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david
@fringe.com
120 followers 59 following 130 posts
Photographer of the world around me, focusing on adventure, journey and history
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Dark Spire.

There is always a path out of the darkness.

#photography #landscape #utah #nature #night
A spire juts up from a ridge in a valley floor at night. There’s a lot going on in this seemingly simple photograph. First off is the spire. This is a dark piece of rock that rises 75’ feet or so from the top of a ridge. Its sides are smooth as can be and there are a couple of bands of different color rock around it. The top is thinner than the bottom, but only because it looks like some of the side near the top broke off long ago. There’s a second, much smaller spire to the left of the main spire, but it is only a few feet, maybe 20' or so, high. There is a ridge that the spire sits on, entering from the bottom of the photograph, and with its sides sloping left and right. The ridge ends at the spire. There’s a pathway on top of the ridge where people have walked out to the spire. And believe you me, a lot of people have walked out there. Tons. And walked everywhere, messing up a really pristine landscape. Sigh. But I digress. Beyond the ridge the valley continues off to the left and is surrounded by high walls of rock, or at least, what passes for rock here. It’s more loose and way crumbly something. If I was a geologist, which I am not, I could tell you what it is, but suffice it to say it isn’t all that solid, but at least it can form high walls. Oh, and the photograph was made at night. You can see stars in a deep blue sky, and everything else, except the spire, is a pale and ghostly. This places doesn’t have much color in the day to begin with, and at night, forget it. The spire is dark, so makes a nice, and in fact, the only contrast, with everything else.
November 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM
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Dancing Aspens

Dance, and spread joy

#photography #aspens #joy
A close up view of aspen trunks in peak fall color. There are about a dozen or so aspens that dominate the frame of this photograph. Behind them are the golden leaves of other aspens, so the photograph is trunks in the foreground and leaves behind. You can see the forest floor which has some forms and other growth you typically find. What make this special, though, are the trunks themselves. They are all curved, bending to the right. The curve starts near the bottom, bends to the right, then the trunk straightens back out and go up and out of frame. The overall effect is that the aspens are dancing. There are other aspen trunks in the far background—these are all straight.
November 9, 2025 at 3:59 PM
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Crystal's Repose

History Remembers.

#photography #colorado #history
A view of Crystal Mill during the fall. The mill itself is the featured object of the photograph, as well it should be, but does not occupy the entire frame. Instead, the mill itself is ever so slightly left of center. It is later in the afternoon, so the entire scene is well lit, especially the mill. You can see every board, and if you were to zoom in all the way, even the cracks in the boards. The mill is perched on a large rock, and a wooden square cage reaches from the mill to the Crystal River, some 20 feet below. The Crystal River enters from the left side, unseen, and flows left to right, down a small waterfall and out of the frame to the center right. There’s a good amount of water, so the waterfall, just 10 feet high, is energetic. Aspens at the peak of fall color surround the mill on the left, back, and right. There’s just a hint of green, but really, we’ll call it peak. You can see some larger mountains in the background, but just the base of them. The sky is blue with some cumulus clouds that hint at rain.
November 2, 2025 at 3:59 PM
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Little River, Great Smoky Mountain NP

Nature provides tranquility.

#photography #nature #landscape
A river flows toward us, with fall color in the background. A river, just as wide as the photograph, flows from the middle of the photograph toward us. It is quite shallow, perhaps just a foot or so, and there are rocks jutting up everywhere. The river is gently flowing and is tranquil. In the background there are small trees leaning over the river, and in fact, they obscure the river. The leaves are green, yellow, and orange, in every hue imaginable. So, it’s a cacophony of color hanging over the river. There’s a few bare branches, too, adding some visual interest.
October 26, 2025 at 3:01 PM
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Hoodoo Dance

The last rays of sunlight are a perfect time for celebration.

#newmexico #photography #wilderness
A panoramic view of hoodoos with a developing sunset. The lower portion of the photograph is hoodoos from edge to edge; the left center section rises up, and the topmost hoodoos sit at odd angles. I, personally, think they had a little too much to drink, but others tell me that’s just the way they were formed. Who knows? Anyway. They look pretty neat, what with the odd positioning and all. The hoodoos on the left are larger, and the ones on the right are smaller, and countless. Seriously. There must be over a hundred teeny-tiny hoodoos. The photograph was made at sunset, and the hoodoos, especially the ones on the left, are all in golden tones. The ones on the right aren’t golden, but their tops are catching the light, so they have a little golden tone in them. The sky is mostly cloudy with some blue patches here and there. Like the foreground, the sky is reflecting the late afternoon colors, which here are purple and pink tones. The clouds are pretty heavy, but because they’re colorful, the scene looks excellent.
October 12, 2025 at 1:00 PM
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Teton Stronghold

Be strong. Be resolute. Never give up.

#photography #teton #fall
The snake flows past the cloud-wrapped Mount Moran with aspens in full fall color. This photograph is oriented vertically. The Snake River takes up the very bottom of the photograph. There are a few ripples on it, but overall it is pretty calm. Aspens line the far bank, and they are in full fall color. There’s also a single pine tree there. It’s looking pretty lost in and among the aspens, that’s for sure. Above the aspens and taking up the top two thirds of the photograph is Mount Moran. You can’t see it very well because it is cloud-wrapped, but there are a few breaks here and there that let the mountain peak through. You can see, barely, that it has a little snow here and there. There’s a hint of blue sky in the upper right, but again, it’s mostly clouds. Overall, it makes a strong impression of the mountain towering over fall.
September 21, 2025 at 2:59 PM
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Classic Watchman

Stay the course.

#zion #photography #landscape
The Virgin River runs alongside The Watchman. The Virgin River flows from the bottom center of the photograph toward the middle, disappearing along the way. But we know that it keeps going, of course. The middle-top of the photograph is dominated by The Watchman, which is a rugged mountain. It has a sharp peak at the top, sheer sides, and is absolutely incredible. The photograph is right before sunset, so The Watchman is lit in rich, deep golden hues. The sky is blue with high, wispy cumulus clouds. The photograph was made in the fall, so the trees and foliage is turning into the autumn colors, but there is still plenty of green, too, on each side. In the distance you can see more mountains.
September 7, 2025 at 2:53 PM
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Archangel Falls

Good things come to, and bad things disappear from, those who wait.

#zion #waterfall #photography #nature
The Virgin River runs down Archangel Falls in Zion National Park. The river has some flow to it, but it is not overly high. There’s enough water to spread out over the entire cascade without it being too deep. The cascade itself is deep red rocks with a lot, and I mean a lot, of low drops, with each one being just a foot or so high. The river runs from the back center of the photograph toward us. This makes sense because I was standing in the cascade to photograph it. I also used a longer exposure, so the water appears silky and flowing. What isn’t apparent in the photograph is how slippery it was. There’s some moss that you can’t see, and it was very difficult to walk! In the background you can see tall, towering canyon walls extending to the top of the photograph. They're golden because of the light reflecting off them, and they are striking in the color. There are some trees with green leaves on either side of the river, which are bright and vibrant.
August 31, 2025 at 3:00 PM
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Marketing really needs to pick a lane.

#marketingfail
A close up view of a supermarket display showing a bag of coffee in a cardboard box. The coffee claims it is "The high achiever" and offers energy plus focus. Fine. It's coffee. Makes sense. The box, however, extolls "customizable sleep time" (whatever that is). Probably not the best coffee description.
August 26, 2025 at 10:39 PM
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Voltage Smite

Justice, like karma, comes swiftly and all at once

#photography #nature #landscape #lightning
The photograph shows an empty field with low distant hills in the background. It’s late summer, so the field has some green, but there’s also a bare patch of dirt. There is a single small cactus. Just a bit of the field is showing, so the photograph is mostly sky. The sky is full of dark, ominous clouds, full of blues and purples. Why purple? Because the clouds are lit by twin strikes of lightning, cloud to ground. The bolts emanate from the top center of the photograph, and it’s their light that makes the clouds grow. These are large bolts, especially the one on the right. They are impressive, and you can feel the surge of electricity in the photograph. There are numerous smaller tendrils branching off the main bolt. You can feel the tension and the drama in this photograph. And yes, the thunder from this strike was epic. I was obviously close to the lightning, and one could argue far too close. Lightning is deadly and completely unpredictable. If you can see it, it can see you. And it will be attracted to you. Do not attempt to photograph lightning without adequate safety precautions, such as having a safe place to be in. Please be safe.
August 24, 2025 at 2:54 PM
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Thor’s Well

Let your worries flow away, at least for today

#nature #ocean #photography
An ocean scene where the water appears to be flowing into a large hole. And, in fact, that is precisely what is happening here. This area of the Oregon coast is rocky and craggy, and has lots of these kinds of holes. This one, which is about twenty to thirty feet across, is one of the larger ones. Who knows how deep it is, but there is likely a way out at the bottom for the water. When the waves sweep in, the water pours into the hole. It’s also incredibly dangerous to photograph this, too. Why? Because you need to be close to it, and that means you’re out on the rocks, and any way you look at it, your back will be to the ocean. And there is, quite simply, no more dangerous position than having your back to the ocean. And that goes doubly so when you’re out on slippery rocks, close to something which is lethal, with water pouring and streaming all around you, hoping that a big wave doesn’t come in. Yeah, it was wild to create this one.
August 17, 2025 at 2:40 PM
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Peace and beauty will find us every day.

#photography #landscape #nature #colorado
An alpine meadow filled with wildflowers and distant mountain peaks in the background. We’re looking at a meadow filled with wildflowers. There is mostly tall grasses, and intermixed are white wildflowers and bluebells. There are a few yellow and red flowers in there, too, but not very many, and you have to look really close to see them. A row of pine trees is just behind the meadow. The pine trees clearly edge the meadow, and it isn’t a thick row, but they are there, all the same. A mountain comes down from the right and ends just before the center of the frame. In the background there are peaks of some much taller mountains, and are these are lit by the sun. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue with white fluffy clouds. There’s a hint of a storm cloud to the left, and it looks like later a storm might come in. And yes, a storm did happen later, and it was fierce. I ended up soaking wet from it, but that makes this photograph all the more special.
August 10, 2025 at 2:56 PM
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Follow Me

Let’s go outside, touch dirt, and set off on an adventure.

#photography #wildlife #wildhorse #nature

More at www.fringe.com
A foal leads his mom down the hill. Two silhouetted horses are in the photograph: a young foal and a mare, both heading down a slight slope. They are headed from left to right. Behind the mare you can see a little dirt being kicked up. The ground is a wonderful nondescript brown with a couple of small rocks. Behind the horses, the sky is light blue with loads of cumulus clouds. It’s always risky to ascribe human emotions to the animal kingdom, but it certainly does look like there is joy in the young horse’s heart. Its head is held high, and its ears are alert. It almost seems to float off the ground, and it can’t wait to keep exploring. I know. I made the photograph, and this young horse was full of life, energy, and vitality.
August 3, 2025 at 2:53 PM
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www.fringe.com/alaskan-nigh...

It's another long read! There's no place like Alaska to see the Northern Lights! Join me on a journey to experience an awe-inspiring lightship!

#longread #alaska #northernlights
Alaskan Nights Let Us Watch Beautiful and Phenomenal Northern Lights
Alaskan Nights give us the opportunity to see some of the best northern light displays anywhere. The Aurora Borealis never looked so amazing!
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July 23, 2025 at 7:11 PM
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The Sentinel

We are but stewards of these lands. It’s our responsibility to protect them.

#photography #landscape #monumentvalley
A man on a horse watches over Monument Valley A man in a red shirt is sitting on a standing horse right of center in this photograph. The man and horse are on a rock outcrop. You might think the man and horse dominate the photograph, but that’s not the case. They’re quite small, and you have to squint to make out any details. The landscape is vast, and they are but a tiny part of it. And that, in turn, truly emphasizes the scale. Behind them is a large portion of Monument Valley. 1,000 foot buttes look almost small, but they’re not. But the photograph encompasses so much that your sense of scale is impacted. The skies are cloudy with some thick clouds. Not the kind that are likely to produce rain, but just thick. The scene is sunlit, though, because there was a break in the clouds that allowed the sun to shine through.
July 20, 2025 at 2:58 PM
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Our public lands provide extraordinary moments and vistas. It’s up to us to preserve them.

#photography #landscape #colorado #wildflower
A panoramic photographs with bluebells in the foreground and a mountain in the background with blue skies. The foreground is a meadow, and the photographer (that’s me!) is standing in the middle, surrounding by vegetation, and, of course, bluebells. The flowers, not overly dense, stretch from side to side. There’s some tall pine trees in the background, but they look small from this perspective. The shoulders of two other mountains are on each side, framing the image and pulling you deeper into the photograph. In the background is a mountain with some scraps of snow on it. It’s above the treelike, so there aren’t any trees on it. That makes sense because I made this photograph around 14,000 feet. The skies are blue with some light cloud streaks that seem to disappear behind the mountain. With the cloud streaks and the foreground pulling you into the photograph, the overall effect is powerful and almost—almost—makes you forget about the bluebells. But they’re there and the namesake of this photograph.
July 13, 2025 at 2:52 PM
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Luminous Silence

Always reach for the light. There’s plenty for everyone.

#aurora #alaska #naturę #photography
Silhouetted trees rise to meet auroral light in a panoramic photograph. There are several silhouetted tree tops, mostly pine, but also a couple of birch, in the photograph. You can’t see the trunks, only the tops. The pines in the center are the tallest, making a nice symmetry in the photograph. There’s only about 15 pine trees total, so there aren’t many trees, but they are all very symmetrical and pretty. On the right-hand side are leafless birches. Behind the trees, the aurora streams down. The aurora is an iridescent teal that positively glows. It appears the trees are all reaching up to meet the light, which is what makes this photograph so impactful. There is some sky visible on the left side with some stars. This is a simple image, but powerful because of the simplicity.
July 6, 2025 at 2:58 PM
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Lightning Road

Storms hold no fear for us. Onward!

#photography #nature #lightning #colorado
A dirt two-track leads into a storm-filled sky with lightning. The foreground has a two-track, left of center, that leads into the distance. On either side of the track is some desert-like scrub and vegetation. There’s some low yucca plants, weeds, and stuff you don’t really want to walk in. Nothing is over ankle height, though, so you can easily see into the distance. Everything is green and healthy looking because it’s been raining here a lot recently. The sky, though, is where the action is. It has heavy clouds—really heavy clouds, and it is pouring rain in the distance. To the right you can see inflow steaming in, and in there is probably a rear-flank downdraft, too. The photograph doesn’t show the wind well, but as I made the photograph, it was super windy. You can see all sorts of layers and nuance in the clouds, and the clouds lead the eye to where the two-track goes. Oh, and there’s lightning, too. You can clearly see three bolts. The ones on the left and right are your every-day bolt of lightning. But the one in the center is really exceptionally. It goes through the inflow cloud and is bright and intense. There’s also a faint bolt in the clouds that never made it to the ground. This storm did its best to spawn a tornado, and really, it should have, given the slight rotation and healthy inflow. But it did not, which is a good thing.
June 29, 2025 at 2:31 PM
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From the archives: Welcome,Elk

Let’s not forget to greet each new day with a sense of wonder and awe, and to embrace the adventures we’ll have today.

#photography #nature #wildlife
A newborn elk peers through a pine tree. A newly born elk stands in the branches of a pine tree. You can see the whole body and the elk is looking slightly to the left. There’s a single smallish pine tree, and the elk is standing near the trunk. Behind the elk there is a puddle of water, and behind that, snow on an embankment. The elk’s eyes are bright, and its ears are in the alert, but not alarmed, position.
June 8, 2025 at 2:59 PM
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Storm Road.

We're in the storm, but the road leads on. We'll continue on and emerge into blue skies.

#photography #newmexico #landscape
A dirt road leads into a storm. We are standing n the middle of a wide, well-maintained dirt road. The road is red due to the soil composition. Not bright red, but sort of a muted reddish color. To either side is desert vegetation in muted greens. You can see some scrub, cactus and assorted brushes, but nothing over knee-height. The sky is full of dark gray storm clouds that seem to converge in the distance. The road and clouds look like they meet ahead, pulling us deep into the photograph.
June 1, 2025 at 3:09 PM
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Flower Reach

There’s nothing like California Poppies to cheer us up!

#photography #nature #flowers
A field of yellow flowers stretches into the distance. In the foreground, it’s nothing but yellow flowers, with a few orange poppies tossed in here and there. Well, there’s a few low scrub bushes, too, which detract, but there was no way to get those out of the frame. So let’s just ignore those. Anyway. Yellow flowers stretching from the bottom of the frame to about halfway up. 
Then, on the left, is a low hill covered in orange poppies. Just orange poppies and the right side hill looks solid orange. The left side is green—probably more of that pesky scrub again. In the background are some mountains, and the largest one is snow-covered. It’s a nice contrast to the flowers, really. The other mountains are unremarkable. Finally, the sky is pleasant and blue with some white clouds. Not the fluffy kind, but rather the streak kind. But they still look really nice.
May 25, 2025 at 12:44 PM
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Our reach for the stars must never stop.

It’s a new long read!

www.fringe.com/death-valley...

#photography #longread #landscape #milkyway
Badwater Basin at night. The foreground is the salt flat stretching from your feet toward the horizon. There are ridges forming large, vaguely hexagonal shapes, but there are salt protrusions everywhere. The salt flat is white, but it is nighttime, so the colors are muted. Beyond the salt flat, mountains rise in the distance. The mountains don’t have any peaks, though. The sky is the star of the show, pun intended. You can see an arch of stars stretching from side to side. This isn’t the Milky Way as is usually shown because you can’t see the core, but it is the Milky Way all the same. There are stars everywhere. There are varying colors in the sky from air glow. Large reddish “clouds” are throughout the sky, and very notably on the left side. One of the clouds is a crescent that surrounds a circle, centered in the Orion Constellation. This is Barnard’s Loop. Anyway, these clouds are really hydrogen gas structures that the human eye cannot easily see, but by careful equipment choices and post-processing are visible in the photograph.
May 4, 2025 at 3:02 PM
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The way forward is clear. Let’s keep moving.

#photography #nature #ocean
The sun is setting over a calm Pacific Ocean. The sky is clear and cloudless, and the normal blue is almost gone, leaving only golden tones throughout the photograph. The sun, positioned dead-center in the frame (how’s that for a compositional technique?) is just above the ocean and will set it in another moment or two. The sun’s reflection goes from the sun to the bottom of the photograph. On the left side, you can see the top of a tree in silhouette, and this takes up most of the left side. In the lower right there is the top of a palm tree. Overall, the photograph exudes calmness and serenity. I hope.
April 27, 2025 at 3:00 PM
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Take a moment and reflect on all that’s good around you

#photography #nature #wildlife
An antelope squirrel is resting on a rock while intently watching a cactus flower. On the right side of the photograph, the squirrel is sitting on a large rock, facing left. Although, because the squirrel is small, the rock only appears large. It’s a matter of perspective, right? Its tail is curled over its back, and its front paws are raised. It is calm and relaxed. There is a cactus of some variety or other on the left side of the photograph. The cactus has a single pinkish flower that is open and facing the squirrel. There is a piece or two of dead cholla cactus to the right and above the squirrel, further framing it.
April 20, 2025 at 2:58 PM
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Aurora Spectacle

An aurora dances over a snowy field in Alaska. Celebrate the joy you find every day, and don’t forget to dance. It’s OK to dance in the darkness.

#photography #landscape #alaska #nature
Aurora over a snowy field. We’ll start with the foreground first, which is a snow field. The field rises slightly before us, meaning I was photographing low and looking uphill. Not totally ideal, but it worked out. There are a few widely scattered spruce trees. These are not very tall and they look, well, unkempt is a good word. They have, more or less, a classic shape, but they it is clear they struggle. There are four prominent ones in the foreground, two on each side, and more in the distance. Really, they are there to break up the foreground and add some depth and scale. There’s a low hill at the horizon on the left. The aurora is, as expected, the star of the show. It’s a green curtain that begins where the snow ends and extends the width of the photograph. Above the green it blends into reds, so we have a classic green to red aurora. There are lots, and i mean lots, of streaks going up and down. There is a brighter are passing left to right through the green, adding depth and contrast to the scene. Overall, the entire scene is dark, but it still works. So, bottom line, we have a green aurora fading into red over a snowy field, with said field have a few spruce trees in it.
April 6, 2025 at 2:55 PM