A moment right out of my photographic dreams as the sun began to set on the final day of Deep Summer, and just another casual lap for 15-year-old Elliot Smith.
Self Portrait | 7:13 pm, March 13 | Marin County, California | Light has returned to our evenings, in incredible style here. This was perhaps the most physically exhausting and technically challenging "selfie" I've shot; shooting a distant ridge at 200mm and racing a rapidly setting sun. It took many tries and frantic laps back and forth to the camera to nail my positioning in the frame, but in the end I was lucky that it finally worked just two minutes before the sun set--when that distant star was casting its most brilliant fiery glow across the scene.
What started as a chilly morning sure turned into an idyllic California coastal winter day when the sun rose. After being pounded by rain in recent weeks, the light, color, and warmth felt incredible.
Self Portrait | Marin County | November 2016 | I'm always pushing myself to find beautiful locations and exciting conditions to shoot, but on this one my heart was beating particularly quickly as I ran back and forth between takes. I'd been past this spot many times and thought about shooting there sometime, but on this particular morning, it was as if West Marin knew I was coming and put on a special effects show.
Satch's sliding selfie series. It hasn't been too warm in Santa Barbara as of late, so I tried to pack the dust, ocean, and #lightbro in this one to convince myself that summer really is coming.
As someone who got into photography by shooting cloudy landscapes, I am drawn outdoors when a storm moves in. Such was the case yesterday evening; and after driving to the trailhead through fog thick enough to obscure the road in front of me, I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and catch this epic moment.