I was contacted in July by Nature’s Best and asked to submit 3 of my original slides for consideration for the Finals. I had 1 image in each of the following categories, Art In Nature, Plant Life, and this image of Denali in Landscapes. Unfortunately, they did not choose any of them for this years awards, but it is still quite an accomplishment to get as far as I did.

Please visit my Nature Photography Awards page to learn more about my award winning nature photography or visit my Denali National Park Photography page to see more of my Mt McKinley images.

I just opened my returned submission from the 2007 BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. It is the premier nature photography exhibit in the world. This year they had over 32,000 entries from 78 countries. Unfortunately, I did not have any of my images selected for the exhibit. However, of the 5 original transparencies that I submitted, all 5 of them made it into the Semi-Finals, and 2 of them made it into the Finals! My image “Cloudy Fall Colors Panorama” at Mt Rainier made it into the Finals in the In Praise of Plants category. Also, my image “Arctic Ocean Sunset Panorama” made it into the Finals into the Wild Places category. Consider for a moment that typically over half of the entries into these nature photography exhibits are in the Landscape categories, and you can understand that this is still quite an honor, even if nobody ever knows it but me.

Please visit my Nature Photography Awards page to learn more about my award winning nature photography or visit my Ivvavik National Park Photography page to see more of my Firth River images from the Arctic.

Landscape Category – Honorable Mention (2nd Place) – I am proud to announce that 5 of my images have been selected to be part of the 2007 EPI. This image of the fog parting over the Sauk River with crepuscular rays was taken from a Cesna 172 with the window open in October 2006. I could see this scene unfolding as the sun came up, and by the time that the pilot had gotten the plane into position, the fog was evaporating quickly. I got this shot on the first pass, and by the time we came around for a second run, all the fog had disappeared. It was a spectacular moment.

This image of the famous “Wave” formation was taken at sunset in early January 2006. It recently appeared along with my lava image from Hawaii in Nature’s Best magazine’s annual photography awards. It was Highly Honored in the Art in Nature category.

My friend Duncan and I were the only people to apply for a permit to visit the Coyote Buttes in northern Arizona this particular day. We hiked in very early in the morning hoping to catch the sunrise, and then spent a beautiful sunny day relaxing and waiting for the sunset. It was gorgeous watching the formation turn orange with the low angle light. I was shooting both my 6×7 and panoramic cameras side by side, and almost missed this shot as the light finally went away. I’m glad that I can be this fast when taking and composing images, as this light went away within 10 seconds.

My image, “East Pond Lava Vent” (vertical) was published in Nature’s Best magazine’s 2006 Photography Awards issue. It was recently selected from the 120 images that made up the awards to be one of the few images on display in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, DC this winter. It was awarded Highly Honored in the Art In Nature Category.  The exhibit opens Nov 16th to the public and will run through April 2007.