Logging Lake Backpacking

Grace Lake – Glacier National Park, Montana

I spent 4 days backpacking in Glacier National Park in early August, along with 2 high school classmates and one of their sons. This was my first backpacking trip in Glacier and I thought I’d share some of what I experienced along with (as usual) a few photographs. Our planned route totaled about 26 miles over 4 days, visiting 3 campsites along Logging Lake and Grace Lake in the North Fork area of the park. Logging Lake is one of the least crowded areas in the park and also one of the easier hikes with no extended climbing. Both were good reasons to choose this itinerary!

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Scouting in Grand Teton

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

I took the “long way” in July when I drove to my home in Montana so I could drive through Grand Teton and Yellowstone. I’ve been to Grand Teton a few times but never had a chance to photograph the mountains at sunrise – either because the weather was bad or because I wasn’t there first thing in the morning. On this trip I managed to get a campground reservation in the park which made it easy both to scout the area on the evening I arrived and get to my preferred location early the next day. I was also treated to some visitors while photographing the scene.

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Night Sky Planning

Hidden Lake – Glacier National Park, Montana

While presenting a recent night sky image to our photography club at work this week, I was asked a lot of questions about how to plan those kinds of shots. I hadn’t thought about it for a while, but there can be a lot that goes into it if you have a particular image in mind. My goal is often to try to line up something in the sky (usually the Milky Way) with a landscape scene. To make it work I need to figure out when those things will line up, when the sky will be dark enough to see the stars, and how much light will I want on the landscape, all while also keeping track of the weather and sometimes tides. In this post I will list some of the tools that I use and show how I used them to plan some recent images.

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The Great American Eclipse

Corvallis, Oregon (Kyle Jones)

Total Eclipse Sequence – Corvallis, Oregon (Kyle Jones)

Like many thousands of others, I decided to make the trek to a spot where I could see the total eclipse on Monday. My brave and patient wife Sandee agreed to join me on this adventure and I arranged to spend the weekend with my Aunt Kris in Eugene, Oregon – just 30 miles from the zone of totality. I kept a close eye on the traffic, weather (clear) and smoke from the nearby forest fires (variable) and decided that Corvallis was the place to go Monday morning. This allowed us to stay off of the interstate in case it became clogged with cars and would give us plenty of clear areas to view the sky.Continue reading

Behind the Shot – Cover Art for Steve Brockmann “3”

 (Kyle Jones)

I have been friends online with Steve Brockmann for over a decade. I have admired his work musically and he has supported my photography as well. Steve is a fantastic musician and I was excited to learn that he was putting together a new album. I want to say he’s a fantastic guitarist (because I love rock guitar), but he plays multiple instruments and doesn’t miss a beat on any of them. A few months ago he sent me a message asking if he could use one of my photographs as the cover art for his album “3”. We quickly worked out the details and I sent him the file, honored to be a part of the project. The album features 12 instrumental tracks written and performed by Steve, and I have been enjoying it immensely. “3” is slated for release on April 2 and you can check out some of the tracks (and maybe even make a purchase) here. For one low fee you get both Steve’s amazing music and one of my photos on the cover – how can you lose?Continue reading