10 best of 2014

Last year due to crazy busy holidays I didn’t have a chance to post a 10 best photos of 2014. It was an amazing year. Top honors goes to this photo I captured at the Maroon Bells of lightning striking the peak during my road trip to Colorado in the fall.

I also did some night photography up in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. My favorite shot being this self portrait.

I found the Sneffels Range in Colorado to be absolutely spectacular. Here a storm was raining ice pellets in the late afternoon. The lower elevation aspens were just starting to show signs of changing while the upper elevations were brilliant gold. I found this quality of light to be superb.

In July I went up to the 97 switchbacks again with some new friends to re-capture them at night, this time with digital cameras. Instead of one long exposure on film, these are done with multiple 30 second exposures, which are added together in processing.

While on that expedition, we were greeted by a morning thunderstorm that broke just at sunrise. Here the storm is parting over Mount Muir.

I have always been fascinated by trees that stick out from their surroundings. In the valley of the Maroon Bells this group of aspens struck me from across the valley.

On the subject of aspens, they are among my favorite trees. I have sought for a long time to find a dense aspen forest. In Kebler Pass in Colorado, I finally found one.

At long last I got to visit the spectacular Oregon Coast.

While visiting Lassen Volcanic National Park, I came across this scene at sunrise. I loved the color reflecting off of the fog and through the the thin clouds above.

Finally, I close out the top 10 with this remarkable forest, also in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Tree after tree was covered in brilliant green lichen, enriched by wet, overcast conditions.