Enjoying the magnificent gray whales in Magdalena Bay off the Pacific Ocean in Baja Sur was a most memorable week with National Geographic/Lindblad. We were on a small expedition boat, the Sea Lion and used zodiacs and pankas to view the whales "spy hopping" and surfing waves. We also enjoyed the bottlenose dolphins, many species of birds, oyster harvesting, hiking and beaches.

Enjoy a few photos capturing highlights of a fall driving trip to visit family and friends from a Wasatch Mountains, Utah sunset, to inside the Las Vegas Sphere, to California and Sunnylands (the Annenberg estate) in Palm Springs to Laguna Beach to a hike above Newport Beach's Back Bay to Los Angelos and the Getty Museum then the Ronald Reagan Museum in Simi Valley and onto Hearst Castle in San Simeon, elephant seal beach, then to the Monterey Peninsula and Pebble Beach with the iconic bird rock and finally up into Oregon with a stop in Cottage Grove to tour the wooden bridges.

Jerusalem and Bethlehem were the focus cities. Photos include the bazaar in the Old City, the Sepulchare, Mt. Scopus, outside the Wall, the famous Marc Chagall stained glass windows in the Hadassa hospital outside Jerusalem and the surreal Israel Museum with Dead Sea scrolls.

The capital Amman, on to Madaba, then photos include the Dead Sea, camels on the way to the holy site of Mt. Nebo, the famous archeological site of Petra and on to Jerash, a huge site of Greco-Roman ruins outside of Amman.

Clouds of all shapes sizes and in different lights and times of day are fascinating. What a pleasure when one finds a truly unique cloud or one bathed in sunset light.

Capturing huge waves crashing on cliffs in the winter season is exhilarating. Sunrises over the ocean are always a treat to see and capture.

November saw us aboard the Lindblad ship the Sea Quest with National Geographic guides exploring the islands and inland villages of Colombia and Panama. The trip began in the beautiful old city of Cartagena, CO and ended by going through the Panama Canal to Panama City. We visited Isolate, a densely populated small island, went into the interior to a village that makes gorgeous Panama hats and woven palm products, snorkeled in warm waters, hiked in mud and saw a multitude of wildlife. The lock system of the Panama Canal is truly an engineering marvel and going through at night was magical.

A new collection of Flora photographs taken more recently.

Members of our photography club attended a terrific workshop given by professional photographer Eddie Soloway at Big Sur in mid September. We worked with "chasing light", backlight, golden light and checking your histogram, movement, alternate perspectives, using a journal, aspects of focus, natural filters like shooting through grass, movement, aspects of landscapes, and more. We went to the Big Sur Bakery and I experimented with multiple exposures with the succulent flora.

An area in the southeast corner of the state of Washington is a unique agricultural area known as the Palouse. Hundreds of acres of the canola plant bloom a bright yellow in early June in the rolling hills interspersed with green chick pea fields and other crops. Amazingly, these fields have no overhead watering. The water table is only 8 feet down and the fields stay all shades of green and bright yellow during early summer. The dazzling yellow is contrasted with bright blue skies, farms and red barns.

What a diverse and unique country it is! My husband John and I took four grandchildren for a week of exploration in the Manuel Antonio Park area. We enjoyed a guided walk in the Park with many sightings of monkey, sloths, and reptiles. We spent hours at the resort's beach boogie boarding and reveling in the fantastic sunsets. Zip-lining through 18 stations across the rain forest canopy was a trip highlight.

Incredible photography driving through Croatia with stops at Plitvice National Park featouring hundreds of waterfalls and turquoise lakes, sunsets on the Adriatic Sea, then on to Mostar in Bosnia, Herzegovinia comprised the first part of the trip. Met up in Dubrovnik with fellow passengers to cruise the Dalmatian coast on the Sea Cloud sailing yacht. Stops on several Croatian islands, Montenegro, Albania, Ithica, Olympia, and disembarking 11 days later in Piraeus, Greece rounded out the group tour. Athens, and the islands of Mykonos, and Santorini provided superb photographic opportunities for the final leg of a most memorable trip.

What a diverse and fascinating country! From Sydney to Hobart to Melbourne to driving along the Great Ocean Hwy to sampling wine in McLaren Vale to Adelaide to Uluru to Cannes, to the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef to hiking in the Blue Mtns, the photographic opportunities were superb. The unique Australian wildlife was few and far between outside of conservation preserves, but seeing them up close was a treat never the less

The beauty, majesty and uniqueness of Utah’s Parks is hard to capture in photos. Each Park, National and State has it’s own character and sense of wonder. Here is a small sampling of images from Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion.

I really enjoy getting close into the interiors of flowers, highlighting the pistils and stamens, as well as capturing a panoramic of fall color or a garden. Photographing macro or landscape in all seasons is truly a joy.

Just east of downtown Twin Falls, in central Idaho, the majestic Shoshone Falls roar mightily after a heavy snow season. The heavy mist is a rainfall just like Niagra in upstate New York, Victoria in Zimbabwe, or Iguazu on the border of Argentina and Brazil.

May 2016. An unforgettable 20 day exploration of the South and North Islands included trekking with friends on the Milford Track, helicoptering to the Franz Josef Glacier, trekking in Abel Tasman Park and the Tongariro Crossing, viewing the spectacularly colored sulpher pools around Rotarua and enjoying the Bay of Islands by boat at the top of the North Island.

September 2016. Members of our Sun Valley Photography Club spent 3 days in Southern Idaho at this world famous rock climbing venue. Wallace Keck, the park administrator, spearheaded our photographic journey of magnificent scenery, farm objects, sunsets and sunrises, and rock climbers.

September 2016 in Sun Valley, Idaho and Environs
We shot from sunup to sundown in rain, mist and sunny skies with photo presentations and Lightroom and Bridge editing instruction in the afternoons. We set up our cameras on tripods and worked with various settings and using neutral density filters. Images are from various locations north of Ketchum, Sun Valley, and Silver Creek.

November 2016. If you have ever been to this spot on the globe, you know that a camera simply begs to have its shutter snapped at every new vantage point. These are among my best at this magnificent natural wonder.

Taking advantage of excellent lighting conditions is the goal of most any photographic experience, but these photos are exceptional examples of truly amazing lighting.

Animals are amazing and beautiful. I've tried to capture that amazing beauty from the plains of Africa to the pond in my backyard. Come take a look.

The lakes of Idaho have long been a source inspiration to me, and hence, provide frequent subject matter for my photographic work.