Goodbye to the Golden State

If you follow me on social media, you will have already heard this by now. My wife Jes and I are leaving this beautiful state of California at the end of this week. The past year and a half that we've spent here have been filled with unbelievable moments and the people we've grown to know and love here will be friends for life. While this may mark an end to us being here, it creates a new beginning for us. Jes will be pursuing her passion in art, working as art director at a local non-profit art gallery and I will be pursuing my dream of working full time as a fine art landscape photographer. 

Daydreaming - McWay Falls, CA

Coming to Peace - Death Valley National Park, CA

The support we've had from all of you who have purchased my work, given me praise, or even silently read through my posts are what have led us to this point in our lives - and I thank you. Without you all, this would not have been possible.

With that, I am going to be traveling extensively. I have several projects I'm going to begin working on based out in the Great Plains as soon as I arrive next week. From there, I will be headed into Colorado, the desert southwest, and back to California sometime this coming winter. 

Surfer's Delight - Shell Beach, CA

California is somewhat of a dream location as a landscape photographer, with diverse landscapes all at your fingertips. Having a full time job, it's a perfect place to be - hit the beach after work for a nice sunset or maybe wander out in the dunes before work. Now that I have the freedom to be wherever I need to be with no time constraints, there's no better option than to be in the center of the country. I plan on coming back to CA at least twice a year, but I look forward to seeing new landscapes and living in the place I consider my photographic home - the Great Plains. 

While this may be goodbye to this place, it's all just the beginning for us. Big things are coming, and a ton of film is about to be exposed. I have much more work I've created while in California that will be released progressively throughout the year and more and more new work will be on its way. Keep a look out on my social media for behind the scenes photos and subscribe to my newsletter for other news.

Your Contribution

New Release! Tranquil Tides - Big Sur, California

This image has been waiting to be released for quite a while. I found this vantage point almost a year ago now returned about five times waiting for the light to be just right. I exposed this image late last summer as a rare summer storm was about to hit the cliffs of Big Sur. As the storm moved in, about fifteen minutes after the sun had set, the clouds erupted in a bizarre purple hue unlike I had ever seen in this particular location. I only had time to expose one sheet of film for  a 2 minute exposure before the light had changed and the color was gone. On the way home that evening, lightning was hitting the sides of the cliffs. Coming from Kansas, close encounters with lightning doesn't seem to be that big of a deal, but in Big Sur...or really anywhere in California, that's some big news. Talk about a crazy night!

I also had help on this particular evening. Thanks, Charlie. 

This was also the first 8x10 image I have had professionally drum scanned on an Aztek drum scanner. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is essentially the highest quality digitally converted image you can get. To give you an idea of just how detailed this photograph is, below is a 100% crop of this image.

Yes, that's a house, and yes, we are all quite envious of this individual's back yard. But the point is, this is a single exposed image and I can almost bet none of you can find where this house is in the full sized image. With that being said, this image can be printed with incredible detail and clarity up to 48x60". Pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Because this was my first drum scan, I thought I'd go ahead and get it printed and framed as well, so a couple of months ago, I received the first edition, framed by my friend David at Saw and Mitre.

Here is the first edition. It's printed 24x30" on photographic paper and finished off with a beautiful walnut frame. When this image is hung, it really brings a sense of peace to the room. If you'd like this exact image (#1/90) framed as shown above, click the button below to add it to your cart!

If you'd like to purchase this image in a different size, follow the button below.

An Evening at McWay Falls

McWay Falls is located in a pristine cove on California's Big Sur coastline. In fact, it's one of Big Sur's main attractions, where hundreds -- if not thousands, of tourists gather each day to watch the spring-fed falls cascade into the ocean below. Typically, I don't enjoy photographing along a rail, especially among crowds of people, but this was a scene I really wanted to witness and photograph. On this particular evening, the sky was clear with a slight haze in the distance, which ended up working out better than I had thought. I exposed two sheets about 45 minutes before sunset to test the exposure latitude of two types of film, and my second two sheets I exposed as the sun barely started to touch the horizon. My positive film ended up being thrown away, as sometime during the 15 second exposure, the camera must have shaken slightly. This is the negative film, exposed for the shadows with no graduated neutral density filter, which definitely shows how much dynamic range Kodak Ektar can capture

It's definitely a beautiful location, and I hope to return again when the flowers are in bloom and the sky blows up. We can all dream, right?

Technical specs:

• Camera: Ebony 4x5
• Lens: Nikkor 90mm f/4.5
• Exposure: 15 Seconds
• Aperture: f/32
• Film: Kodak Ektar 100