No Place like Home
Author’s Note: Before I get started, I want to talk about a recent proposal in the United States Senate. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has put forward a plan that could place three million acres of federal land across eleven states for sale, an area three times the size of the entire state of Rhode Island. You can find a map of the land in question here.
In my home state of California, vast swaths of the Sierra Nevada would be open to private purchase and potential development. This is a shocking and concerning idea. Since the founding of our first national park, Yellowstone, over a century and a half ago, we have built upon the idea that our public lands should be preserved “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.”
President Theodore Roosevelt, who did so much to realize that principle, stated that “our people should see to it that [these lands] are preserved for their children and their children’s children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred.” We have a civic duty to ensure that we do not abandon that promise. This cuts beyond partisan divides. This will affect all of us who enjoy the outdoors, whether you are a hiker, runner, fisher, photographer, or hunter.
As of the morning of June 24, the proposal has been removed from the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill, but the fight is not over. Senator Lee has promised to revise his proposal, which means it may return. I urge you to please call your senators and representatives to urge them to reject this plan and any other subsequent ones. You can find more information about how to do that here.
It has been almost a year since I released a photography-related blog. I spent much of that time finishing my book Coming Home and working on an important non-photography project: figuring out how to propose to my girlfriend in Yosemite. She said yes! And we are now hard at work organizing our wedding. As you probably know, weddings are unbelievably expensive, so I’m putting out a print sale to help us defray some of those expenses. I have just added over a dozen new prints onto the website and will be adding more in the weeks to come. From now until the end of July, all prints on my website will be 20 percent off with the discount code “SUMMER20.”
I am also excited to share that my book is available for sale at some new places. For those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area, copies are on the shelves at Underdog Film Lab in Oakland and Seawood Photo in San Rafael. If you live in the Eastern Sierra, you can visit Spellbinder Books in Bishop and the Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore in Lee Vining. Please support your local bookstores and camera shops!
While I stepped away from the blog, I kept busy photographing. Because of the enormous back catalog of work from the past eight months, I have opted to separate my work into three separate articles. Here is part one.
Since my work on Coming Home concluded, I shifted the focus of my photography back to the San Francisco Bay Area for much of the first half of 2025. Though the Bay may not have the high peaks and alpine meadows of the Sierra Nevada, it still claims a special place in my heart. As I photographed my home region over the past five years, I increasingly began to appreciate its geographic diversity. I have a variety of beaches, grasslands, forests, and mountains all located within a two-hour drive from home. Safe in the knowledge that I did not have to travel far, I felt free to experiment with photo ideas and practice my skills. My collection of pictures from the San Francisco Bay Area from the first half of this year has turned into a fledging project of its own, and I hope to make these photos part of a zine or photo book about the Bay Area.
Dairy Cow Staredown, Point Reyes National Seashore
Nikon F100 with 35mm lens; Kodak Ektar 100
Dairy Cows at Drakes View, Point Reyes National Seashore
Nikon F100 with 35mm lens; Kodak Ektar 100
These dairy cows, curiously drawn to the strange black box I kept pointing at them, walked towards my camera as I stood on the side of the road in Point Reyes National Seashore.
Last Light over Drakes Estero from Mount Vision, Point Reyes National Seashore
Nikon F100 with 80-200mm lens; Kodak Ektar 100
When I first shot the photograph above, I wished that I had a longer telephoto lens so that I could focus on just the fog far off in the distance. However, when I saw the film, I realized that this turned out to have been a blessing in disguise. Had I used a longer lens that day, I would have ignored the dark shadows of Drakes Estero. Instead, they now provided a cool contrast to the warm glow around Point Reyes.
Grazing Tule Elk, Point Reyes National Seashore
Nikon F100 with 80-400mm lens; Kodak Ektar 100
At the start of the year, I acquired a Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G lens, replacing my trusty combo of a 80-200mm f/2.8D and 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G. That duo of Nikon telephotos had worked for years, but I started feeling dissatisfied with it after acquiring my Nikon Z7. I wanted a telephoto lens that could work with both my late-1990s/early-2000s Nikon film cameras and the mirrorless Z7 (which allowed for autofocus on with an adapter). My 70-300mm was the only telephoto which fit the bill, but its image quality suffered, especially at 300mm. I had eyed the 80-400mm for years but shied away because of its price, even on the used market. Eventually I bit the bullet, selling a bunch of my camera gear—including both of my telephoto lenses.
I felt slightly uneasy about the decision. But as soon as I brought it out to Point Reyes to photograph the tule ek there, any hesitation melted away. The extra reach at 400mm, combined with vibration reduction/image stabilization, felt like a game changer.
Herd of Grazing Tule Elk at Tomales Point, Point Reyes National Seashore
Nikon F100 with 80-400mm lens; Kodak Ektar 100
For the image above, I sat on a small bluff slightly elevated above the rest of the plateau and waited as the elk roamed around. I saw the bull (the male elk of the herd) herding the pack closer and closer to the water, conveniently in front of my lens. The cotton candy skies provided just the right amount of color for the scene.
Tomales Point Boulders at Sunset, Point Reyes National Seashore
Nikon F100 with 24mm lens and 2-stop graduated ND filter; Kodak Ektar 100
Morning Twilight over Rolling Hills, Trojan Point, Mount Tamalpais State Park
Nikon F100 with 55mm lens and 2-stop graduated ND filter; Fujifilm Provia 100F
I have photographed sunrise from this exact spot before, but the strong pre-dawn glow and early morning shadows from this day felt particularly compelling.
First Light on Bolinas Ridge, Mount Tamalpais State Park
Nikon F100 with 55mm lens and 2-stop graduated ND filter; Fujifilm Provia 100F
After photographing sunrise in the above photos, I drove down Mount Tamalpais into the mountain’s watershed, intent on hiking the Cataract Falls Trail. Much to my delight, the last remnants of that morning’s low valley fog began to evaporate before my eyes. My telephoto lens once again proved handy at capturing the strong diagonal beams of light. The fog soon burned off, but not before I was able two of the best shots of the day.
Morning Fog at Alpine Lake, Marin County (I)
Nikon F100 with 80-400mm lens and 812 warming filter; Kodak Ektachrome 100
Morning Fog at Alpine Lake, Marin County (II)
Nikon F100 with 80-400mm lens and 812 warming filter; Kodak Ektachrome 100
Cataract Falls Cascades After a Winter Storm, Marin County
Nikon F100 with 16-35mm lens and 812 warming filter; Kodak Ektachrome 100
I timed my hike to Cataract Falls just after a rainstorm, so the creek swelled with runoff. The day ended with a visit to Rodeo Beach, just north of the Golden Gate. The surf crashed violently against the shore. In the image below, I used just fast enough of a shutter speed to freeze the exact moment a wave slammed into a boulder.
Wave Crashing Onto a Boulder, Rodeo Beach
Nikon F100 with 80-400mm lens with 812 warming filter; Kodak Ektachrome 100
I made a day trip down to Monterey and Big Sur to visit my friend Julia, and we spent much of the day wondering if the heavily overcast skies might clear for sunset. We stopped at the aptly named Hurricane Point as extremely strong winds buffeted everyone at this viewpoint located high above the shoreline. I suspected that there was just enough of a gap in the cloud cover to give us a few minutes of light right before sunset. A faint glow far off to the north, shown below, hinted at a lucky break for us.
Stormy Seas at Sunset from Hurricane Point, Big Sur
Nikon F100 with 80-400mm lens; Fujifilm Provia 100F
Sure enough, the sun broke through the clouds for a several minutes, lighting up the landscape and casting a warm glow on the wisps of moisture above the waves. Meanwhile, the wind continue to howl. Even holding the camera steady on a tripod proved to be a challenge. Then, almost as soon as it had appeared, the sun disappeared beneath the horizon.
Afternoon Storm Light from Hurricane Point, Big Sur
Nikon F100 with 16-35mm lens; Fujifilm Provia 100F
Stormy Surf at Hurricane Point at Sunset, Big Sur
Nikon F100 with 80-400mm lens; Fujifilm Provia 100F
Two Hikers overlooking Stinson Beach, Mount Tamalpais State Park
Nikon F100 with 80-400mm lens and 812 warming filter; Kodak Ektachrome 100
Storms and thick clouds rolled through the Bay Area throughout March and April. I spotted one tree on Mount Tamalpais that looked lovely in storm light, and I returned to the peak multiple times over a period of about two weeks, hoping to catch the scene just as the sun broke through cloud cover. Finally, on a trip with my friend Maggie, we hiked down to the spot just as the sun poked through and the light lasted for just a minute or two before it disappeared once again behind a wall of gray.
Rolling Hills After a Clearing Storm, Mount Tamalpais State Park
Nikon F100 with 24-70mm lens and 812 warming filter; Kodak Ektachrome 100
On a stubbornly overcast day, I drove along the coast with my friend James, hoping for the clouds to clear. They stayed put, dashing our hopes of seeing a clear sunset. We spotted some egrets in a lagoon near Stinson Beach and pulled over on the side of the road. They seemed unbothered by our presence and inched closer to us without concern. Here, the overcast skies helpfully provided some nice, even lighting. Once again, the 80-400mm telephoto lens proved indispensable for my little foray into wildlife photography, as I needed to fully zoom in to frame up the egrets.
Egret in a Lagoon, Marin County
Nikon F100 with 80-400mm lens and 812 warming filter; Kodak Ektachrome 100
Egret Taking off from a Lagoon, Marin County
Nikon F100 with 80-400mm lens and 812 warming filter; Kodak Ektachrome 100
Once spring had finally taken hold, I returned to Tilden Regional Park in the Berkeley Hills to see the lupine that bloomed along the Seaview Trail. My best luck came on one afternoon after a clearing storm. Though sunset was blocked by clouds, golden hour felt particularly vibrant with all the moisture in the air.
Lupines After Afternoon Showers, Tilden Regional Park
Nikon F100 with 16-35mm lens and 2-stop graduated ND filter; Kodak Ektachrome 100
Weathered Oak Tree on a Hillside, Mount Diablo State Park
Nikon F100 with 80-400mm lens and 812 warming filter; Kodak Ektachrome 100
My search for wildflowers also took me to Mount Diablo. That took me past the tree shown above, which I had driven past numerous times, but I had never paid attention to it until this particular afternoon. Some clearing clouds provided a contrasty backdrop for the tree’s twisted branches.
The tree featured again in the image below of a rock formation. Despite my best efforts, I was not able to figure out what type of rock this was. If anyone has an idea, please let me know!
Rock Formation at Sunset, Mount Diablo State Park
Nikon F100 with 24-70mm lens, 812 warming filter, and 2-stop graduated ND filter; Kodak Ektachrome 100
This is part one of a three part series. You can find part two here. If you want to be updated when new blogs are released, sign up below for my email list (I promise not to spam you).
If you enjoyed this article and would like to support my work, you can purchase a print or a book here, or consider making a donation to help me buy film and keep this website running.