Alaska is stunning.  And it is huge.  Everything is on a scale that is hard to imagine.  Wrangell-St Elias National Park is the largest park in the system and we barely scraped the surface on our visit.  We were in awe of the size and shape of the mountains all around the park. Rainy got this shot on our bush plane flight into McCarthy and she said it was begging to be shared in black and white.  We’re certain you’ll agree. 

During our visit to Bryce Canyon, we hiked down, up, and around the canyon.  Thor’s Hammer is one of the iconic hoodoos, but Rainy’s vision for this was to capture it just as the rising sun was peeking through the canyon.  We awoke before the sun, hiked down in the dark, and waited.  She captured the perfect starburst on the sun just as it appeared through a notch in the rocks.  Wow!

When Rainy left for her Yellowstone winter photography tour, she had one picture in mind – capturing a great shot of a fox.  These critters are rare and difficult to get close to.  And if you’re not ready when that amazing picture presents itself, you’re often left with a nice wildlife picture instead of the award winner.  She calls this one “Stone Cold Fox” and I’d say she hit the nail on the head.

Rocky Mountain National Park is teeming with wildlife.  On a hike returning from Emerald Lake, several female elk appeared out of the bush onto our trail maybe 20 feet from us.  They were as startled as we were.  In the nanosecond of discovery, Rainy turned to me, but I had already scaled 10 feet up some nearby rocks.  Fortunately the elk moved away from us down the path into a small meadow.  Soon this guy broke through and claimed his harem.  Rainy got dozens of amazing pictures including this one which looks a lot like the logo for a well known insurance company.  I may have lost points as the family defender, but we gained one of our favorite photos.  Impressive on all counts.

We were mesmerized by Mt Rainier.  How many pictures can you take of a mountain?  There were so many different views, each majestic in their own way.  Some people travel to the park and never get a clear shot of the mountain.  We were lucky to have several crystal clear days.  And a lesson we learned was if the wind wasn’t blowing, get a reflection picture while you can.  We were on our way to a hike one morning and saw this view and just had to stop.  Glad we did because it was choppy when we returned in the afternoon.

We had been travelling throughout Big Bend NP for a couple days and had seen a lot of cacti(?).  We were on our way out of the park and Rainy wanted to get pictures of a tarantula and of a purple cactus.  We didn’t spot one of the furry spiders, but Rainy spied this outgrowth about 50 feet off the road.  She had me pull over and spent a good 15 minutes getting the shot just right.  Clearly, she knows her stuff.  And we’re still hunting for the tarantula.

In our exploration of Theodore Roosevelt NP, we hiked many miles in hopes of seeing and photographing bison in their natural environment.  You wouldn’t know it, but Rainy took this great shot from the safety of our vehicle, zooming in to capture the majesty of this amazing animal.  Throw in some talented editing and voila!

We drove up to Glacier Point in Yosemite in the afternoon and Rainy knew the sunset would be spectacular.  So we waited.  And waited.  And this was the result.  To this day, it’s one of our favorite photos and proudly sits as the header to our site.

The Bass Harbor Light Head is probably Acadia’s most photographed icon.  Despite several dozen other photo seekers, we found a vantage point allowing Rainy to capture the fading light with no one else in the picture and a clear shot of the lighthouse.

Rainy’s trip to Geographic Harbor on Kodiak Island was focused on getting up close photos of Kodiak Bears.  And yes, this is as close as it looks.  She was less than 20 feet away when this guy decided that the group of photographers was almost as interesting as the salmon he was hunting.   Capturing a great shot like this means you must be patient and wait for that instant when your subject looks perfect.  FYI, their guide made sure they were safe.

Getting amazing photos sometimes means waking up super early.  Dawn at Great Smoky Mountains meant mealtime for this herd of elk.  The fog made for an eerie sight, but a fantastic photo.  Moments after this photo, this stud demonstrated his bugling prowess.  Impressive.

Throughout Rainy’s week in Geographic Harbor, she went to great lengths to get a shot of a puffin.  They’re not the most cooperative subjects.  Nesting pictures weren’t that great, but eventually, she nailed this one.  Getting an action picture this sharp takes great equipment and extraordinary skill.

The night skies on Channel Islands are great, but most of the vistas lacked compelling landscape to anchor the photo.  We had seen this old windmill on an earlier hike and thought it would make an interesting night sky picture.  We added a brush of red light from one of our headlamps and this was the result.  Pretty cool.