We have been here before, but it still takes my breath away. With an attempt at variety, we decide to take a new way in to Badlands National Park, a massive expanse with many different sub-climates and landscapes. This turns out to be a happy accident as we find ourselves in Longhorn, SD, a completely abandoned town almost literally in the middle of nowhere. Not a soul in sight, but evidence lingers of a bar, an outdoor jail and a single strip of road overlooking the beautiful painted landscape in the distance.
Read MoreOrcas Island, WA: Secluded Pacific Northwest Paradise /
No matter where I travel, I want to see what makes each place unique, to get away from the tourists and to have time to soak in the local vibe. I had heard about the San Juan Islands in Washington State almost immediately after moving to Seattle, WA in mid 1997. Through some meteorological aberration, this area gets about 255 days of sun a year in a part of the country justifiably famous for being perpetually damp. Western Washington State has the only rainforest in the entire US, and it's constant mist is beautiful but can be challenging to those affected by the Vitamin D deficit caused from infrequent exposure to regular sunlight.
Read MoreMinnesota: A Land Of Extremes /
After almost being born on a US Army base in Germany, I was born in the northern most major city of the central United States: Minneapolis, Minnesota. I grew up in weather extremes from winters with a Siberia-esque subzero windchill to hot, humid summers that open up and drain every pore on your body while your feet slowly sink into the melting tar. Between the two, spring and autumn are absolutely breathtaking. As a young child, I naively thought this was the normal experience of everyone else. Once I started traveling the world, I realized the folly of this mindset, and also how much I loved to travel!
Read MoreMy Photographic History And Why I Switched To Fujifilm Mirrorless Cameras In 2012 /
This review is 3 years in coming, and isn't really a review but rather a personal history of why the Fujifilm X-Series, specifically the X-Pro1 and X100S, is a perfect fit for me: the cameras I had been waiting for. I am a very technical and precise person, but this is not a technical review. These cameras have been out for years and there are much better reviews, including one by my friend (and Fuji X-Photographer) Vincent Opoku. I wanted to write something initially because using these cameras was revolutionary for me, but I also wanted to let the beer goggles dissipate and write logically and dispassionately about the experience so those considering the system could get a realistic understanding of what to expect without all the usual superlatives that come from excitement, and also to spare readers the agony of run on sentences like the one you are enduring now.
Read MoreInterview With X100c.com /
I see the world photographically, so I'm looking for photographs even in the rare moments when I don't have a camera. I'm just as happy shooting by myself or while traveling, though weddings are where I spend 99% of my time professionally. One of the things about weddings that I especially like is that they are social and you are immersed in hundreds of people all there to celebrate the joining of two people and two families. There is so much going on that all one has to do is pay attention: there is *always* something happening. The way I shoot is that I line up a frame and I patiently wait for the composition to line up and the right combination of facial expressions. I love shooting landscapes because it's very solitary and meditative. There is no timeline and no hurry, so I can look at something from multiple perspectives.
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