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Strathaird
Strathaird Coast, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Hoodoos
Devil's Garden, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA. Down the long sandy Hole-in-the-Rock dirt road near Escalante lies Devil's Garden, an area of petrified sand dunes and fascinatingly sculpted sandstone hoodoos. A gentle wind allowed me some impression of movement in the foreground grasses.
Buachaille Etive Mòr
Rannoch Moor, Scotland. My feet were getting chilly in my wellies standing in a frozen river at -7 degrees C. Sunrise was just catching the top of Buachaille mountain.
Ice and Stone
Portage Lake, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA. In very early May Portage Lake was still mostly covered by a thin fractured layer of ice. A local I met on the evening I made this image told me that in all his dozens of visits he'd never seen it as still and quiet as this. For me the conditions perfectly complemented the serene and simple palette of blue, grey and white. The only sounds I could hear as I stood on the lake's edge were the faint splintering of melting ice and some far-off splashes as a beaver swam across the lake.
First Light
Bryce Canyon, Utah, USA. A slightly hazy dawn at Bryce Canyon.
Stac Pollaidh
Coigach, Scotland. After much squelching about on the moor above the Loch Lurgainn road I found what is I hope a unique angle of this much photographed mountain.
Monoliths
Wadi Rum desert, Jordan. This desert of red sands and melting chocolate rock is punctuated by huge monoliths of towering sandstone.
Denali
Chulitna River, Alaska, USA. The sunset colours were beginning to fade and slip further behind Denali as two small clouds drifted into the frame to echo the sand bar islands in the river below.
North Iceland
Buachaille Etive Mòr
Rannoch Moor, Scotland.
Above Namche
Namche, Khumbu Valley, Nepal. An incredible morning; it was a snowy, foggy drudge along a path above and behind the town of Namche, heading along the side of a deep valley. Initially due to the fog we could barely see the person in front. Then, suddenly and magically, the dense grey cloud lifted, and to our right this view of the entire valley far below rising up to the sharp mountain peak above became visible.
The Watchman
Zion National Park, Utah, USA. This park and especially this view is far from what you might describe as 'wild', with a busy scenic road and hotels and restaurants just minutes away. But sometimes it's what the scene represents which is important: this mountain will remain long after the human race has disappeared.
Icelandic House
October is Iceland's rainiest month, but blustery autumnal weather interspersed with sunshine makes great conditions for photography. This solitary house guards a rough track to the farms on the far hills, and its windows were lit up by reflection of the bright sky clearing behind me. The sunbeam only penetrated the gloom for a short minute.
Mountains of Madeira
Pico du Aireiro, Madeira. Clouds surround the high peaks of Madeira at dawn and begin to spill into the interior valleys. I used a slow shutter speed of a few seconds to capture an impression of the clouds' movement over the cusp of the ridge.
Denali Dawn
Alaska, USA. It's unusual for Denali to even be visible: such is its size that it creates its own weather patterns and is rarely free of cloud. So to catch this still clear morning with Denali's summit surrounded by a thin cloud halo was extremely lucky.
Stillness
Lake Pukaki, Canterbury. This view of a calm and glassy Lake Pukaki opened up as I drove along the road from Tekapo village on a cool cloudy evening. In the week I spent in the area I never saw the lake even half as still as this.
Alpenglow
Mount Blackburn, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska, USA. After the sun had set, camped by the side of the road above Willow Lake, the early summer mosquitos were rampant. But when I saw a pink alpenglow lighting up the tip of Mt Blackburn, an ancient volcano and the highest peak in the Wrangell Mountains hundreds of miles away, I wasn't about to let a mosquito or fifty get in the way of my shot...
Smoky Mountains
Denali National Park, Alaska, USA. Forest fires burning in early summer cloud Teklanika valley with smoke to eerie effect.
Tasman Valley
Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand. This opportunity presented itself as we descended to land at Mount Cook Airport in a skiplane. The lengthening evening shadows and sky-reflecting river winding away towards Tasman Glacier give this image a dramatic atmosphere.
Rhododendron Nightmares
Lake District, Cumbria, England. In Victorian times Rhododendron was introduced to the grounds of estates all over the country to provide cover for game birds. Unfortunately, it's a hardy fast-spreading plant that out-competes native species and adds toxicity to the soil, resulting in the destruction of our native woodlands. It's extremely difficult and expensive to eradicate infested areas - in Brodick on the Isle of Arran, the National Trust for Scotland have been battling it for 30 years.
Sea
Pico Ruivo, Madeira. This image might look like it was taken from an aeroplane, but in fact this view of endless clouds hanging over the Atlantic Ocean was what we saw on the hike down from Pico Ruivo, the highest peak of Madeira at nearly 2000 metres. I used a tripod and 200mm lens in order to isolate the clouds from the scenery.
Gillespies Beach
Westland, New Zealand. The beaches on the west coast of the South Island are littered with driftwood - a photographer's dream!
Hunter
Denali National Park, Alaska, USA. Alpenglow on Mt Hunter and the Alaska Range.
Eruption
Cook Inlet, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA. The state-owned Stariski campground lies just off the Sterling Highway, which runs down the eastern shore of the Cook Inlet. Perched atop the cliffs, both the highway and the campground have incredible views looking over the inlet to the volcanoes on the far shore. On our visit however, the view was even more spectacular than usual: Mt. Redoubt, the third highest peak of the Aleutian Range and an active stratovolano, was erupting. Devoid of its usual snow cover compared to its neighbours, the plume of steam from the summit lava dome is here strewn across the sky by prevailing winds. We were the sole users of Stariski for this night; the entire campsite was covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash.
Paria Wilderness
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA.
Ama Dablam
Khumbu Valley, Nepal. The 6812 metres of Ama Dablam dominates views on the long trek up the Khumbu Valley to Mount Everest.
Reach
Deadvlei, Namib desert, Namibia. This pair of dead camelthorn trees appeared to be reaching out to each other with the tips of their dead branches. I juxtaposed them with the graceful curve of an old water course, now forever dry, the cause of their demise.
Deadvlei Mist
Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. Some tendrils of mist drifted towards the back of the Deadvlei pan on this the second morning I visited. I was the first to get there, well before sunrise, and as I walked towards the desiccated skeletons of the camelthorn trees I disturbed a herd of Springbok whose hooves clattered noisily as they scattered away, echoing off the surrounding dunes. After that the pan was eerie and quiet.... until the first tourists began to arrive!