2025 has been unreal. The first full year of life in Colorado did not disappoint. Additionally – it’s worth noting that while I typically try and ensure there’s a balance between my “vacation” and regular life photos in my “Favorite Images” collections, the images this year from my Fall Trip were so varied and unique that I can’t help but have them account for more than half of this year’s selection. I hope you enjoy the stories behind them and the photos themselves.
For an extended viewing experience (with even more images) check out this extended gallery, 2025 Favorites.
Dispersed & Distressed
August 16th | Colorado
This was one of the coolest weekends of the year. Sophie and I did some dispersed camping on the Friday night of August 15th. After one of the (if not the) worst nights of sleep in recent memory, we woke up and were treated to one helluva light show.
This was ten feet from where we slept.
Sandstone
September 24th | Utah
The first image from my Fall Trip enters the list. Something I had done a lot of on my first visit to the Mighty Five was photograph the texture and sandstone that make up this stunning landscape. On my revisit to Zion in 2025, I kept my eyes peeled for that texture again and the results show.
The colors are what make this image – the white leaning slab in the bottom of the frame coming up to the big dark shadow of the notch in the center where the stone comes together. The striations in the sand all serving to bring you into the center piece of the frame. It’s exceptional.
Rivers Leaving The Park
September 25th | Utah
On the morning I’d be leaving Zion I knew I had a long drive ahead of me so I couldn’t do too long of a hike. I decided to revisit the hike I’d done on my first night in the park back in 2022. The images I got at sunrise were vastly different but equally breathtaking.
I love this image for the framing offered and the counterweight we get by the tree on the right of frame leading you into the view as the sun begins hitting The Watchman. Complimented by the colors of the early morning sky reflected off of the river below and the brush along the riverbanks we have all the recipes for a wonderful image through and through.
Mojave Dunes
September 25th | California
Lowest. Driest. Hottest.
Photographing the sand rolling off the dunes was joyous. It was a gorgeous evening baking in the sun – and the results show. I strongly recommend checking out the full gallery for this park, linked here. The results were spectacular both this evening and the following morning overlooking the badlands.
Joshua
September 26th | California
As I was leaving Death Valley for Yosemite – I drove a long ways across the rural highways of Southern California. It was quiet and desolate but the plants didn’t seem to mind.
Eventually as I was driving through a prairie of these trees I stumbled upon a pull off with a few close by and this cloud hanging about (reminding me of the cloud from the film Nope). I knew that a black and white conversion would work wonders here and I went for it and the result is one of the most visually striking images of the whole trip. The early morning light offering a dark and pronounced shadow against the otherwise monotone landscape.
The dark black sky with the floating cumulus cloud offering a counter weight to the anchor of the tree balances the scene perfectly. If that sky were empty it would be far too much dead space in the image for it to be captivating. With the cloud there it forms a coherent visual scene.
Insanity
September 27th | California
Without a doubt this was the best sunset of the whole trip. I had arrived in the Valley far earlier than intended (but it wasn’t a bad thing – I had nowhere else to be). As I waited and watched the early evening light flood in through the valley – the clouds in the distance began turning a inky black and gray. A storm in the high country was forming.
As the storm rolled in there was constant cracks of thunder all around me – and rain was coming down but I had prepared for this and threw my rain coat on. I was not leaving until sunset was behind me. The clouds on the horizon never blocked out the sun and we ended up being treated to one hell of a display of light.
There were rainbows after rainbows illuminating the valley sky and the light of the setting sun was igniting the far off peak of Half Dome. It was truly an unforgettable moment – and one I’m proud to have captured.
Waiting For This
September 30th | California
A few days later, I was driving into the park to do a hike at some of the falls I could see earlier on in the trip. On the way in I was passing a pull-off I had seen on the day prior and stopped. A thick layer of fog and cloud was covering the valley floor engulfing us in silence and shadow.
However it was moving fast. It would be here one moment and gone the next and I knew that this scene had the makings of something spectacular. If the light of the rising sun in the east broke through the clouds in the distance we would get absolutely spectacular light on the peaks of the rock formation photographed below.
I had to wait for this shot – but it did play out like I thought it would eventually – producing one of the most dramatic images from my entire time in Yosemite.
Twilight
October 5th | Colorado
A mountain town under the early evening light of blue hour. Wisps of clouds in the sky and the horizon of the west catching the final bits of a day wrapping up. My time in this part of the country was brief on this trip and I know I’ll be back. In the meantime I have this image to remember it by.
I love the warm and yellow tones of the headlights parading through the main strip of the town. They bring your eye through and into the scene with the bend of the road at the far end driving you out towards the entrance of the valley. Hints of color dot the trees in the landscape and the mountains offer a dramatic guide for your eyes to follow down into the scene from the top of frame.
Feeling like Lapland
November 29th | Colorado
This was a cold and lonely hike for Sophie and I. I believe the temperature was close to 11ºF with wind bringing the feels like closer to the negatives. Sophie and I started the hike well below treeline but as we climbed we gained more and more exposure to the elements and this shot was taken near the end of the hike.
I like the soft shapes and lines the cloud obscured sun makes on this scene. Additionally (and surprisingly) the lone telephone pole works really well for my taste. It adds a compositional element that adds to the scene instead of detracting from it.
Frost & Fog
November 29th | Colorado
Hoarfrost and fog – a recipe for success that’s hard to beat. Sophie and I had finished our hike (where the above image was taken) and were coming home when we hit a patch of freezing fog at the top of one of the hills along the front-range.
I was driving and had to take a chance and pull off. We drove around for a while when I found this stunning frame – frozen pines, exposed red bark and a dapple of grass at the bottom acting as a nice entry layer for the composition.
Add to this that this picture is only possible because of the fog, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have seen this. Behind this scene typically is a sweeping expanse of mountains and forests and it’s stunning in its own right but a subject like this excels because of the isolation of these foreground subjects in the image.
So We Begin
December 8th | Colorado
The top of the pass and looking towards the distant mountains I waited for the sun to set. This was the first night of the December trip and comfortably the best conditions I got on the whole trip. I had a stunning view and a long sunset to work with.
The peaks of the far off range and the clouds behind them were getting side lit and lifted to the highest heights of beauty those peaks are capable of. It was a perfect way to begin the trip.
Min
December 10th | Colorado
If you get more than one keeper on a trip, that trip’s a success. By that metric, I count my December trip as a roaring success. There were pain-points throughout the whole trip. A suite of failures from Booking.com, the most intense wind I’ve ever seen both in the valley and at the top of a pass, and melting snow being my only company on the trail for the week.
However – on December 10th (near the end of the trip) I was able to get an image so close to what my vision for the trip was that I can’t help but ignore every pain-point from the trip.
Part of the reason I’ve been chasing snow so bad was that I wanted a shot exactly like this one. It’s so minimal it’s barely even a photograph. I noticed the snow-mound was perfect and clean and the clouds were dimming the sky and making its color almost a 1:1 complement of the drift in the foreground.
