*As I was putting together images for this post, and finishing up editing my images of the California kingsnake, “Like a California King” by Everclear just happened to start playing on iTunes by sheer coincidence, so it became the title of this post. Somehow I had the feeling it would be kind of wrong if [ Read More ]
Valley of Fire, Nevada April 5, 2013, 4AM First night in the desert after flying from Seattle to Las Vegas earlier in the day. Spent the night in the car as it got dark while hiking and was too tired to set up the tent. Windows rolled down, the wind through the rocks and [ Read More ]
Last week I spent an absolutely freezing morning at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge just outside of the capital city of Olympia, Washington. Located at the mouth of the Nisqually River, which originates far up Mount Rainier, it is made up of both precipitation famous to the Pacific Northwest and mineral-rich glacier waters from the mountain itself. [ Read More ]
If you are a parent, then you know this face well – this very young elk calf is a sloppy eater! I photographed this wild herd yesterday in the Eastern Cascade Mountains near Yakima, Washington on a sunny, cold winter afternoon. Baby Elk ~ click to enlarge ~ Rich Leighton February 9, 2013 [ Read More ]
Every once in a while I go through my old images and find one I can’t believe I missed….. but better late than never! American Alligator ~ click to enlarge ~ In some parts of the Fakahatchee Strand in the northwestern Florida Everglades, it is very common to wade into areas heavily populated with alligators [ Read More ]
The rocky coastline of Cape Flattery is located at the most extreme northwestern corner of the contiguous United States on the Olympic Peninsula, where the Pacific Ocean joins the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Millennia of pounding waves, tides and erosion have sculpted the landscape into something from a fairytale. Click on any image below [ Read More ]
Quick post today. I’ve been having a series of videos made for me, and here is one I’m particularly happy with. These are images I’ve made over the years ranging from Key Largo in the Florida Keys to Cape Flattery on the Northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, and a little bit [ Read More ]
Early last month I was driving through the mountains of Oregon heading to the coast when I spotted a small herd of elk in a meadow at the foot of a steep rise of one of the many heavily forested highlands in the region. There were about 30 females (cows) and about a dozen calves [ Read More ]
South Coast of Oregon, Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 3:43 am Just broke camp after a great night of sleeping among the evergreens in a forest next the the rocky coast. I awoke at midnight, realizing once again I was underprepared for a chilly Fall Pacific Northwest equipped with the same usual camp gear I’ve been [ Read More ]
Last week I had an unexpected two-and-a-half day opening in my schedule and I pounced on the opportunity to visit new places and reconnoiter some new locations. The idea was that I could find/scout out potential photography hot spots and mark them on my “places to shoot” list for future, well-planned excursions. Initially I was [ Read More ]
