Mirrors of Mammoth

Mammoth Lakes in California, is a photographer's dream, especially when it comes to its serene lakes reflecting the quiet beauty of the Eastern Sierra. The still and clear waters of these lakes provide a tranquil canvas for those seeking moments of calm and visual simplicity.

Photographing the lakes in Mammoth Lakes is a study in capturing reflections. From the glass-like surface of Twin Lakes to the mirror-like symmetry of Lake Mary, these bodies of water offer a quiet backdrop for the surrounding landscapes. The stillness of the lakes enhances the clarity of reflections, creating a straightforward and unembellished visual narrative. It is truly a breathtaking, once-in-a-lifetime sort magical place.

Capturing Kings Canyon's Lakes and Rivers

While Kings Canyon National Park is renowned for its towering waterfalls and ancient sequoias, its concealed treasures are the pristine rivers and serene lakes that adorn its landscapes. The South Fork Kings River, a testament to nature's relentless power, roars through the landscape, offering both adventure and tranquility along its path. Mist Falls Lake, Crystal Lake, Jade Lake, and Sapphire Lake, each with its own distinct character, offer solace in the serenity of their shores. In this corner of Sierra Nevada, nature offers an ever-changing canvas of these liquid gems, where the beauty of the park flows through every ripple and current.

End of Day at Moro Rock

Another visit to Moro Rock at Sequoia National Park this weekend, this time in the late afternoon as the haze and the falling sun transformed the skies into a beautiful mixture of oranges and yellows. There was a beautiful lateral light there as well which left half of the valley in light and the other half in shadow. Here, I made full use of my whole photography kit - from wide lenses to capture the expansive valley below, to a telephoto lens aimed at the few trees hugging the mountain ridges. The most incredible thing is that this wasn’t even quite sunset: we still made it down the valley and caught sunset at a different location afterwards.

Scaling New Heights

Moro Rock offers a very different perspective on Sequoia National Park. This towering granite dome offers panoramic views over the whole park - finally placing you above the gigantic trees and changing the whole perspective of the landscape. As you ascend the winding staircase, the world below transforms into a tapestry of lush forests and rugged peaks, and the sprawling landscapes stretch as far as the eye can see. It was really mind-boggling to go from feeling like a tiny ant standing at the feet of the forest giants to seeing them from above, surrounded by the local ravens gliding in the skies.

Turquoise Spring Waters

Continuing along our travels through Florida, we paid a short visit to Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park. This state park is home to several springs, including Peacock, Ginnie, and Little River Springs, which flow into the Suwannee River. It is a popular spot for underwater cave diving, with over 14,000 feet of cave passages open to visitors. Although we stayed entirely above the water during our visit, we did have the rare opportunity of taking photos from the skies for an even more unusual view of this location: the skies! The drone flight did not disappoint, showing just how stunning the clear turquoise waters of the spring are from all angles.

Sunset at the Swamp

This place was so incredible that I feel compelled to share a little more. This time I feature the soft golden light outlining the cypress trees of Stephen C. Foster State Park in southern Georgia. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite catch the sunset, as rental boats need to be returned by 7pm, but we made the most of the three hours we had at this stunning place. Please join me on another scenic boat ride through the Okefenokee Swamp below…

Afternoon on a Boat

Stephen C. Foster State Park is a hidden gem in Southern Georgia. It is just over an hour’s drive from Valdosta, “the capital of South Georgia” and the gateway into the Okefenokee Swamp. We enjoyed a calm afternoon on a rented motor boat exploring the water trails (note: there are no walking trails!) of the park, which are a collection of waterways through the swamp environment brimming with giant tupelo and bald cypress trees. It is the home to many bird species, amphibians, fish, and alligators!

Bonito: True to its Name

The beauty of this place is in its name: Bonito is the Portuguese word for beautiful. This town is an ecotourism hub in the centre of Brazil, with no shortage of activities and sights to see. Some of my favourite attractions in Bonito are its caves, the Blue Lagoon Grotto (Gruta do Lago Azul), and its waterfalls. Although I don’t have any images to share from it, Bonito is also home to the Buraco das Araras, or Hole of Macaws, a huge sandstone sinkhole where hundreds of scarlet macaws (and other species, in smaller numbers) live all year round.

Waterfalls at The Catlins

The South Island of New Zealand has many hidden gems. One of these is the lush Catlins Forest Park. For the lovers of nature - particularly waterfalls -, this is an unmissable travel destination. We spent a few lazy days here, enjoying the quiet surroundings and the incredible views. Below are some of my favourite images of the truly stunning waterfalls of the region.

Kawarau River

The past few months have been so incredibly busy I haven’t been able to continue with my South Island trip blog posts. I have finally found the time to pick this back up, so here are some images of the lovely Kuwarau River and the Roaring Meg in Queenstown. I will keep posting new images from this latest New Zealand roadtrip over the next few weeks. Hope the wait over my hiatus has been worth it!

Textures of Queenstown

During our visit to Queenstown, we took the beautiful road through Skippers Canyon, known as the filming location for some of the Lord of the Rings movies. Although I will be sharing more conventional images of the road in the coming weeks, I also enjoyed photographing the trees in particular. The combination of living native trees and dead invasive species makes for some really interesting textures. In this blog post, I share some of my favourite textures of these Queenstown trees.

Laguna Colorada and Termas de Polques

Our final stops in the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve were Laguna Colorada and Termas de Polque. Both spots amazed us with their scenery and provided yet another opportunity to see wild flamingoes.

Both these locations provided excellent opportunities for flying the drone and getting some aerial images, although we did keep it quite high so we didn’t interfere with the wildlife.

Here are some images from both land and air of these two locations, our last stop in Bolivia before we headed to Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Lagoons at Eduardo Avaroa National Park

Besides the stunning wildlife, the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve is dotted with many spectacular lagoons. Following on from Laguna Hedionda, we made our way through several more, such as Laguna Charcota and Laguna Verde. Most lagoons provide the opportunity to spot flamingoes, as well as other local wildlife.

The Best of Bolivian Fauna

The Eduardo Abaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve provided me with a unique opportunity to photograph some of Bolivia’s wildlife. Besides flamingoes (also featured on this blog post), I saw vizcachas, vicuñas and culpeo (or Andean fox). I’ll let the images speak for themselves…

Sunrise with Flamingoes

During our trip through Bolivia we stayed at a small hotel on the edge of Laguna Hedionda, home to hundreds of wild flamingoes. We had planned to photograph the sunrise at this location but upon our arrival it seemed like that wasn’t going to happen: there was torrential rain and a thick cloud cover over the mountains. Luckily for us, the cloud cover brought fresh snow onto the mountains and then swiftly disappeared by the next morning. It was an extremely cold shoot at 5am, but definitely worth it!

Keep scrolling for some beautifully pink-tinted skies and similarly pink flamingoes.

Siloli Desert Highlights

The Siloli Desert is a wonderfully dramatic landscape. It seemed almost surreal to walk through its vast planes and occasionally encounter a completely new and colourful scenery. One of my favourite spots was the Sol de la Mañana Geyser, which is a magical sight from both the land and the air.

Here are some of my photos, featuring the Salvador Dalí Desert, the geyser, and the Montaña de Siete Colores (seven-coloured mountain).

Onto the Desert

The way from Uyuni to the Andes is a bumpy but magnificent one. It’s a long drive through the surreal landscapes of Camino de las Rocas until you reach the Siloli Desert in the Eduardo Abaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve. I will cover this scenery in a few separate blog posts over the next couple of weeks, as I came away with too many spectacular images to fit into a single post.

Here are some highlights from the road and Árbol de Piedra (stone tree) in the Siloli Desert.

A Valley Full of Llamas

Not far from the village of San Cristóbal, there is a spectacular little-known valley where women dressed in traditional Bolivian fashion shepherd their free-ranging llamas. This was by far the best surprise of our recent travels through Bolivia - an unplanned and spontaneous suggestion by the local driver.

On our way out of the village our driver asked, “Would you like to see some amazing llamas?”, to which we responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!”.

Little did we know the scenery would be this breathtaking. I hope you enjoy these images of llamas in their fantastic natural setting.

Rain on the Salt Flats

Luckily, I experienced the best of both worlds at the Uyuni Salt Flats. Not only did I capture images of the crisp white landscape on a sunny day (see them here), but shortly after it began to rain. These salt flats are known around the world for their beauty in the rain - the water creates a thin layer over the salts, resulting in an endless mirror all the way to the horizon. Here are some of my favourite photographs as the grey clouds rolled in and covered the landscape in a fantastic mirror glaze.

To learn more about when to visit Uyuni for such images, head over to the complete travel guide for photographers at Two Dusty Lenses.

An Expanse of White

Following on from La Paz, the Bolivian adventure followed onto the Uyuni Salt Flats. We had sunny and dry weather when we arrived, resulting in an otherwordly infinite white landscape as far as the eye could see in every direction.

This was an incredible destination and if you’d like to learn more and plan your own trip to Uyuni, I recommend that you check out our travel guide for photographers over at Two Dusty Lenses, which reveals all the best tips for an unforgettable trip to Bolivia.

But before you head on over and start booking your flights, I hope you enjoy the photo selection below!