Summer was quite busy with a couple of photography trips and a fair amount of additional travel to escape the heat of the California desert. Those photography trips take many hours of planning, which I mostly enjoy. Researching new possibilities, planning out timing for known locations and coordinating travel are part of the process. Look for announcements of small group future workshops in the next newsletter. The swamp photography trip to Caddo Lake this in mid-November is my last currently scheduled trip. 

Below you will find a couple of trip reports from this summer and a bit on creative photography options for tourists and photographers.

ISSUE 40 - October 2025

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Trip Reports
• Intentional Camera Movement
• Featured Print
• Upcoming Travel

The Grand Canyon Monsoon trip in August was far from a bust despite the scarcity of storms and the devastating fires at the North Rim. We were to stay a couple nights at the Grand Canyon Lodge which was destroyed. Contingency plans are a good thing. These included long (as in very long) 4x4 drives to Tatahatso Point and Toroweap as well as a stop at Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon. The former requires a Navajo guide. It was a treat to have Cassie and Reuben of Jhani's Tours take us to the Point, stay with us overnight and prepare our meals. We got up in the middle of the night to capture the Milky Way over this portion of Marble Canyon. just above the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. At Toroweap, you crawl across rocks to look 3000 feet down into the canyon. There are no rails and most photographers are understandably nervous about this location. But the rewards are great. As the leader, my job was not to capture great photos but to keep others from dying. I will soon be adding these images as updates to my e-books.

First Image - Tatahatso Night

Second Image - Toroweap Overlook (looking west)

Third Image - Flame (Upper Antelope Canyon)

We had fantastic light and excellent timing on this trip, just a couple of weeks ago. Fall color was perfect. There was exceptional light at Oxbow Bend (first image below).  We witnessed at least five geysers going off. Schwabacher's Landing had excellent light both mornings we visited. The only thing missing was an early snowfall (and perhaps a moose in the water!). You can see my take in this issue's Featured Print. The geyser featured below went off for five minutes, rested and went off again. Then again and again! Absolutely mind blowing! It was far more exciting to us than Old Faithful. Because it typically goes off every nine to fifteen hours, our timing was pure luck, but a well appreciated reward for our hike to the location. And we were among only about ten witnesses to the performance.

There comes a time in a landscape photographer's life where creativity must be found by moving beyond the comfort zone. It is far too easy to fall into a habit of reviewing other photographer's best images from a location then trying to come up with an excellent version from that same location. It is possible to create more emotionally stimulating images by... Read More...

This issue's featured print is from Grand Tetons National Park. In the fall there may be as many as 50 photographers at each preferred location along this side stream to the Snake River. We even heard there was a fist fight one morning between photographers who felt they owned their spots! We arrived before daylight just to get parking and stake out some preferred locations for our tripods. My choice was to include the rocks in the riverbed to balance the jutting peaks.  

You can enjoy this or other numerous photography prints in your home. All you have to do is contact me and we will make it happen.

If you happened to catch the movie, Caddo Lake, you saw how truly beautiful and sometimes eerie this hidden gem can be. This will be my fourth year on the lake with our boat captain. This year, we are headquartered in a modern, tastefully designed house on the bayou that should appeal to all the photographers, but especially those who like a little luxury mixed in with down home cooking and the bald cypress woods. Click the button below to read testimonials and see results achieved by previous participants. 

Following the Caddo Lake workshop, Barbara and I will return to Texas for Thanksgiving with family before heading to Columbia (South America) to visit my brother. There will be stops in Medellin and Panama City where we will do our best to blend in with the locals.

The majority of my work is on my website, but it can also be seen at several outside locations. If you are looking for something you don't see, send me a note. 

My juried work can be seen at  Desert Art Center in Palm Springs at Artists Council in Palm Desert. The galleries just reopened for the season.