2025 Photography Rewind

This year I was fortunate to travel a fair bit both for workshops and for personal. Planes, trains, automobiles, and even a boat (aka ferry). For those who are new to my yearly rewind of looking back, it does certainly have photography but I go beyond that. Covering whatever is important or noteworthy that I am willing to share.

In years past, winter is a slower season to work on stuff in the office, chill as a family, things around the house, and shred on the mountain. Unlike the bleak bare mountains going into this season, time on the mountain during January and February 2025 was only slowed down by my own doing. Starting with a guy’s trip to Cuba for my friend’s 50th, and a chance to spend some time with my brother. If you missed the full write-up and photos, check them out here.

Then shortly afterward, I headed with my friend Michael Bollino to Death Valley for a mid-February trip. This trip can be recategorized as an adventure after the last couple of days resulted in everyone from friendly strangers (kind enough to buy our lunch) to photog friends driving us close to 10 hours (including back to LAS for our flight) as the broken-down rental awaited a tow truck in the desert sun. This trip gave new meaning to the term "friends in low places". Thank you, Alex, Ron, and Sarah. We lost track of the number of calls I made to Avis to get everything straight, no less than 20 (no exaggeration). Add to that my recovering ribs, made it tough to camp after boxing in Cuba did not go as expected (or completely as expected, depending on your view). In 2026, I am headed back to Death Valley National Park to lead a small group workshop. I am planning to drive this time and stay out of the boxing ring. There are other ways I can stay in shape. 

Spring break rituals are no longer dedicated to a full family experience. At least in the short term. We still find ways to make a family trip or two happen each year. Those who have kids straddling different phases in life can relate. With one in high school and one attending out-of-state college, spring break doesn’t overlap, except for one weekend. Our oldest flew home, and then we decided to make our spring break a roadtrip taking her back in time for school. That worked out well, and I usually enjoy time on the road, whether with my family or alone. Something about the open highway rarely gets old. 

Anyone working in this field knows there is a lot more solo time vs being in a busy corporate office. While for the most part I enjoyed those office days, it's much different working at home by yourself. Of course, the cats are happy to have a lap to sit on when I am at my desk. That means I am usually game to connect when a peer or friend comes through town. In mid-April, Nic Stover came through the area, and we spent a day hiking in the Gorge while he was on his months-long road adventure. 

Now back to the open highway. After the South Central Oregon Coast, which involved having our presentation sessions at a museum (a fun first), David Cobb and I got back on the Mother Road for plenty of highway time, leading a truly fun experience on our Route 66 Tour from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Springfield, Missouri. We are planning to do the remaining sections in two more separate tours. The next one will be in fall of 2027 between Springfield, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. 

In May I headed south to Redwoods National Park to do something I normally don’t do, lead back-to-back workshops. I was truly surprised, yet wonderfully pleased, by the level of interest with the first one selling out in 17 minutes so I added a second one. We had a great time in the Redwoods with everyone understanding that I am neither Zeus or Poseidon, with zero ability to control weather. In rare fashion I spent 10 days in the Redwoods and the moist visible floating air we know better as fog never made an appearance. Not once. All prior trips have been shorter, with fog every time, including the middle of summer. Honestly, that is part of what I love about nature photography. With advances of technology, it has never been more possible to try and create what we envision. But Mother Nature can have the last say. Despite trends, forecasts, and assumptions, we truly don’t know what we will get until the time comes that we are standing there immersed the scene. 

June brought the final preparations for a long-time-coming family trip to Japan. For anyone who knows me must be a little bewildered since I like the heat about as much as a polar bear. Japan in summer is drenchingly hot, drenched both from the sweat and the downpours. For a trip like this, we needed at least two weeks, and with school schedules, that is summer or all of winter break. We opted for summer. While the heat was intense and my migraines were proof of it, I am absolutely glad we went and would choose to do it again. Such an amazing country that I hope to visit in the future. Yes, there are areas as busy as you read about that we certainly moved through with congested masses of people, yet we also experienced the exact opposite, including standing on an amazing beach of sea stacks with hardly another person around. There is almost always opportunities for visiting what is assumed to be overly crowded regions, if we are open to different times or different spots. 

After Japan, there wasn’t much travel for a bit. We held a gathering with friends and families as I entered the 5th decade on this planet, but as to not seem like it was tied to that we just said it was a long overdue backyard BBQ. Short of the cool gigantic frame with my name and age, it worked. I like to celebrate and have fun, yet I didn’t want people to feel obligated to show up bearing gifts. 

Before my older daughter had to head back to college in late August, we did manage one short backpacking trip. I was hoping for more yet between schedule conflicts, weather hurdles, and permit limitations, we made do with what we could and where we could go. Next summer, I have a goal to do more backpacking with my family and friends. We shall see how things shake out in 2026. 

In September, I headed back to the Oregon Coast, this time for the Central region, not be confused with the South Central region. No overlap in locations. Again, we had some phenomenal conditions. After that, I headed home to unpack and repack for a camping trip on Whidbey Island. I spent the better part of a week scouting out a 2026 workshop on this fun, artsy, and beautiful PNW island. 

Then came October, which had me heading north to Forks, WA as one of the instructors for the Out of Olympic Conference. It almost didn’t happen as all of us involved eagerly awaited what the government shutdown would mean for the National Parks. Once the green light was given from the park office, we could all breathe a sigh of relief. Out of Chicago did one in the spring of 2023 that I was at and this year we switched it up to fall. Hard to say which I like better. Both can be great as long as the weather decides to go easy on us. They get ~120 inches of rain a year. It is a rainforest after all. Luck was on our side. I tried communicating with excited exclamations about how fortunate many of these people are to be visiting Olympic National Park for the first time. I have been many times, but to get a 5-day conference with near-perfect weather and photography conditions is something I have only seen at the last Olympic Conference. I guess the Out of Chicago crew brings good luck. I was also excited to have Jim Patterson as my co-instructor. We have known each other for about 15 years; however, this was the first time we met in person. Speaking of 15 years, it was almost that long since the last time I saw David Thompson in person. A long overdue reunion. Not only were the participants great to work with it was a wonderful time with peers I hadn't seen in many years, or had yet to meet in person. One of the best conferences I have been fortunate to be a part of. 

I didn’t have much time to recharge after the Olympic Conference. Heading south, I would be leading my first Oregon Outback tour. I love the more desolate beauty of the open landscape ever since my first trip to the area in 2008. Completely different than the NW corner of the state where I call home. We had a small adventurous group where we were again enjoying favorable conditions. We had a big morning splash of rain coming at the perfect time, leaving us nice passing storm light to photograph perched above an expansive view. Visiting the remains of Albert's car graveyard was engaging and special. I will talk about this more in a future gallery or separate journal release. After the last night and a full chicken to myself as a meal (there were some leftovers but not much) I headed home for a brief break. 

November brought me down further south, this time to Southern Utah for the Colors of Escalante tour with Eric Bennett. We could not have asked for better conditions if ordering from a menu. It had rained a couple of weeks before yet all the roads were dried out and open. We could have spent a day photographing just the mud cracks and interesting rocks we came across in one area. There is a lot of beauty in this area for the rock, geology, and canyon lovers. Even though I have been to some spots many times, I still get excited to go back. We plan to offer this same workshop again in fall 2027. 

If you have a family with kids, you know it's not often easy to get time away with your spouse. Fortunately, the schedules aligned, and we took a weekend away in the Eastern Gorge, staying at a cool old hotel that happened to have wine tasting and live music while we were there. I also took Molly to spots I have been to photograph and lead workshops, which was fun. 

We made the decision in early fall that we would head out of state for Thanksgiving to Montana. We enjoyed time as a family away from home and an incredible feast. While my faster-than-average-person metabolism has finally slowed, I was still able to sample everything a few times over. I am sure my days are numbered for this, everyone tells me. Yet that time hasn't arrived yet. 

The last trip would be in early December. Our Photo Cascadia crew tries our darndest to get together once a year. Normally, it happens yet it’s typically only part of the group. Getting all seven of us together is tougher than you might think. This year, five of us met up in Tucson, Arizona. It was also special since we had the chance to meet the one and only Tony Kyper in person. If you use TK Actions, you know his name. Tucson was a new spot for me, and once again, we were treated to wonderful conditions. Visiting a local canyon, it was filled with yellow cottonwood trees, splashes of green foliage around the saguaro cacti, and a shallow flowing creek. The prior two months had experienced more rain than usual. I thought about how different it would be walking this canyon without the wonderful trickling sound of the creek. I left home to unwind with my family for the holidays with much gratitude. 

Beyond traveling and leading workshops, I do want to take a moment and thank Eric Bennett for spearheading and asking me to be involved with the Sacred Lands fundraiser. While there have been a series of unexpected events delaying the delivery of the print orders, we were able to donate $30,000 to a non-profit that directly helps National Park rangers who were impacted by job displacement or other similar challenges. As someone who leads one or more workshops a year on NPS or other public lands (not to mention my personal enjoyment of these areas) any threat to them or the people that maintain and support them is something I will not hesitate to speak out against. National Parks in America have only been increasing in popularity and usage over the years, which means more than ever, we need the funding and support to maintain these places and accessibility. Unfortunately, cutting the budget doesn't help, but I have to remain hopeful. I am just glad I bought my 12-month park pass in December. 

I don’t have New Year’s resolutions every year, but I do believe that they can be of value even if they are only successful some of the time. For 2025, I had a couple of goals. The first one was to complete an average of 10,000 steps a day. The second was to journal/write daily. Regarding the steps goal, I am fully aware that there is nothing magical about the 10k number that equates to good health vs someone who might do thousands a day less. I spent years in health and wellness tech and know that physical activity comes in many ways beyond steps. For me, that includes resistance training, biking, snowboarding, paddling, and more. I could ramble on, but to keep it short, I averaged ~1,200 steps a day more than the prior year. While this meant I still fell slightly under my goal, it’s 438k more steps for the year, a notable increase I feel good about. Like some trips, it can be more about the journey than the final destination. On the writing side of things, I did write more, but it certainly wasn’t a daily journal as I hoped. One thing I did achieve was the first 12+ months with a medical journal. This is needed for my migraines, and I am happy to have this history (and now it’s a habit going forward) to better understand the details on my never-ending quest to reduce them.

For anyone who has read this far, thank you. I wish only the best for the year ahead. To Sean Bagshaw, Zack Schnepf, Eric Bennett, and David Cobb as my co-leads for the 2025 workshops, thank you. If you are joining me at a workshop, participants and co-leaders, I look forward to seeing you then!