I forgot about sunburns…

After I left the bones in the dust I took a left on Sage Creek Road and headed up the familiar curves along the West edge of the Badlands. My intention was to drive the road quickly and pop out at Wall and head back to Rapid, I didn’t expect to spend the better part of an hour enjoying the sunset with a lovely big horned sheep. I spotted her sitting oh-so-picturesquely on the top of a ridge. She really had picked out a fine spot to bask in the afternoon sun. I pulled off the side of the road, grabbed my camera and slowly clicked my way towards her. Almost immediately her behavior was curious. She lowered her chin to the … Read More

Written in the Bones

Tuesday (my dog) and I found ourselves on a rather spontaneous expedition out to the Conata Basin near Scenic on Saturday. We were invited by a friend of mine to an excursion with his brother and his daughter. Their intention was to find agates, my intention was to find bones. Some time earlier, he spotted several dozen cow carcasses left over from a notoriously terrible winter storm, in October of 2013, known as “Winter Storm Atlas”. Several feet of unseasonably-early snow took the lives of a heart-wrenching number of livestock. I’m no stranger to spotting the scars Atlas left behind – they are everywhere. They can be seen most commonly, on hikes and drives through the hills. Trails and hill sides are littered with twisted and broken trees that once … Read More

The Edge

March has marched by and in true Black Hills springtime fashion, the weather has been manic and wildly unpredictable. As quickly as we are gifted with beautiful days and the hope of spring, blankets of snow fall and cover it all up. A perfect metaphor for my life, as of late, I suppose. As the days busily tick by, I have found myself either submersed in adventure or recovering on the couch. I’ve found little time to update the site or spend creative energy on much of anything. I have however gotten out into our beautiful Black Hills and done a little shooting. Here is a smattering of my March. I look forward to what springtime has to offer. I have … Read More

Now, where did we put that waterfall?

For reasons I cant begin to fathom, I have this ability to conjure up wild ideas, suggest them and then convince seemingly sane people to go along with me. A few weeks ago I spotted something from Palmer Creek Road, what I saw appeared to be a very large very frozen cascade of ice secured to the side of some granite off the base of Harney Peak. It intrigued me so much I Persuaded a few of my favorite people to join me on a quest to find it. Our very well educated, very capable crew set out on a lovely pre-spring morning with nearly as many dogs as we had humans. We stuck to the trail for the most … Read More

Immersing

The most wonderful thing has happened since I started working on the “Synthesis Series”. After immersing myself in a project that requires study of similarities and of texture, my studies in nature have shifted. I won’t say they have changed, as I am seeing and noticing the same things I was before, it’s just that now I see the lines connecting one relationship to another more clearly. This is a collection of photos I took over the weekend. I ventured out in a couple different directions and captured some sites along the way. Mostly it was an excuse to breath some fresh air, run my fingertips across some granite and clear my head. I am fortunate to live in a place which … Read More

Wild Cat/Community Caves

I decided to join the Black Hills Photography Club. An endeavor that is already paying off. Last Sunday a group of six of us (Dan, Deb, Richard, Rachel, Frankie, and I)  headed North to Spearfish Canyon where we proceeded to climb the treacherously icy trail to “Wild Cat Caves” (also know as Community Caves). The hike was short but certainly not a walk in the park. Freshly fallen snow and a layer of ice made the already rocky, super steep, hike rather hairy. I think its safe to say that no one escaped with out at least one slip or slide both on the way up and certainly not on the way down. The temps were in the single digest … Read More

Turning the Page…

The concept of New Years is somewhat lost on me. This idea that we are closing last year’s book and starting another. How am I supposed to end the book, when I’m smack dab in the middle of a story? I’d rather think of the end of the year event as more of a chance for analysis and review; a mile marker, a milestone, a checkpoint. A time when we look back and say, “Okay self, all that stuff that’s been going down, are we cool with that?  …Or should we make some adjustments to assure our future travels more smoothly.” I’m guessing if you’re spending any time asking yourself those questions you’re probably finding a few places to tweak. I’ve decided … Read More

Dancing with the Dipper- print for sale!

We chased some lights in the sky last night over South Dakota. We watched the Aurora expertly dance with the big dipper. I asked nicely for a meteor to fall in my frame, he pointed his finger at the sky and said “pew” and there it fell, just for me.

A Laura Boring Alice

I have a friend named Laura, some of you probably know her. As is an annual tradition, she celebrated her birth a while back. And, as is custom, I felt inclined to give her a present for completing her 365 day ride around the sun. I was driving across town and was struck with the stupidest idea ever… “I will make a graphic of Laura talking to Alice in wonderland. Alice will be less than amused with Laura… and it will be hilarious!” I scuttled to the office and 2 hour’s later I had created this masterpiece: … ok, masterpiece may be a little bit of an exaggeration. Literally, no-one got the joke immediately, but everyone had a hardy laugh once … Read More

Fort Bragg to San Fran

We stopped off for the night at a MacKerricher State Park – two miles north of Fort Bragg, California. I was intrigued by promise of a glass beach. We were delighted to discover that camp was so close to the beach and not only that, but there was a paved boardwalk from one to the other. Its been hard to convince Anna to get on the bikes, but she was pressuring me to go before I even had the jacks down on the camper. Eager to encourage her enthusiasm, I obliged and we got the bikes down and set off. I cant really say enough about how delightful that ride was. We had the Pacific Ocean on our right, the weather … Read More

Standing up Tall – Among Giants

When we last left off, we were headed south down the west coast to Southern Oregon. Since then, we have gone much farther. It’s been a whirlwind of activity – mostly stop and go, a couple nights here, a couple nights there, and never enough time to discover. As I look back on where we’ve been, there are these very simple connected moments that shine brighter than the rest. It’s not that it all hasn’t been amazing, but there’s been a few instances when our time together has been pure. The first of these happened at Sunset Bay State Park in southern Oregon. We were joined by my dear friend Todd, his long time friend Dan and Dan’s family. We went … Read More

Never say die!

It is very hard to invoke excitement from a 12 year old, especially when its something her mother thinks is cool. When we went through Astoria, she lit up. “This is where Goonies was filmed?!!” “Where is the house?!” – That was enough for me to go on a full blown adventure. The first time through town we were pulling the camper and stopping wasn’t an option so we reluctantly plowed through. We did stop at Fort Stevens though for the first official toes-in-ocean experience. There was a cool old ship wreck there and Anna actually giggled and smiled as the waves crashed into her. We drove pretty much straight to camp after that – I cooked us up some … Read More

Portland

As we left Portland the odometer clicked over 2,000 miles, and we celebrated somewhere next to the Columbia River. Now we are on our way to the Ocean. We had a lot of fun in Portland and bounced from friends to family – we climbed around on top of volcanoes and tried to keep our footing on sailboats. The one word I would use to describe Portland was ‘HOT!!!”. Unusually hot, and we weren’t the only ones who noticed. Everyone was suffering, even the flora and fauna. I heard rumbles that the water was so hot, the salmon weren’t making it through to the spawning grounds. All of this was an odd contrast to home, where we have way more … Read More

Idaho-no!

I am going to just have to get used to the fact that this trip isn’t going to go how I expected… not that I had any expectations, but the trip I imagined certainly didn’t involve dead batteries and camper problems right out of the shoot. Idaho was kind of overshadowed by troubles, which is unfair to Idaho, because it was beautiful. We had a wonderful guide, My friend Matt who I actually found a few years ago at a rest stop in Montana. I agreed to give him a ride to the Black Hills and here we were two years later, staying at his house. Matt showed us around Twin Falls which had lovely surprise places around every corner. … Read More

Day Three – 683 miles traveled – Yellowstone again

  We decide to venture into the madness that is Old Faithful Village on Sunday. We had tried to stop there on our tour the day before and quickly gave up due to the extreme number of people. After about 15 minutes of searching we were able to find a spot to park the truck. It wasn’t close, but it was shady, which was actually the more desirable of those two adjectives. We walked up with the masses lining the most notoriously consistent geyser and found a spot to sit while we waited. Our timing was impeccable and it erupted, as scheduled about 3 minutes after we had claimed our spots. The funny thing about this trip is the attention … Read More

Day One – 522 miles traveled – Rapid City to Yellowstone

The plan was, Wheels up at 7:30. Time to hit the road! … and we were right on schedule. Everything was packed up, hooked up and ready to go. I put the truck in drive and started down my (very steep) driveway with as much caution and tretrepidation as you would expect from a woman who was about to leave with her daughter for 30 plus days. We about two thirds of the way down the driveway when Aaron yelling “Stop, STOP STOP STOP! OH SHIT!!!” …Not the w0rds you want to hear at such a time. I put the truck in park, put on the e-break and got out to see that the nose one of the kayaks in … Read More

Ok, Here we go…

On the left, that’s Anna – She’s 12 On the right, this is me – I’m not 12 Anna is my daughter, and that would make me her mom. I’m a photographer, I love to be outside, in nature, and witnessing what goes on around us. Anna, well, I don’t know what Anna is yet – I suppose that’s because she is still figuring that out on her own. Together, we are about to set off on an adventure. A mother and daughter road trip, covering 5,000 miles and a dozen states. As her mom, this is a chance to hold onto a childhood that is fleeting while trying to plant a seed with the potential to grow her into … Read More

Oooh, those lights!

I mean, what is really expected of you when someone says “The Northern Nights are going to blow up tonight!”? You look to the north and see its clear and you just go! We’d actually just wrapped up another shoot and were headed back to town when the Aaron spoke the previously mentioned statement. The crew in the car consisted of Aaron, Amy, Anna (Tuesday) and me. We all mutually agreed that we didn’t really have a choice in the matter and the late night excursion was on. After a quick pit stop in Rapid we loaded up and headed north out of town. The faint whispers came early and at our first stop the slightest of formations could be … Read More

Free Falling

As is often the case when summer finally rolls around, life gets to moving at a pace in which I feel more like I am falling from day to day – moment to moment – than living with any actual intention and direction. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fast pace, but that also doesn’t mean its not nice to stop for a moment and just sit in a boat in the middle of a lake. A spontaneous Saturday night camping kicked off an equally random Sunday spent kayaking and ambling through the hills and beyond. It was the perfect “break”. It really is amazing what some birds, buffalo and a little rain can do… fresh air never hurt … Read More

Stunning Storm over Black Hawk

Caught a nice storm last night with Aaron Woodward.  He was able to track the storm from our phones and get us to the perfect spot to sit and watch for nearly an hour as it sat and spun above Black Hawk, South Dakota. Just outside of Rapid City.  I had a hunch it would be a good one to try to capture time-lapse but I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. I was able to makeshift a stand for my iPhone by using a hair tie to attach it to my tripod. I set it up and just let it roll for about an hour while we ran around and clicked and watched in awe. We weren’t … Read More