It was a smoky afternoon in Montana. That was the story of the week, if I'm being honest. But challenging situations caused us to travel, to look, to try something different. Which I'm actually glad for. But on this particular day, we ended up driving all over. I can't recall the original plan, but it fell apart, and we drove northward to one mountain range in particular, if my memory serves me correctly. Montana is full of back roads, dirt roads, and roads that you can't rea

Cold water rushes through a narrow ravine. On either side of the stream, sections of rock are exposed, revealing ancient breccia, a mixture of sharp-edged rock fragments and finer grains, like a rough, natural concrete, formed by ancient volcanic activity and other dramatic forces. Vibrant green moss covers the landscape as the water rushes over ancient boulders. The stream flows through a canyon surrounded by peaks over nine thousand feet high. The American West and its geol

Do you remember back in the nineties when TV shows would have recap episodes? A couple of people would talk and remember something. Then the screen would get all fuzzy, chimes or some dreamy music would play, and then there would be a scene from an earlier episode. I suppose I do something like that on this website at times. But hey, I was a nineties kid. It is amazing to me, however, that here we are, around a year in. By God's grace and with His help, I've been able to writ

Four hundred and six miles. That's how far we drove, if memory serves, one day on my recent trip. Montana is a big state, and there is a lot to see. Smoke, however, kept us from some locations. Instead, we searched all around, and on this particular day, we ended up looking for a waterfall. It wasn't one that either of us knew much about; we weren't even really sure where it was. Well, other than which trailhead to go to. We arrived with a couple of hours of sunlight left, an

Not the typical photograph I would go for, but when conditions are what they are, you have to make do. Is it everyone's cup of tea? Perhaps not. But it actually is one of my favorite shots from my recent trip. It tells a story. And those are my favorite photographs. Mountain vistas, alpine lakes, wildflower meadows, epic sunsets brought on by afternoon thunderstorms. These are all things that come to the mind of a photographer when they think of the American West in summer. B

Greatest shot of all time? No. But a stunning scene that points to God's beauty and creative power? I believe so. I'm in Montana with a friend of mine. A big part of why I'm here is because it's a spectacular place to photograph, and lately I've been wanting to be better at photography. But, as you have probably seen in posts I've written on the topic, photography itself can be a challenge. If you've ever played golf, then you know how it is. You may have all the knowledge in

The light was looking pretty good. That's what I was thinking as we cruised along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park the other night looking for a sunset. The weather had been promising a couple of days prior. But I hesitated and opted to wait for another day. So, it would be the last opportunity to venture into the park before my upcoming trip to Montana. I wanted to make it count. A particular location I know of seemed a good option. I had scouted a couple of shots i

Well, I had wanted to share about my trip the other evening up to Shenandoah National Park, but between work, being very tired, and packing for a trip tomorrow, I'm going to postpone that until I'm a little more up to it. Instead, I want to link to a post I wrote last year about packing for my whirlwind adventure last Autumn. Packing is an art, and I'm not an artisan when it comes to it. I'm more of a throw-it-in-a-bag-and-hope type of packer. But I hope you'll find the post

Surrounded by incredible geology, Palisade Falls drops roughly one hundred feet. Many millions of years ago, volcanic activity in the west formed what is now Hyalite Canyon, just outside of modern-day Bozeman, Montana. Or was it millions of years? Was it, perhaps, only thousands? How can we know for sure? The debate over origins and ages has not diminished over the years, sadly. But one thing we can all know and agree on: we all have access to the same rocks. And the funny th

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Decision-making is not something that I'm known for. I probably shouldn't admit that here, but I digress. I suspect, however, we all struggle from time to time knowing what to do in certain situations. I'm sure I've written on this at other times; that's ok, it's something worth repeating. The truth is, as long as we're following God's word, we are pretty free to choose. Easy to say, hard to live out. The other day I headed up to the mountains

Imagine being in a situation where you had to be told constantly to be brave and strong. A high-pressure moment where you needed a constant reminder that you weren't alone. An extra boost when you might be facing discouragement. That was the case for Joshua. Shortly before Moses died, and even after, God consistently told Joshua, commanded him in fact, to be strong and courageous. But God also reminded Joshua that He would be with him through it all (Joshua 1:9). Wouldn't it

This will be my 250th post. And, while I certainly wish that this thing launched into the stratosphere off the bat, the reality is that endeavors like this typically take time. Sometimes, a lot of it. For much of the time up to this point, I also recognize that, perhaps, the direction hasn't been clear. Is this a photo site? Is it a ministry site? What is it? I hope that with the recent name change and the content I have put out, the answer to that has become clearer. I trust

For this trip report, instead of re-write the events of the day, I realize I had actually written out a draft of a post the day of. So, what is written below (with some corrections, etc. ) is from September 27th 2025 while in Montana, a day of photography, challenges, and a lot of cows. As I've mentioned in recent posts, I am currently away from home. This has inherent challenges in and of itself, especially with blogging. But I'm determined to continue on writing. Maybe th

While the direction of this site is shifting some, it doesn't mean that photography is not going to continue to be a part of it. It's a major factor of what I want to showcase here, and it's a good way to document God's creation, and the story that He is bringing about in this world. It's a skill that I need to continue to grow in; we never arrive, we're always growing. This is true of everything in life. But what has influenced me photographically? What factors have brought

Hardly an original shot, but a stunning location to be sure. There are few places I can think of in the United States that offer more variety, ranging from wildlife to geology, scenic views to just out of this world features, than Yellowstone National Park. Within this amazing place, one could spend multiple lifetimes researching, exploring, and photographing, and still come up with new things. It is a testament to God's creative power. On the northeast corner of the park lie

Landscape portrait of me in Yellowstone, taken by my friend, Dean. For something that I didn't get into until I was well into my adult years, I'm pleasantly surprised how much I've enjoyed photography. More than that though, I realize that I am thankful for the gift of it, and everything good connected with it. As a child, going outdoors was oftentimes a mix of fun, but also fear. Not fear of danger, but I just didn't like getting dirty. But when I was 11 or 12, a visit to th

You may recall in fairly recent years that a banana duct taped to a wall was sold for multiple millions of dollars as 'art'. More recently an artist sold, well, actually it was nothing, for a pretty penny as well. The invisible sculpture sold for over 18,000 dollars. Modern art has oftentimes been ridiculed by many for the very simple yet abstract shapes, with many saying "even I could do that!" Even some landscape scenes far 'surpass' that of reality with gaudy over saturati

Continuing our theme for the week, one of the areas closest to my heart as a nature photographer is how theology affects how we view nature itself. Is it the product of natural laws, processes that have been going on for millions and billions of years? Is it the creation of an all powerful God? Could it be both; could God have chosen to use the process of evolution and uniformitarian principles to bring about the world that we observe today?

A number of years ago, National Geographic came under scrutiny for digitally moving some pyramids, if memory serves me correctly. It was not a major adjustment, but was meant to make the image fit their front cover page. But for a publication noted for journalistic integrity, it wasn't something that could just be swept under the rug. Even though the scene evoked the same sense of place and realism, and no one would have known, the reality is, truth was altered. Digital manip

I've never tried my hand at road side photography before. At least, not quite to the degree that my friend and I did in Montana recently. But given our difficulties with the weather, we had tried a few different things, that being one of them. Of course when I say road side, the term "road" loosely. I'm not entirely sure some of the paths we drove on can legitimately be called roads, but I digress. The places we visited were actually quite beautiful, and not as photographed o