Yellowstone is always good for tasty timelapse, and this one from Christopher Cauble renders the wonders of the oldest National Park in new ways. Then again, maybe it's the music. See, and hear, for yourself.
* * * The Sunday Morning Chillax? Here's the idea. It's Sunday. You're up early. You're enjoying a cup of coffee in the quiet morning while your kids sleep in. No need to read, this is always a video; something to give you happy thoughts about mountains, fresh air, stoke, fun, or being outside. Enjoy. Relax. Not guaranteed to be weekly . . . hey, you get what you pay for.
Place a wager for best description of a desert rain on chapter twelve of Barbara Kingsolver's book The Bean Trees and there's a good chance you'd win. She crescendos over the course of some 800 words just to build up to her description of the subtle and therefore easily dismissed scent that rises in the air before a desert summer rain. It's a remarkable and realistic chapter. So why would I bother writing about it?
Last school year, we hosted and became family with a 16-year old girl from Ukraine who wanted nothing more than to see Grand Canyon. I've written about her a few times already, but because this website increasingly gets more readers every day (and we're grateful for it), I feel like I need to preface this properly. Her name is Ania and she lived with us for almost a year (more). Today, Ania attends a university in Lithuania studying English and business. During her spring semester here, she took a guitar class and a photography class. Truthfully, she taught me a lot about photography. And I taught tried to teach her how to rock a C7 chord, but she resisted trimming her fingernails.
Photography class started with the history of image making, so it was weeks before she came home with a pinhole camera and a project to shoot. When the class moved on to 35mm cameras . . .
It's just not likely that I have the words available to me that would convince you to click play. So just click play.
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The Sunday Morning Chillax is just a weekly series, always a video, always on Sunday morning. Even though my wife's friends don't like it all that much, it's just here to give you happy thoughts about mountains, fresh air, good views, stoke and fun as you take in the week's most relaxing morning. Enjoy. Relax. Come back every week for more.
The internet being what it is, it's now more and more difficult to find a wilderness timelapse video that delights and charms as much Journey through Canyons by Victor Novikov. He didn't just shoot beautifully varied and diverse scenes, but each one is also just short enough that it leaves you wanting more. Bravo. And then there's the music . . .
My 4 year old daughter usurped my longest piece of climbing gear. It's a 30-foot piece of bright yellow tubular webbing that I used quite frequently for building anchors until I dedicated it to slacklining. But I have to admit rock climbing is one of the pursuits that I've accidentally abandoned, so I should be happy to see my little girl playing with my near-forgotten gear, tying it to the back of a hat, putting it on her head, and hearing her declare, "I'm Rapunzel, Papa! Pretend you're stuck. I'll save you!" Brooke and I used to spend more than one weekend a month climbing - er, more like hang dogging - somewhere. Climbing is a drug and you're easily addicted. Even though I haven't been in a long time, I will always enjoy the photography and stories . . .
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival could be coming to your town pretty soon. There's a good chance, too, that you and your family will love it. This is a touring version of the much larger festival that was held in California earlier this year that promised, and delivered, a beautiful selection of inspiring images and moving narratives promoting the protection of wild places. That's a cause we can all get behind.
It's not too frequent that I take a fellas-only trip, and that's either a bummer or something my doctor would applaud. For instance, three days of living on hotdogs, cheeze puffs, and mediocre-at-best canned light beer (vented wide mouth!) doesn't do a body good. I'm not letting out any deep secrets about trips with the boys. That's the menu - likely all across the land, give or take an ingredient. Everyone knows it's an unusual dude who cooks in favor of nutritional value, balance, and class when there are no lovely blondes, brunettes, or red heads nearby to impress.
Put your hands together for Brad Garland. His photo taken from Alstrom Point on Lake Powell brought in the most votes this week (click here to see the other entires). Brad worked hard for this photo. He ferried his son and two buds to a trailhead at Paria Canyon, then spent four days doing a solo exploration of the area until the threesome would finish their backpacking trip. A winter storm settled in with brutal winds of 60 mph, freezing temperatures, and a touch of snow. He hunkered down in the comfort of his King Kamper trailer, probably gave a thought to his son and his friends with something like, "poor fellas are gonna be miserable tonight, sucks to be them!", and woke up the next day to get this shot and many others.
I received a few emails this week about these photos, not just Brad's. Of all of them, this one really sends the message as to why Brad's photo won:
"I admit that I'm biased towards photo #1, though. Growing up, our family spent a lot of time camping at Lake Powell . . . I remember one particular trip where a rental boat pulled up about a 100 yards from our camp and the operators wrestled out several cameras, cases, and tripods to take photos of the butte. At the time, that was just the scenery we camped in, but now, looking back, it's like, 'Holy crap! That's the scenery we camped in!'" - Craig
Somehow, he managed to strike a chord with most hearts out there. Brad gets a $50 gift card to REI.
If there's one thing I want you to take away from this website, it's that you should not underestimate my appreciation for photography of the natural world. Because this week brings us John Muir's birthday (the 21st) and Earth Day (the 22nd) I figured this to be a good time to feature some superb photos taken right here on planet Earth.
I've selected three lensmen whom I admire for their skill with the camera and their dedication to seeking out extraordinary light and subjects, a pursuit that does not come easy or without sacrifice. To tie it together, planet Earth is a pretty cool place and these guys do a bang up job taking photos of it. Each one of them shares a photograph with you right here, and I want you to tell me which one you like the best. Just because I think that'll be kind of fun to hear what you have to say.
So it's up to you now, good reader. Which one of these pictures is your favorite?
On Friday April 22, I'll check the results for the photo that earned the most votes, and the responsible photographer will get a $50 award, and you can download the winning photo as a wallpaper.
Not a week goes by that I don't get an email from someone asking about photography. Shamefully, it's a difficult task to coach people on photo tips with the written word as my only tool. It's even more awkward when I'm asked, "What kind of camera do you have?" because it feels like that's someone's way of digging to the depths to find the treasure of nabbing some great photos. And what I end up doing is saying something like, "I shoot with a Canon 5D, not the Mark II, but an obsolete version that few would be willing to accept for free. But here's what really helps me . . ." and they get some version of the following.
The web isn't short of photo tips, so why should I bother? Because I feel that it's only polite to answer the questions. And I didn't invent the following tricks, someone taught them to me. Learning together is what this website is all about. So without any more fuss, these are three photo tips out of like 5,000 that I think are pretty helpful when it comes to snapping shots of the kids outside.
As Colton says of his work here, "Camping every night, smelling like the animals we are, we came back with a handful of photos and a timelapase video that I hope you all will enjoy. I tell you, though; the beauty you see through your own two eyes is still untouchable. That is why we travel and explore to these magical places.Let pictures and videos of these magical places be inspiration to go there."
I don't know. What's worse torture for your camera? Under the tire of a truck, or in the hands of a 7 year-old boy? Dirt encrusted on his cheeks, grass stains on one knee, a full-blown rip in the other. Back away from my camera, kid.
Look, I know you don't want to pony up 80 bucks for a little tripod, but let me explain. These days it's increasingly difficult to sort out when you're just paying for panache or scoring something that actually solves a problem. I've been around the block with small backpack-worthy tripods. I tried in vain to make work not one, not two, but three different $10 mini-tripods over the years. Guess what? They all drove me nuts. Should I say more? Is it all that surprising that low-priced mediocre gear turned out to be a disappointment? Doubtful.
I kept trying, though. Ten bucks here, ten bucks there, all the while claiming, "All I want is a little tripod to take the occasional self portrait while we're on a hike or something."
Save yourself the grief, take a ride on my experience, and just get a Joby Gorillapod. I know, it looks like a silly gimmick, but it's far from it.
On Friday, and hitting me like a beautiful Steinway piano falling from the sky right on my head, KC O'Connor posted a little nugget of gold on his tumblr blog.
"To understand the west," the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Wallace Stegner wrote, "you have to get over the color green." Combined with O'Connor's photo from Monument Valley - which was all red and vermillion and sand and flame and whatever hovered by a blue, cloudy sky brewing up a (tent-throwing) storm - the craft that is the O'Connor-and-Stegner tumblr post sat on my shoulder all day long, tapping its foot.
Beauty is everywhere, especially in the American west, I think Stegner is saying. The Daily Desert project is a week-long hat tip to these gents, a "thank you for reminding me, fellas." Exploring and traveling the places with open air, fascination, culture, and living things is just one little reason why I like going outside and taking my family with me.
I don't think the other reasons have words.
Enjoy the Daily Desert. Come back every day, it'll be here all week. If you need to get in the mood, here are the inaugural posts:
On Friday, and hitting me like a beautiful Steinway piano falling from the sky right on my head, KC O'Connor posted a little 
