Landscapes of the Western U.S.

My favorite landscapes of the western United States, including the Shasta-Cascade, the mountains and foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, and California's Central Valley.

Frosty Trees in Winter Fog on Three Brothers
Fog and mist swirled around Yosemite's majestic granite peaks the morning after a dusting of fresh snow providing a mood of ethereal drama that is my favorite to photograph. Diffuse sunlight occasionally broke through the clouds to reveal the warm tones of Three Brothers as I attempted to capture a sense of scale with the trees growing out of the rock in a series of long focal length images. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Tiny Trees in Winter Fog, Three Brothers
Yosemite Valley is magical the morning after a dusting of new snow. Fog and mist swirled around her majestic granite peaks providing a mood of ethereal drama that is my favorite to photograph. Diffuse sunlight occasionally broke through the clouds to reveal the warm tones of Three Brothers and just the slightest hint of blue sky as I attempted to capture a sense of scale with the trees growing out of the rock. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Mount Shasta Winter Snowstorm
Mount Shasta put on quite a show at sunrise on the banks of Lake Siskiyou. The cold wind was quite fierce even at the water level, causing massive amounts of snow to be kicked up at the peak of the summit, just as an interesting cloud caught the morning light at the treeline. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Mount Shasta Winter Drama
Fierce winter winds at the summit of Mount Shasta caused massive amounts of snow to be kicked up at her peak at the same time as dark, low lying clouds built up at her base. The drama of the clouds and the morning sunlight that illuminated the textures of her eastern slope was perfect for a long focal length to capture Shasta’s stormy mood this particular morning. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Wild Goose Overlook Monochrome
Late afternoon sunbeams breaking through the clouds at the iconic view of Wild Goose Overlook above Saint Mary Lake in Glacier NP processed in monochrome to accentuate the play of light, water and rock. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Wizard Island Misty Morning, Crater Lake NP
I’ve often heard stories from visitors to Crater Lake National Park that they arrive and the lake is completely socked in with dense fog with no view whatsoever of the water or of iconic Wizard Island. It certainly was foggy when my husband and I set out this particular morning for sunrise, and the more popular overlooks were completely socked in with zero visibility. We found a small pullout at a lower elevation and just waited it out for the misty atmosphere to be burned off by the rising sun, for which we were rewarded with a beautiful warm/cool color combination. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Crater Lake Burning Fog
Misty atmosphere being burned off by the rising sun overlooking Crater Lake and Wizard Island on a foggy summer morning. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Cascade Foothills Sunbeams
I arrived to photograph sunset over Crater Lake but found heavy cloud cover and very flat light over the direction of the water. But right across the road, mother nature was putting on quite the light show with sunrays filtering through the clouds and casting beams on the layers of hills that make up the Cascade Range. I hate to admit it, but this truly was a “parking lot” shot! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Lassen Peak Sunrise Mist
June experienced unusually cold and wet weather in Lassen Volcanic National Park which resulted in beautiful clearing mist conditions on the surface of Manzanita Lake as the sun rose and illuminated Lassen Peak’s snowy summit. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Sleeping Giants
During a short stay in Denver, I decided to visit nearby Roxborough State Park at sunrise to see the dramatic red rock formations jutting out of the ground. High altitude clouds built up to the east lending a diffuse, soft light over the landscape that brought out the subtle textures of the rocks, bare oak thickets and ponderosa pines. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
East Bay Sunshine
The morning sun casting a warm glow on the spring green hills of Contra Costa County in the East Bay. I’ve really been loving the shots with the drone, especially to capture the rolling hills of Northern California in the springtime! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Windows Desktop 2022
I set out early in the morning to photograph my favorite mustard field at the base of the Sutter Buttes at sunrise only to find it plowed under, but taking the drone up at sunrise to capture long shadows and golden morning light saved the day! The green hills in California in March resemble a Windows desktop picture. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Bridalveil Falls and Cathedral Rocks Spotlit, Tunnel View
When the weather forecast looked promising for some snow flurries and clearing storm light, I convinced my husband to do a quick one night trip to the Valley, where we even scored a coveted camping spot right in the park. It’s been a mostly dry winter in California, with the exception of an atmospheric river event in December that dumped all our winter snow at once. My schedule didn’t allow me to get out and photograph that, though, and as the dry months dragged on, I didn’t think I’d get the opportunity for any photography of wintery scenes. Even though the snow on the Valley floor was mostly gone when we arrived, Tunnel View put on quite a show of swirling clouds that occasionally allowed the setting sun to peek through and spotlight the Valley’s iconic peaks. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Yosemite Falls Aerial View
Witnessing Yosemite Valley from aboard a tiny Cessna 206 with the doors off was an opportunity too good to pass up, and allowed us to see the park’s familiar granite icons from a whole new perspective, including all sides of “Half Dome” which doesn’t resemble a dome from the air at all! Dense haze in the Valley from prescribed Forest Service burns lent an unexpected soft diffuseness over the landscape. A shoutout to Yosemite Flights in Groveland for an amazing experience not soon forgotten!! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Aerial View of Firefall Phenomenon, 2022
I didn’t have any intentions of photographing Yosemite’s famed firefall phenomenon again this year; atmospheric river events in December blissfully dumped snow on the Sierra in December, but weather was completely bone dry in January and February, and one of the key ingredients of a good firefall is ample water flow. But when we got the opportunity to witness Yosemite Valley from the air aboard a tiny Cessna 206 with the doors off, it was too good to pass up, even if it wasn’t an epic firefall year! Dense haze in the Valley from prescribed Forest Service burns lent an unexpected soft diffuseness over the landscape, but witnessing Yosemite’s familiar granite icons from a whole new perspective was an experience not soon forgotten!! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Half Dome in Afternoon Light, Aerial View
One of the most recognizable rock features in the park, Half Dome's appearance as a perfect round shape cut in half is an illusion seen from the Valley floor. From the air, it's an elongated angular wedge, and I couldn't resist clicking the shutter from this angle of one of it's smooth sides bathed in late afternoon sunlight and smoke particulate in the atmosphere catching the setting sun's last rays of the day. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Half Dome and El Cap Smoky Sunset, Aerial View
Half Dome in the foreground and El Capitan in the background as seen from aboard a tiny Cessna 206 with the doors off in chilly sub-freezing temperatures. Nearby prescribed Forest Service burns outside the park boundary resulted in smoke haze settling into Yosemite Valley that lent an unexpected soft diffuseness over the landscape catching the last rays of the setting sun. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Smoky Atmosphere, Half Dome
Witnessing Yosemite Valley from aboard a tiny Cessna 206 with the doors off was an opportunity too good to pass up, and allowed us to see the park’s familiar granite icons from a whole new perspective, including all sides of “Half Dome” which doesn’t resemble a dome from the air at all! Dense haze in the Valley from prescribed Forest Service burns lent an unexpected soft diffuseness over the landscape. A shoutout to Yosemite Flights in Groveland for an amazing experience not soon forgotten!! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Blacktail Ponds Sunrise
Weather in the Tetons was unusually hot, clear and sunny during my stay there, but on this one morning, I witnessed the most beautiful sunrise whose colors were reflected in the meandering creeks that are an offshoot of the Snake River. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Mono Lake Spring Clouds
What was intended to be an astrophotography focused camping trip was thwarted by intermittent stormy weather in the eastern Sierra this weekend, but that just left more time for exploring four wheel drive dirt backroads and enjoying spectacular sunrises such as this. This section of shoreline just west of South Tufa on Mono Lake had colorful dense foliage that I liked using as a foreground element. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Impending Storm, Mono Lake
What was intended to an astrophotography focused camping trip with clear skies instead turned into variable and wet weather. Using the telephoto to isolate interesting bands of light and dark over Mono Lake, I processed as a high contrast, monochrome image to bring out the drama and dark mood of this scene. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Half Dome Sunrise and Pink Dogwood
Not the most personally expressive photograph in the world; in fact, I call this a “postcard shot” as it resembles an image you’d find in the Yosemite gift shop printed on a plastic shopping bag, but that’s OK! Sometimes getting those wide angle, “captain obvious” shots are just fun, and quite honestly, this is a composition I’ve been wanting to get for some time now. I just haven’t timed my May trips to the park in years past to capture it. Visiting the dogwoods in the park is always such a treat, and despite clear, dry, sunny weather, there was never a shortage of unique, intimate landscapes to capture that I’m excited to process! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Pink Dogwood and Half Dome
This is a composition I’ve been wanting to get for some time now. I just haven’t timed my May trips to the park in years past to capture it. Visiting the dogwoods in the park is always such a treat, and despite clear, dry, sunny weather, there was never a shortage of unique, intimate landscapes to capture that I’m excited to process! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
El Cap and Dogwoods
A peaceful morning spent visiting the dogwoods in bloom along the Merced River as early morning sunlight hit the face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Cathedral Peaks Winter Monochrome
Getting older means an increasing frequency of insomnia, and this morning, wide awake at 3am, I found myself looking through the Ansel Adams Gallery website on my phone admiring the drama and grandeur he conveyed in his images with atmospheric conditions and nearly black skies. I processed this one later the same day after work, completely forgetting my earlier maniacal insomnia episode, but I must’ve been subliminally inspired as I rarely ever process images in monochrome. I may keep working this one but I quite like it, especially as it’s a fond memory of the one wintery day I experienced in Yosemite Valley this year. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com