Getting my Best Friends Bucket List Shot

Every photographer has the dream of getting the shot. But what about those that aren’t? I’ve had this idea for a while where I use my skills as a photographer to help one of my friends capture a photo they have been dreaming of having. I was finally able to put this idea into use this summer when I went to Iceland. I told my friend about this in the planning. We came up with two places we wanted to try.

The first one was a glacier. He was really fascinated with them. But we weren’t sure where we would find one. Around day 4 or 5 one of our campsites was actually near a glacier. After getting a camp spot we headed closer to the glacier and just started walking towards it. And actually made it to the base of one. Got some nice portraits and stuff. But it wasn’t quite what we were looking for as far as a bucket shot.

We spent several hours here just exploring the area. Most of the group are not hikers but they were ecstatic to be here and walk several miles.

This drone shot was in consideration as his bucket shot. I did get him a smaller print of this one for his desk or shelves.

The second location we had in mind was the Arctic Henge. A rock sculpture on the north east part of the island. It signals the beginning of the arctic circle in Iceland. As we got there the conditions were not the greatest but he knew that this was the spot. It was a bit of work to try and come up with a good photo idea. But we eventually came up with one. And this is it!

Its a special shot for him and also for the rest of us. Not only does it have the entire group on this trip. Its also the location he wanted in the way he wanted. Thanks to him for inviting me on this trip, it will be a trip to remember for a very long time.

New Zealand

This place is indescribable!

This place has been on my bucket list for years. And it did not disappoint. We started out in Christchurch, arriving late then drove north to Picton to get the ferry to Wellington. This is a must do ferry ride through the mountains. Takes about 2.5 hours to get from one island to the other. With views that are so stunning you don’t want to sit inside or you will miss out.

We only had about 36 hours total on the north island. Which is a good reason to come back and explore it more. Our first idea was to go to Hobbiton. After doing some research we discovered that it’s about 8.25 hours from Wellington. So we decided to not spend 16 hours of driving to see it. Instead we went to gollum’s pool/waterfall. Which was absolutely fantastic. Short hike that most any people could do even with small children, cause we passed a few families as we went to the falls. The water in this country is on another level. So blue it looks fake.

The ferry ride was the highlight of my time in the north island. Absolutely stunning views for several hours.

Costa Rica

My family and I got to go to Costa Rica for my brothers wedding. Congratulations to them! We stayed with some of our cousins that live 2 hours north of the airport. We got to be there around 10 days. The first 4 days were wedding prep and stuff. Getting the venue setup and ready. Wedding was lovely! No rain in the morning when we were doing photos, it did rain during the reception, which did cool off the air.

After the wedding we had a week to do some exploring around the country. Unfortunately there was a sick bug going around the community. Not COVID. That each of us got for about a day. My little brother had it the worst on Sunday. When the whole family was over and chilling. Taught them a new game called Innovation which they kept and sent me a new one cause they liked it so much.

One of my highlights was when they took us to a local river to do some swimming. This was not in any tourist website or book. Just a spot that the locals know about. It’s like a lazy river there about a 100 yards to float and swim. With a spot to jump in off about 20 foot ledge.

Then to finish off the day we went and hung out in some natural hot springs in the jungle. One of the best days this year for sure. Then the rest of the week was spent hanging with family and just seeing what they all do. All in all it was a great week, and I’m looking forward to going back one day and explore the country more.

Calendars are here!

This is a collection of some of my favorite adventures over the past 2 years. The biggest trip was right before covid. I was able to go to Yosemite to try to see Firefall. So I included some memories from that trip cause it might be the most beautiful place I’ve been to. This has some of my favorite local things to do as well. DC Cherry Blossoms Festival is a highlight for me every year. Always a fantastic time seeing the trees in full bloom. What kind of phots would you all be interested in if I sold Prints? Let me know in the comments.

Exploring Yosemite During Firefall Season

I had heard of Firefall several years ago. And was super impressed with this event. And I wanted to go see this thing in person. And also to see Yosemite National Park. So I did exactly that. Now Firefall only happens two weeks out of the year in February. So the window of opportunity to see this was very small. Knowing all this I had planned to be there for the tail end of Firefall season. I arrived at the park and it was being run a bit different than normal. Now that was due to the previous years during Firefall.

There were thousands of people coming in recent years to the park to see the Firefall, were just kinda destroying the park. Simply by overcrowding certain areas and destroying the environment. So this year they had blocked a lot of the parking right off the road close to El Capitan because of the previous years. So they had some bigger parking lots designated for Firefall, and also closed one lane for people to walk on instead of using the trails and making them worse. Also they had certain spots that you were allowed to stop and take your photos and watch the falls. I was learning all of this my first day there. I say day, but it was like a few hours. I went straight from the airport to the park. And had about two hours before sunset.  There is one detail about Firefall that I forgot to mention. In order for this event to occur there needs to be water flowing from El Capitan, and also clear skies for it to light up the falls.  

So after getting to an okay spot, looked up at the mountain and could not see any water flowing. That was a bit disappointing that I traveled across the country to not have any water flowing from the mountain. But what can you do. It was still a spectacular evening though. As you can see above, without the water there is less life in the photo. This was only my first few hours in the park, and I was looking forward to the next few days of exploring and photographing this place.

My second day in the park was spent doing some short little hikes around Yosemite Valley.

One of those hikes took me to Mirror lake, a little lake north east of the valley. Not a hard hike but a very pretty one. It was a little over 3 miles round trip. Something about this place that I could not get over was the sheer size of these mountains. They just seemed to tower over you wherever you were in the park. I loved that!

My last day at the park it was raining most of the day. Which might sound like a miserable time. But it made the park feel and look very different. Also rain is what I needed in order for there to be water flowing from the the top of El Capitan. So I was really excited that it was raining.

After hiking in the Yosemite Valley. I decided to head over and check out El Capitan to see if now there was any water flowing from the mountain. And since it was so rainy and cloudy El Capitan was completely engulfed in clouds. Still not enough rain to cause water to flow off the mountain. The previous day I had checked out tunnel view right before sunset. But by that point it was full of people already there waiting for sunset.

So I was determined  to get to tunnel view before it was overrun. It was still really full when I got up there, but I was able to get a better spot this time. Am I so happy that I went up here for my last day here.

About an hour before sunset this amazing rainbow showed up and made for a spectacular scene! One of the best moments that happens this entire trip. It was so special to be there and see this in person.

After the amazing rainbow. The sunset was even better! Three days in Yosemite is no where near enough time for me. I could spend several weeks exploring this amazing park. If you have never been to this place, and like the outdoors. It needs to be on your list. Looking forward to exploring more places in the future.


Puerto Rico Mission Trip

In 2017 Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. Causing severe damage to the whole island. In June of 2018 our church youth group decided that we could help out the people of Puerto Rico by helping rebuild their destroyed homes. Getting there was quite the adventure in itself. We were flying out of Virginia. Everything was looking great there. Clear skies and beautiful weather. But our connecting flight was in Atlanta which was having really bad weather. After boarding the plane at the time we thought we were leaving. We sat on the tarmac for about 45 minutes before having to get off the plane because of the weather in Atlanta. After grabbing some food and stuff. We had 2 options to get to Puerto Rico. The first was trying to catch a later flight out of Atlanta and arriving in Puerto Rico really late. Or fly to Atlanta and get a flight out of Atlanta the next evening. We decided to get the flight that was leaving the next evening cause we did not want to be cancelled again by trying to catch an earlier flight. We still sat on the tarmac for a second time in Virginia because of the weather. We sat for like 2 hours before heading to Atlanta. Got to Atlanta around 10 that night. Due to all the delays Atlanta was packed with people trying to get a place to stay for the night. Just as we were. Waited for another hour and a half for the shuttle to take us to the hotel. Finally around 1 in the morning we had arrived at our hotel for the night

We had Saturday to explore Atlanta for a while, before our flight that evening. After some breakfast we headed out to explore Downtown a bit. Finding Centennial Olympic park. This is where we spent most of our time waiting for the flight. Since we stayed an extra day in Atlanta our flight to Puerto Rico was upgraded to First class for the flight! We were all kind of excited about this. Cause none of us had ever flown first class before.

Still arrived late that evening. But it was a good flight down. Got settled into the compound where we would be staying for the week. Lovely little place not too far away from the ocean.

Monday our first day of work. Started just as good as us getting to Puerto Rico. With one of the vehicles not starting and needing a battery swap. So our first day out on the job was started about 2 hours late. We were split up into 2 groups to do 2 jobs for most of the week. I was on a job where we needed to build a roof over a little extension for somebody. And the others were working on tearing one down to prepare it for a new one. It took us 2 days to build the new roof. Most of the day we were on the job. So there was not a bunch of free time during the day. But there was time in the evening to eat good food and hang out.

The last day of work we had a big roof to do, requiring all of us to work on the project. Working into the night on this job. And almost got it done. We worked into the night for a bit before calling it and getting a nice super.

The last morning we all got up early and went to tunnel beach for sunrise. And it was the most beautiful sunrise that we had the entire week we were here. Spent time enjoying the sunrise and beach for a while before heading into town for a nice breakfast.

It was a blessing going and helping out for the week. The people were super grateful that we were there and helping them get back to living a normal life.


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