National Parks Tour
Here is a night-time photo of the milky way rising up above El Capitan, the 10th highest peak in Texas. It's located in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. It's loomed over a lot of varied history over the years, from pioneers traveling westward to bloody wars. This region even used to be a limestone reef that was completely under water! It's located in an interesting part of the country that is a blend of the southern desert, the great plains, and the rocky mountains, resulting in a unique mixture of many plants and animals. There are sand dunes, coniferous forests, deciduous forests, desert, and mountains all in one area. Right behind it is the actual tallest peak in Texas, Guadalupe Peak at 8,751 ft. Alyssa and I hiked to the top of it and backpacked nearby. There is a weird metal pyramid up there that was put there by American Airlines to commemmorate an old stagecoach route. It was a tough hike for us, having to carry heavy backpacks with nothing but elevation gain, but it was worth it! It's cool to see the back of El Capitan and the expanse of desert it watches over from up there. We've been to 22 National Parks together now :) More photos and prints available at brentgoesoutside.com! Captured: February 2017 Camera: Nikon D610 Lens: Nikon 16-35mm f/4 Settings: ISO400, 16mm, f/11, 30sec for the ground. The sky was taken 45 minutes later at ISO3200 with the same settings.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park (NM)
Saguaro National Park (AZ)
Crater Lake National Park (OR)
Everglades NP (FL) Last week I had the privilege of visiting Everglades national park down in sunny Florida. The area was known as "Pa-hay-okee," or "River of Grass" to the Seminole Native American tribe. The water in the Everglades isn't just sitting there - it's moving a quarter of a mile per day from Lake Okeechobee (the big one you see on the maps) to the ocean. A 60 mile wide, 100 mile long river. The national park is known for being the first national park made not for its scenic beauty, but for its amazing ecosystem and wildlife. I've never seen so many animals in one place! Obviously it's an amazing place for wildlife photographers, but presents certain challenges for those wanting to take landscape photos. There aren't really any "landmarks" to photograph - just 2.3 million square miles of tropical wilderness. I think this photo does a good job of showing what a large chunk of it looks like - thigh deep water with sawgrass as far as you can see dotted with trees. Don't get me wrong, it is an incredibly beautiful and amazing place. It was kind of like being in awe at the stars in the sky, like "whoa, this place is way bigger than I can comprehend, and its owned by SO MANY animal residents." I have so much to say about this place, but perhaps I'll save that for subsequent photos! Watching the sun rise and set each day was so calm, scerene and soul-recharging.
Everglades NP (FL) Last week I had the privilege of visiting Everglades national park down in sunny Florida. The area was known as "Pa-hay-okee," or "River of Grass" to the Seminole Native American tribe. The water in the Everglades isn't just sitting there - it's moving a quarter of a mile per day from Lake Okeechobee (the big one you see on the maps) to the ocean. A 60 mile wide, 100 mile long river. The national park is known for being the first national park made not for its scenic beauty, but for its amazing ecosystem and wildlife. I've never seen so many animals in one place! Obviously it's an amazing place for wildlife photographers, but presents certain challenges for those wanting to take landscape photos. There aren't really any "landmarks" to photograph - just 2.3 million square miles of tropical wilderness. I think this photo does a good job of showing what a large chunk of it looks like - thigh deep water with sawgrass as far as you can see dotted with trees. Don't get me wrong, it is an incredibly beautiful and amazing place. It was kind of like being in awe at the stars in the sky, like "whoa, this place is way bigger than I can comprehend, and its owned by SO MANY animal residents." I have so much to say about this place, but perhaps I'll save that for subsequent photos! Watching the sun rise and set each day was so calm, scerene and soul-recharging.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park (OH)
Inspiration's What You Are to Me
Yosemite National Park, CA
Inspiration's What You Are to Me
Yosemite National Park, CA
Inspiration's What You Are to Me
Yosemite National Park, CA
Sequoia National Park (CA)
King's Canyon National Park (CA)
Death Valley National Park (CA) You’ve probably seen this one before - it’s one of my most popular photos! I decided it was about time for a facelift, so I re-edited to to align a bit better with my current tastes. Also, this one is going to be sent out as a mobile wallpaper for my patrons on patreon! If you’re interested in supporting my work and would like monthly digital wallpapers, please consider signing up for just $1/month at https://www.patreon.com/brentgoesoutside It takes quite a while to get to this location, because it’s in the middle of nowhere after a long paved road, and then a long unpaved road made of jagged rocks. I rented a jeep to get here, and after driving the entire paved road section, realized I forgot my wide angle lens in the car. I hauled ass 46 miles back to the car, got my lens, and drove 46 smooth miles and then 26 more slow, bumpy miles to the racetrack. By my count that’s a total of 164 total miles I spent just getting here! I somehow found this spot later that night in the pitch black. I’ve learned a lot of lessons since then! This is a blend of two photos taken one after another - one is a 5 minute exposure for the ground and one is a 30 second exposure for the sky. See more photos, find social media links, and get digital wallpapers and prints at http://www.brentgoesoutside.com Thanks for looking! Captured: February 2015 Camera: Nikon D610 Lens: Nikon 16-35 f/4 Settings (sky exposure): ISO3200, 16mm f/4, 30 sec Settings (ground exposure): ISO1600, 16mm, f/4, 300 sec
Rocky Mountain National Park (CO)
Cedar Point at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park - Colorado, USA Here's another re-edit of an old favorite from 2014. Click on this photo to view it on black! It's got a darker feel so the details come out much better on black. I'm gonna start by saying this is one of the most badass national parks. It's absolutely breathtaking. The canyon known for being very deep, very narrow, very steep, and very treacherous. In fact, there isn't a lot to do in the park other than drive around its rim because if you try to raft down the river or rock climb, you'll probably have a bad time. The river loses elevation nearly 4 times faster than the Colorado river (of Grand Canyon fame). The rock face on the right side is called "Painted Wall", and it is 2,250 feet tall, about twice the size of the Empire State Building. The striations in the rock are the park's "logo" and one section sorta looks like a cool dragon - made of volcanic pegmatite rock. Because it's so narrow (40 feet at its narrowest), some parts receive only 33 minutes of sun per day. That's one reason it's called a Black Canyon. If you're on the south rim, it would take around 3 hours of driving to drive to the north rim. The entire canyon is 53 miles long. It gained National Park status very recently in 1999. Ok, whew, sorry for nerding out there about the canyon. I just think it's an incredible piece of landscape and is very underrated. Most of the day it was cold and rainy. At one point I was even hailed on and saw the storm approach me through the canyon, which was very cool... in a painful kind of way. Camera: Nikon D610 Lens: Nikon 16-35mm Settings: ISO100, 18mm, f/14, 0.4sec
Cedar Point at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park - Colorado, USA Here's another re-edit of an old favorite from 2014. Click on this photo to view it on black! It's got a darker feel so the details come out much better on black. I'm gonna start by saying this is one of the most badass national parks. It's absolutely breathtaking. The canyon known for being very deep, very narrow, very steep, and very treacherous. In fact, there isn't a lot to do in the park other than drive around its rim because if you try to raft down the river or rock climb, you'll probably have a bad time. The river loses elevation nearly 4 times faster than the Colorado river (of Grand Canyon fame). The rock face on the right side is called "Painted Wall", and it is 2,250 feet tall, about twice the size of the Empire State Building. The striations in the rock are the park's "logo" and one section sorta looks like a cool dragon - made of volcanic pegmatite rock. Because it's so narrow (40 feet at its narrowest), some parts receive only 33 minutes of sun per day. That's one reason it's called a Black Canyon. If you're on the south rim, it would take around 3 hours of driving to drive to the north rim. The entire canyon is 53 miles long. It gained National Park status very recently in 1999. Ok, whew, sorry for nerding out there about the canyon. I just think it's an incredible piece of landscape and is very underrated. Most of the day it was cold and rainy. At one point I was even hailed on and saw the storm approach me through the canyon, which was very cool... in a painful kind of way. Camera: Nikon D610 Lens: Nikon 16-35mm Settings: ISO100, 18mm, f/14, 0.4sec
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
North Dakota
Grinnell Lake and Angel Wing Mountain
Glacier National Park (MT)
