I like taking pictures of striking landscapes. Places that are so beautiful that the first thing I do when I see it is take a deep breath, trying to soak it all in, and then letting out a barely audible “wow” as if saying anything any louder would destroy the scene. I prefer big, bold colors and wild, dramatic light. Certainly, that’s not everyone’s style… but it’s mine. That’s what I love.

On a recent trip to Iowa City for New Year’s, I was confronted with a different scene. I was hoping to expand on a “prairie series” I’ve been working on for more of a local Illinois feel, and left well before sunrise with visions of beautiful sunrises over old farmhouses dancing in my head. What I found was drastically different, and refreshingly beautiful.

Quick, name your top 5 musical artists.

Ok, now your top 5 landscape photographers.  Tougher, huh?  Most people can say "Ansel Adams", but then it gets fuzzy.  You might be familiar with Galen Rowell or Art Wolfe.  Or maybe you've been by an "Images of Nature" store and you recognize the name Thomas D Magnelson.  At any rate, big names are few and far between.

The artist I want to share with you is a big name on the rise.  I think he might be the best landscape photographer alive (my other two favorite, the aforementioned Adams and Rowell, both deceased).  And he's only 28.  I'm not sure if the landscape photography industry has "risng stars", but if it does... Marc Adamus is one.  The LeBron James of landscape photography.

I've recently been fascinated with time-lapse photography. That's right... photography. I literally just learned a couple weeks ago that many of the time-lapse videos I've enjoyed are actually individual still photos stitched together, not video played back at superfast speed. (As a disclaimer *some* of it is video, but much of it is photography). Maybe a simpler way to say this is "Wow. I didn't know my camera could do that."

So, with the same camera that took action shots at a high school football game on Saturday, (and has taken wedding photos, baby portraits, landscapes, macro shots, and more) I've started to dabble in time-lapse photography. What a versatile tool.

In a recent trip to the Southwest, I resolved to get to some locations that had eluded me on my last two trips. I had a small list going, and at the top? The Wave.

The Wave is a small, very unique geological formation in the North Coyote Buttes section of the Paria Canyon/Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. Due to its fascinatingly one-of-a-kind characteristics (not to mention unbelievable photographic potential) the Wave has gained a lot of popularity over the last several years.