was still open and the high country lakes were frozen over. A sunset visit was not enough, and on the last day of the trip, an early morning wake up to check satellite imagery on the hotel’s $10 wifi resulted in the hour drive to capture sunrise over the frozen Tenaya Lake. More memorable than the scenery was the moaning and cracking sounds emanating from the lake.

Tenaya Lake, frozen over, while Tioga Pass remains open.

Winter time along the coast often produces the best sunsets as the marine layer seems to hibernate. A clear sunset in September at this same rocky shelf marked a visual reminder in my mind to return under better conditions. When the sunset looked to be a good one, I headed directly to this location. Sometimes those preconceived images come to fruition.

A vivid winter sunset, the best time to photograph the California coast

Spring

Spring time for some means wild flowers or  raging waterfalls from snow melted mountains. That sure sounds nice! But in 2012, I did not do much traveling, and instead continued to focus on making images locally. A new camera came full of megapixels inspired me to revisit past locations. A spring storm at the end of May led me down the coast to one of my favorite rocky coves along the north entrance to Big Sur.

Spring storms along the Big Sur coast

Within a few days of making the image above, I headed to San Francisco for an early morning date with the morning commuters entering the city along the west span of the Bay Bridge.

Morning fog lifts at sunrise over the bay Bridge

Summer

Summer time along the coast often means a lull in my local creative process. So, what did I do different in 2012? I went to the desert to bake in the heat! The Wave, the Antelope slot canyons, and some other random rocky hoodoos, overlooks, rivers, and canyons filled. I rented a circular fisheye lens for the trip and had fun composing the swirls of sandstone in Lower Antelope Canyon.

Antelope Canyon through a different perspective

SCUBA diving did not materialize as planned due to continued ear problems. I did manage a few days beneath the sea, and although a simple scene, this image of a southern California kelp forest stuck with me as a classic scene I love to experience.

California kelp forest in all its splendor.

Fall

Finding fall foliage was on my agenda this year, but it didn’t quite happen. But, a few of my more memorable images were made during this season. During the Thanksgiving holiday, I spent some time in Yosemite Valley. The clear skies allowed me to focus on some of the smaller scenes. Here, the granite striations in El Capitan glow warmly and get rendered abstract in a small reflecting pool along the Merced River.

Reflections of El Capitan on a crisp fall morning

The best light for the iconic Natural Bridge in Santa Cruz happens in the first half of October. On a whim, I ventured to this oft photographed scene. Everything fell into place, and I remember being in such a calm, relaxed state while making this image.

Iconic Natural Bridges with some of the best light of the year…in autumn

An annual pilgrimage to Death Valley National Park led me up to the racetrack. The previous year, I had been here guiding a photographer. The line up of the milky way stuck in my head, so I knew a return visit was in order. The clear skies were welcomed on this evening.

An annual pilgramage to Death Valley led to some night photography at the racetrack.

I spent yesterday adding a fair amount of new images to the site. Here are a few of my favorites from Antelope Canyon, The Wave, Big Sur, and the San Francisco Bay.

I’ve been working through the images I made while on a short week long trip to Arizona at the end of June 2012. Here is a sample of a few new images.

Blogging has always been something I viewed as work, as if every time I blogged, I needed something important to say. Part of that stemmed from having my blog be somewhere other than my website. So, I’ve decided to move the blog to my main site and leave my old blogger account behind. Technically, this is my first post of what I hope will be a rebirth of blogging.

There will be posts of new images, announcements of sales, gear posts, guides, thoughts, you name. Only time will tell how often I use it, but whatever it is, it will be right here from now on. Welcome!