Terra Galleria Photography

Posts Tagged ‘nature’

Steps Behind the Image: Whitmore Canyon Overlook

This is the first of a possible series of posts where I explain the multiple steps and thought process that led me from initial impression to final image. At Whitmore Canyon Overlook, you face huge cliffs rising in front of you, rather than below you, like at most other Grand Canyon overlooks. My visit was […]

The Forgotten Rim of the Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon’s North Rim receives nine times fewer visitors than its South Rim. To the west, the awesome Toropweap overlook (described here) is seen by considerably fewer. However, no matter how little traffic Toroweeps gets, it still dwarfs that of the rim points further west, the subject of this post. The northwestern rim Grand […]

The White Pocket

The Coyote Buttes are the most sought after area of Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, and as such are subject to quotas and permits. If you didn’t win one, a great alternative is to visit the White Pocket, which for now does not require a permit despite being in my opinion equally impressive and otherworldly. Previously […]

The Third Wave

In 2001, 18 years ago, even though it was a cold and rainy day in the middle of winter, there was already some competition to visit the Wave in then recently designed Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. And on such a day, my wife and I were surprised to be asked for our permits on site, […]

San Juan Islands: Lopez Island

Part 3 of 3: 1 | 2 | 3 Although the closest from the mainland by ferry, Lopez Island, the third-largest of the San Juan Islands, is the most rural and laid back of the three major islands. In a place where coastal access is limited by property rights, Lopez Island has quite a few […]

Off the Beaten Path in Petrified Forest National Park’s North Wilderness

Petrified Forest National Park at first doesn’t appear to be prime hiking territory since the park features relatively short trails that lead to areas of concentrated petrified wood. Because of the open terrain in many of them, it can be difficult to exclude other people from your photos. However, if you are willing to venture […]

Photographing Oak Flat and Warner Point Trails in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

A few weeks ago, when I drove out of Montrose, Colorado, on the way to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, a sign warned of winter conditions. I wondered what that meant, but quickly found out as the nighttime temperatures dropped to the upper tens. The next day turned out cold and mostly cloudy. […]

Hanford Reach National Monument: From the Bomb to Nature Refuge

Hanford Reach could the national monument with the most unusual history of all. Its lands, located in Eastern Washington, were initially set apart from development not for conservation, but as a security buffer zone for the top-secret Hanford Nuclear Reservation where the plutonium for the Nagasaki bomb – and many others during the Cold War […]

Twice the Same River: Photographing Tinkers Creek Gorge, Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Observing natural changes is a rewarding aspect of revisiting a place, as I did for the Tinkers Creek Gorge of Cuyahoga National Park – obscure and far from California. The water flow fluctuated, and you can see in this post which conditions worked best for each scene and how I adjusted my composition in response […]

Photographing Wet Places in a Dry Land, Mammoth Cave National Park

Mammoth Cave National Park is generally a dry place. I explore a few out-of-the-way watery places within the park, while discussing some of the compositional strategies I used in those relatively plain scenes. Sloan’s Crossing Pond Water has made the longest cave in the world. The karst landscape of Mammoth Cave National Park is characterized […]