fstopandsee

Typically the Golden Gate Bridge gets the spotlight, but on this atypical day I was all about the puffy clouds and let the bridge take the background.

This close up underwater shot is of a bearded fireworm. They have amazingly detailed bodies, but all of those little white bristles will sting, so don’t touch!

Light and angles are two important parts of photography. For this shot I chose dusk for the light and wide for the angle to make a beautiful cathedral a little crazy and dramatic.

I was lucky enough to see our national bird up close and personal on a trip to my home state of Wisconsin. I like this angle of him, perched on a branch right before he swooped over Lake Michigan looking for fresh fish. You can tell he is wary of me, but also has his eye on the prize in the lake below.

Standing behind this waterfall under the rock shelf meant being out of the rain, but the powerful Seljalandsfoss is 200 feet tall and produces a lot of mist. My camera and I got pretty wet, but it was worth it to be able to experience this close up.

A trip to Iceland should start with some ice. While much of the country is very green, I wanted to make sure I got to see the glaciers. This boat tour of Glacier Lagoon, or Jökulsárlón got us up close and personal with the glacier and the many icebergs that break off from it and float in the water. It was crazy to see this pure blue ice moving around the lagoon, and knowing that these were just tiny chunks of the massive glacier.

This fish must have thought he was perfectly safe in the coral. Eventually I got too close and he took off, but I had time to get this shot while he was just hanging out doing his thing.

Sunrise photos take work. Sometime it is just getting up when you don’t want to, but this time it was standing around in some chilly weather waiting for the sun to show up that took effort. The clouds were low on the horizon so it took a little extra time for the sun to find a gap in the clouds and light up the icicles just right.

The tide went out, the sun went down. I was left on a cold dark beach. It was all worth it to get to see the sun sneaking behind these rocks over the ocean!

I came to the Southwest on this trip to ski, but I stayed for the sunsets. This view with Pueblo Peak in the background was particularly spectacular, and absolutely better than the skiing!