When I had a chance to revisit the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park in Tasmania I spent four days walking the trail from the Lyell Highway to Frenchmans Cap. The walk is rated a more difficult trail and the initial hardship filter is 6 kilometer slog through ankle to knee deep mud across the Loddon Plains. This photo is me in full Goretex rain gear on the mud walk section. Rain fell everyday on the trail.
From the sodden Lodden's you climb through extrodinary temperate rainforest around Lake Vera and Lake Tahune. Melanie and I arrived at the summit in a zero visibility cloud, but a 100 meters below the
Wilson's Promontory National Park is a few hours drive from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It's a place I have heard of and read about so when we were in the area recently I knew we had to stop by for a look. The wave worn granite we discovered in the park was an unexpected surprise. We spent half a day exploring the rocks, beaches and trails. On the next visit we'll plan a multi-day hike. Our favorite place on Wilson's Prom was the walk out to Sandy Point. Melanie had a camera as well and got some photos of me out photographing.
Doing some low tide exploration and crab chasing in Waratah Bay, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.
Besides the Sydney Harbour and beaches Sydney's green belt of National Parks is it's best natural asset. The two Sydney area National Parks I've visited the most since I've been here is Lane Cove and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Parks.
Melanie crossing the rocks in Lords Creek
On the hottest day yet this summer, a sweltering 35c, Melanie and I decide to do a longish hike of around 25 kilometers in one of the nearby city parks.We considered the coast walk in Royal National Park, but
I am off to the U.S. for a few weeks. My first stop is National Geographic Magazine in D.C. It's always nice to check in with my editors and others whom I work with at National Geographic. The visit is also an opportunity to reconnect, say hello as well as show some of the photography stories and projects I'vebeen involved in recently. They're a few stories to tell so I've put together a "show and tell" from the
Part of what drives my photography are those opportunities to wake up to a new morning in an incredible landscape. This photo was made after finishing a long shoot in California. I was driving home to Colorado and needed a place to sleep for the night. The Ibex dry lake bed in Western Utah was the place I selected and this is where I woke up the next morning. If htere's a photography lesson here it's always chose a camp with a good view and bring your camera.
In Canada the Inuit have many names for snow. I suspect in the Empty Quarter of Oman the Bedouin have a hundred names for sand and the different types of sand. This desert seems to have every texture and shape. It's certainly a place I will have to return, but not in March when the day temps are in the low 40s c. That's around 104 degrees fahrenheit, but it's a dry heat.
Australia has a well deserved reputation for vicious and poisonous creatures. While I was walking on the Cape to Cape track on Cape Naturaliste I came across this little guy, the Western blue-tongued lizard actually he's really a skink.
I am happy to report this species has no teeth and is non-poisonous, but I still wouldn't try to pet him. This one had a bad attitude and didn't enjoy the attention of a photographer.
December 07, 2011
If I were an elf this is a place I could call home, Boranup Forest, Western Australia.
I am working on a story about adventuring in Canyonlands. I was looking for an opening spead shot that kind of says it all about this amazing park. I didn't need to look further than Mesa Arch at sunrise. I got there before the photo crowds and despite the evening rain the morning was clear and sunny. You gotta like that.
This was a photo I made last year hiking on a track above the Fox Glacier in Westland National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand. From the coastal plain looking up toward the green hillsides on both sides of the Fox Glacier you wouldn't even guess at the complexity that lies under the forest canopy.
The forest around the Fox Glacier is a classic example of a temperate rain forest.The Fox Glacier region receives 4.7 Meters (185 inches) of rain a year! Where I was living in Colorado rainfall is measured in inches and 13 inches is an average rainfall in a year. For comparison in Sydney the average rain fall is 1.19 meters ( 47 inches) a year and in Seattle the average rainfall is 1.09 meters (43 inches) per year.
