Desperate to trade bumper-to-bumper traffic for cleaner air and vibrant foliage, we packed the car for a nine-day road journey across California. Covering over two thousand miles through the Eastern Sierra, the southern Cascades, and the Central Valley, this field journal chronicles early sunrises, bear encounters along alpine shores, 4,000-year-old trees, and why escaping into the wild matters now more than ever.

Over the past decade, my camera has been far more than a tool for making images - it’s been a visual journal through the places my family and I have called home. From humble beginnings down south to the thick forests of Upstate New York, the wide prairies of South Dakota, the high country of Colorado, and now the coast of California, this post is a reflection on how these distinct landscapes shaped my journey, my family's story, and my mission as a conservation photographer.

Trading the stagnant brake lights of Friday rush hour for a solitary, sub-freezing vigil at 12,095 feet. This long-form field log from the summit of Independence Pass details the technical patience of astro-landscape tracking and a rare encounter with vibrant, luminous planetary airglow over the Continental Divide.