Light in a Box

Every year I get bombarded with travel suggestions. Part of why I love being at shows is  talking travel with people. For every story I tell about a trip I probably get two recommendations in return. My response is always the same, “I will add that to my list”, and I usually do. The problem is my list is extremely long. As an avid traveler this ensures that I will never have a shortage of amazing places to explore but makes choosing where to go first extremely difficult. Every year I attempt to cross a few places off that list and without further ado here are the top 10 most likely photo excursions for 2019. (I completed 6 out of 10 on last years list). 1. Hawaii Let’s start with the most likely. This trip is already booked. Sarah and I have been wanting to return to Hawaii since our last trip and when you find round trip tickets under $300 it’s a no brainer. Last time we split the trip between Oahu and Kauai but this time we’re spending the entire trip on the is...

So if you missed the top ten photos of 2017 check back a few posts to see how many photos made this list. I thought that one was tough but there were a lot more candidates for this list. I had to go through my entire catalogue of photos and narrow it down to ten. I did it and here they are, my top ten favorite images of all time! 10. Oneonta Gorge This is a blog post I would highly recommend reading . Oneonta Gorge is in Oregon tucked in the Columbia River Gorge. The hike put me on the brink of hypothermia and took a nice gash out of my shin but images like this, made it worth it. This image, that starts out the list, was early in the hike, before I went neck deep in fresh spring runoff or cut up my leg carrying Sarah through it. This looks like a good filming location for a Jurassic Park movie with the moss covered walls and dark haunting slot cut by the water. I need to move on, I'm starting to shiver. 9. Superior Breakwall You can find this image on the website titled ...

In case you haven't been following me very long, I like to travel. In this top ten list I will be looking at the top ten places in the 50 United States that I would like to visit. As of writing this I have been to 28 states and would like to see all 50. Some of the places on this list are in states I have already been to and some are not. Let's travel! 10. Lake Superior Coast This one may come as a surprise to kick things off. Let me clarify, this is strictly a winter tour. Are you with me now? I lived in Marquette, Michigan for four years while attending college at Northern Michigan University and spent a lot of time exploring the rocky, beach lined coast of Lake Superior. In the winter when the ice would start collecting, there were some amazing formations over the lake and along the shore. So why do I want to go back? Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. In the winter, the shores of Wisconsin get covered in icicles and the islands in Lake Superior are accessible by foot...

It was black outside. I'm talking a prehistoric darkness, before fire was invented when only the sun emitted light. The headlights helped illuminate the road but beyond the beams was a world of black. I tried to imagine the scenery as lush tropical forest, maybe mountains in the distance or maybe the trees blocked their view. There had to be some structures along the route either houses or storefronts, at least a gas station. There could have been dinosaurs watching our headlights whizz through the darkness and we never would have known. After all, this was the home to Jurassic Park. There had been no discussion about staying on Oahu, Sarah's sister was going to be there with the band, it just made sense. When Sarah and I decided to spend some time on a second island of Hawaii the choices came down to Maui and Kauai. Then I found out Kauai was where Jurassic Park was filmed and there was no longer a decision to be made. The darkness we experienced on our initi...

My camera bag was tucked under a tree, the camera on a tripod wearing my shirt and I hunched over it as somewhere a frantic Noah was trying to finish his ark to beat the imminent flood. The rain had started suddenly and did so with force. The camera wasn't my greatest concern however as I tried to ignore the silent urgency coming from the trail behind me where Sarah was getting drenched. As a kid I loved the rain, as an adult I had grown to prefer a dry location. I was too accustomed to the cold, misting drizzle common in Wisconsin while Colorado storms are typically riddled with hail. Playing in the rain had become as much fun as getting pricked with frozen needles or pelted with pennies. This rain was thick and warm though and once I was drenched, it brought out the kid in me. Sarah was not as thrilled, making way for families draped in plastic ponchos as they moved closer to the destination while she waited for her half naked husband to take a damn picture. Aft...