2014 was another busy year for me. I logged a lot of miles this year traveling to both new and familiar locations, and I’m incredibly happy that I got to meet some of you in person along the way! With that, here’s a little recap of the past year and some of my favorite captures. Enjoy.

April 2014: Digital Underground Las Vegas

I kicked off the year with the inaugural tour in a new series of workshops, called Digital Underground, that I’m co-hosting with Deborah Sandidge. We took a small group of photographers to Las Vegas, where we explored creative techniques and got to see some pretty cool places like the Neon Museum Boneyard and the Nelson Ghost Town.

May 2014: Texas Birding

I returned to the Dos Venadas and Campos Viejos ranches in south Texas for what turned out to be an epic three days of bird photography. Our first day in the blinds was so productive that we nearly filled our memory cards! Everyone had some great photos to share; my only regret was not being prepared to photograph the huge bobcat that showed up one afternoon. I’ll have to try again next year.

June 2014: South Dakota Badlands Photo Safari

I teamed up with Deborah Sandidge again for two weeks of photo safaris to one of my favorite landscape destinations: Badlands National Park in South Dakota. If you’ve never been to the moon, these landscapes make you feel like you’re there (minus the spacesuit, of course). This year we had epic fog and an amazing thunderstorm to go along with a fabulous full moon. We’ll be back in 2015, too!

New eBook: Moving to Lightroom

I spent most of the spring and summer writing a comprehensive guide to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. It was a major undertaking for someone who spent the last 5 years using Nikon’s Capture NX. But now that I’m using Lightroom 100% of the time, I haven’t looked back. Moving to Lightroom is the book I wish I’d had as I stumbled along trying to re-train my brain to learn a totally different workflow paradigm. If you’re new to Lightroom, or just want to learn more about it, consider checking it out.

Summer Side Trips

I did some shooting both on my own and for workshops over the summer months. I returned to eastern Colorado to photograph the summer clouds and the wind farm at night. I also visited the Colorado Springs Balloon Classic and hosted a photo walk at a local car show. It was great meeting other photographers in the area! I also led a small group to Alliance, Nebraska for an overnight workshop where we photographed Carhenge at night and at sunrise.  What a blast!

Scouting for future workshops

I had the opportunity to squeeze in a few scouting trips for locations I’ll visit again in 2015 and beyond. I went to Miami Beach and Chicago in preparation for future Digital Underground tours. While the scenery was amazing, scouting these places takes a lot of energy to make sure we know all the best spots to take our groups. If you have a suggestion for a good urban photo tour spot, be sure to leave a comment and let me know!

October 2014: Return to Las Vegas

Digital Underground Las Vegas was so popular that we scheduled a second session. This time, we were able to get more time in at Nelson and also shoot a new lot at the Neon Museum. The old signs under the stars were amazing to photograph!

November 2014: Digital Underground San Antonio

San Antonio, Texas, is an amazing, vibrant city. Between the old missions, the Alamo, and the famous Riverwalk, we had tons of shooting opportunities. We experimented with new creative techniques and met some wonderful new friends!

I’m already lining up a slew of photo trips for next year. If you can’t make it out there in person, you might be able to join me for online training, too! I want to thank everyone who’s stopped by to visit my little corner of the Internet and I hope to see you in person soon.

Thanks again,