*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 I didn’t…

When I’m on the road shooting nature photography, one of the things I try to avoid are the heavily used and visited locations have so many noisy tourists that all the wildlife is either gone or so tamed by free food that they don’t act or look as they should in the wild. Recently while in Riverside County in Southern California I was poking around Twenty-Nine Palms on my way to Joshua Tree National Park when I noticed a potentially good spot to look for wildlife at the Coachella Valley Preserve. The thought of a natural desert oasis complete with mature desert palms in the springtime on a weekday might be a good place to find wildlife normally active at night.

I was right. Even better – I was the only one there, and had the place to myself!

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California Kingsnake Ready to Strike!

Almost immediately after stepping into the oasis, I happened upon a gorgeous four-foot California kingsnake. I immediately jumped to grab it before it disappeared forever beneath the deep piles of palm fronds, and missed. From my knees I bounded forward to grab it by the tail, expecting a bite but not too worried about it as this native beauty in non-venomous. Missed again, and it almost got away. Third time was a charm, as a full tackle and I pinned it to the ground with my shoulder as I got a solid grip just behind its skull and gently picked it up to examine it. Definitely a well-fed wild snake, not a docile pet released into the wild. This very species is a staple in the pet trade, and are sold all over the world by captive breeders. While I must have looked moronic tackling a snake with two pro-grade cameras around my neck, the kingsnake settled down and got into a defensive posture when I released it. I popped off a couple careful exposures wanting it’s face sharply in focus, as the sharpness faded away further down its neck and body. Then I let it go, unharmed although slightly perturbed.

Native Desert Fan Palms

After a productive first five minutes, I started walking around trying to get a feel for the habitat. In my native SW Florida we have a lot of native palms in the undeveloped parts, and I know palm hammocks harbor unique communities of wildlife, and in the desert I knew these must share even closer symbiotic relationships, where many species depend on each other for survival. Especially when in the desert, palms also mean water is regularly present. So what has that kingsnake been eating? I know they eat other snakes regularly, but was there something else on the menu?

Female Desert Spiny Lizard

In the next ten minutes, I’d spotted at least 20 big, fat desert spiny lizards with a body length of about six to eight inches. The perfect food for kingsnakes! These were fairly easy to photograph as they are surprisingly alert, assertive, and curious. While the females were beautifully patterned in shades of brown, gray and black with large spiky scales, the males were spectacular! Big black neck patches were accompanied with orange and golden sides with a bright blue to turquoise neck and belly. I spent so much time watching and photographing these lizards that I had to stop myself and go back to work.

Male Desert Spiny Lizard

Vivid Dancer

This particular valley has some interesting geography. It would have to allow this beautiful palm oasis to exist in the middle of a bone-dry desert. The Coachella Valley Oasis sits directly on top of the San Andreas Fault – the very point where two tectonic plates are sliding against each other in very slow motion in geologic time, but when the underground pressure builds up, they skip and cause the earthquakes that California is famous for. This instability and deep fissure deep into the earth’s crust forces groundwater to reach the surface which provides the much-needed moisture and hydration to the mineral-rich desert sand. This combination makes a very fertile soil mix for plants, which allows these amazing and peculiar desert fan palms to not only live, but to thrive. And this in turn attracts water-loving wildlife such as the vivid dancer damselfly seen above.

California Kingsnake

Juvenile Desert Spiny Lizard

Coachella Valley Oasis

I climbed up a nearby hill to get this shot of the entire oasis from above. The view here is directly above and looking along the San Andreas Fault. These amazing palms have a very interesting story. Not only are they the only native palm in the western USA, they are also the largest native palm in the contiguous Untied States. With fossils dating back to 50-70 million years ago, this palm once reached as far north as Oregon. As the climate in this region get drier and drier over the millennia, the range where the desert fan palm can be found gets smaller and more compact. Luckily there are many small scattered locations all over the Southwestern United States – mostly centralized around the Colorado River area.

Male Desert Spiny Lizard

Young Desert Fan Palm Among the Giants

Like a California King

Although I only spent about two hours in the oasis area, I left feeling very satisfied that I had not only left with some of the photographs that I was looking for and hoping to get, I also left with a whole list of questions about the habitat and ecology that will need further trips to this area and a lot of research to satisfy my curiosity. Taking photographs of plants and animals is easy. Understanding the lives and natural history of these species gets trickier, but with patience and a little research you can achieve a much deeper understanding in how all these plants and animals exist, evolve, and depend on each other to produce the next generations that are essential for the survival of all.

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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 the song of the crickets had me asleep in minutes. Deep sleep came swiftly.

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Valley of Fire

To say that I am completely overwhelmed by the sheer beauty and magnitude of these multi-colored rock formations would be a huge understatement. I spent all of the past afternoon well into the evening hiking through the canyons and climbing to the tops of these massive rocks to get photographs that would accurately represent all of the wonder that I felt when seeing every devastatingly enchanting vista every time I reached another peak, or exited another canyon into another valley.

Pale Windscorpion

The moment I took off the lens cap was pure joy. Frame one was of a creature I’ve always wanted to photograph but had never seen in person: a windscorpion – a very distant relative to scorpions and spiders which is equipped with a fierce pair of mandibles that one might call the wolverine of the arachnid world. Very aggressive and voracious, it will capture and start devouring its prey without waiting for it to die first.

Beavertail Cactus

Several other interesting species were photographed – Gambel’s quail, very many species of wildflowers, and several gorgeous cactus species that are flowering in the most vivid and beautiful colors.

Natural Cave in the Hills

Desert Marigold

Ancient Rock Formations

Robust Hedgehog Cactus in Bloom

The high note for me so far is the varying hues and colors of the terrain in the hills and rocks, especially during the setting sun. Absolutely astounding. A quick 50′-100′ climb up one of these wind-formed formations is mind-blowing! Especially with the knowledge that in this ancient land, dinosaurs once roamed and flourished, while much later ancient people and cultures were born and thrived here for millennia. Will look for petroglyphs, fossils and artifacts to photograph when the sun rises in an hour or so before I head east into Utah.

Rich Leighton
Valley of Fire, Nevada
April 5, 2013, 4AM

Many, many more images from the Valley of Fire and the three other states I visited after Nevada are coming up soon. I have so many keeper shots that it boggles my mind. The only thing holding me back from posting faster is the research I have to do to identify species and learning a bit about them and how they form a part of their habitat and ecosystem. Without this understanding, I’m really not able to do my job correctly so that I can show the true nature of what is in front of my lens.

                                                                                                                                                            
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It’s wedding season again here in the Northwest, and I’ve been ridiculously busy with event photography, traveling and editing wedding photos. I was lucky enough to be hired for the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Leung which took place at the amazing Sorrento Hotel in downtown Seattle. I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves! Congratulations, Polly and Chung!

Just a quick post with a photograph taken tonight of the city of Seattle. What a beautiful, beautiful city! So happy to call it my adopted home….

Seattle, Washington

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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. Where this nutrient-rich water reaches the salty Puget Sound, that is where wildlife abounds! Many of the birds are here for the winter, and will migrate back north to British Columbia, Alaska, the Yukon and Northwest Territories later in the spring.

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Aleutian Cackling Geese

A close-up of a massive gaggle of Aleutian cackling geese in the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge between Tacoma & Olympia, Washington. Until 2004 the cackling goose was considered the same species as the Canada goose, but is the size of a duck, has a very short bill, and has a much higher-pitched honk. The Aleutian cackling goose subspecies breeds in northern Alaska and Canada in the tundra near water, and travels south to California in winter. Making a comeback from near extinction, it has now been removed from the endangered species list.

Hooded Merganser

An attractive female hooded merganser swims in one of the many ponds and pools of the Refuge.

American Coot

The American coot is a very common water bird found throughout North America. Often found among ducks, it is actually not a duck at all, but a member of the rail family.

Great Blue Heron

A great blue heron in winter plumage perches over a pond in the early morning sunlight. I photographed this same heron several times this day, and with the changing light, this image came out beautifully backlit when the sun started coming through the clouds.

Western Gray Squirrel

This northeastern subspecies of the western gray squirrel pause in a tree long enough for me to make this image. Because they are drastically declining in number, mainly due to non-native and invasive species of other squirrels like the more aggressive eastern gray squirrel and the fox squirrel, in 1993 the state of Washington officially listed the western gray squirrel as a threatened species.

Western Gray Squirrel

A western gray squirrel forages among last Fall’s leaves on a cold winter morning.

American Robin

One of the most common birds found across North America, this American robin perches in the same tree only an hour before perched a great horned owl (I missed that shot).

Black-Capped Chickadee

One of the most friendly and curious of American songbirds, this black-capped chickadee pauses on a stick next to me, watching me as closely as I was watching it search for seeds and insects.

Canada Goose

Wintertime at the southern end of Washington’s Puget Sound attracts thousands upon thousands of Canada geese, and the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge is definitely a hotspot for geese!

Great Blue Heron

A great blue heron in winter plumage stands on one leg over a pond waiting out the rain on a very chilly morning.

I’ve been a little behind on posting these images lately, but rest assured I’ve been diligently uploading very many new images daily to our nature photography galleries. More frequent writing about these images coming soon!

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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

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Beer. There is nothing else quite like it. To quote Frank Zappa, “You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.”

I’ve been sporadically hired to photograph food and other culinary assignments occasionally for several years now for a variety of restaurants, chefs, catering companies and bars/pubs, etc., and as much as I really enjoy doing it, I’ve never considered it a staple of my job. Nature photography, events and weddings are what keeps the lights on and bellies fed. About a month ago I came across and read a couple of articles and blog posts that have been slowly sinking in and “fermenting” in my head. This had everything to do with making a solid effort to add culinary photography to my regular list of offerings.

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I spent most of this week researching, gathering ideas, communicating with chefs, sous chefs and beverage distributors in an effort to see what I needed to do to bring culinary photography to the table and be able to offer it at the level that meets or exceeds the requirements of my clients and buyers. Two days ago I spent most of an entire day putting together a (now nearly finished) portable photography studio complete with props, dishware, and all manner of miscellaneous “accoutrements” to get started.

Last night I started photographing beer and really enjoyed it. Rarely does something like this come so easily to me but in reality, I was using the almost exact approach I take to doing macro photography with wild orchids in the outdoors. Lighting and depth of field is everything. At least this time I was indoors and didn’t have to struggle with shifts in wind, clouds and tree shadows.

Part of this shoot was deliberately set to be difficult. I wanted the location to be somewhere that is not ideal for shooting. Not enough room to move around, place equipment or props, windows in the wrong places affecting light and a mix of light sources that I couldn’t control. All of this in an effort to reproduce less-than-ideal conditions as is usually the case when doing these kinds of on-location shoots for my clients and customers.

And where did I find such a place? All of these images were shot in my own bedroom on top of my bed! Can’t get further from the studio than that!

 Over the next several months I will be doing a lot of this kind of work on top of my regular shooting to fill out a culinary photography portfolio and begin to expand gently into that market as well. I’ve got the galleries on our website already set up, so it looks like this project is a go! Visit the new galleries here, where they will be updated daily for at least the next couple of months.

And to answer the inevitable question…. what happened to all the beer after the shoot? All I can say it was magically delicious!

Bottoms up!

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 

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In some parts of the Fakahatchee Strand in the northwestern Florida Everglades, it is very common to wade into areas heavily populated with alligators – especially if there are floating logs with plenty of sunshine for them to bask in. I managed to get quite close to this juvenile. While alert, it stayed calm as long as I moved slowly and stayed low in the water with it.

This little gator was about one meter (three feet) in length and was going into into its third year. Still somewhat mottled with faded bands of yellow, it has already beaten the odds and survived the most dangerous years of its life. No longer hunted by herons, storks, or raccoons – it now has to keep a wary eye out for other alligators and invasive Burmese pythons.

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 to enlarge.

 Cape Flattery

This shot was made almost immediately after arriving, as there was a brief half-hour of morning sunlight before the storm brewing offshore was threatening to turn the morning into a soaker.

Sea Stacks of Cape Flattery

As the clouds came rolling in, the light changed dramatically later in the day and that “big softbox in the sky” turned on, and I got to work. This is one of my favorite aspects of landscape photography in the Pacific Northwest. The light is very often soft and gentle, with minimal overly bright highlights, and shadows are very easy to control with the appropriate camera settings.

Washington’s Rocky Coast

Shooting as wide as I dare with my toes overhanging the ledge of the cliff, I wanted to recreate a look and style that I had in a waterfall photograph I sold to Seattle Magazine this past summer. Shooting at 11mm causes a bit of distortion, but I kind of liked how it looked.

Waves in Action

I’m making myself get more involved with with video, and I shot this quick video clip of the beauty of Washington’s Cape Flattery and the power of the Pacific Ocean as I was waiting for the light to change to continue shooting stills. This is one of those moments when the landscape is so alien to my own experiences and travels that without the sound and movement, much of the experience is lost.

I decided to add this interactive map to show both the terrain and the location of this insanely beautiful place should anyone like to know exactly where Cape Flattery is, and how to get there.

I hope everyone enjoys these images as much as I did making them, and stay tuned…. many many more images are backed up in my cue just waiting to be released!

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 of everything from inbetween.

Video is going to be a big component of our work in 2013 (not as a videographer) and even though these are just stills, there will be a more actual HD video added to our upcoming projects and offerings. Stay tuned! Lots more coming in in the next couple of weeks!