A shallow, rocky stretch of the Rio Grande flows through a wide channel bordered by golden dried grasses and reeds, with a rugged volcanic mesa rising against a clear blue sky in the background. A sandy island of sparse dry vegetation sits mid-river, splitting the current into riffles. Photographed along FM 170 (El Camino del Rio) in the Big Bend region of West Texas.

Wild Water, Ancient Land — The Rio Grande Along El Camino del Rio

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If you’ve ever driven FM 170 in West Texas — also known as El Camino del Rio, the River Road — you already know it’s one of the most breathtaking stretches of highway in the entire country. This shot was … Read More

A sweeping landscape of a forested mountainside and a body of water. A faint, broad rainbow (or "fogbow") arches across the sky, appearing as a soft, luminous band of light hitting the hillside.

Lens-Artists Challenge #390: Color in Black and White

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In a world saturated with color, black-and-white photography commands a unique kind of attention. It forces us to look beyond the surface, to engage with form, texture, and light on a fundamental level. But the true magic lies not just … Read More

A cool-toned monochrome landscape of the entrance to Closed Canyon, with a flat-topped mesa and a rounded hill flanking a dark rocky cleft, surrounded by sparse desert scrub under a dramatic, streaked sky.

Stone Cold Serenity: Finding Your Calm at Closed Canyon

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Lens-Artists Challenge #389: Time to Relax For this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge, Anne wants to know what relaxes us. She writes: “What gets you away from the stresses of daily life. What’s your passion?” The short answer for me is nature. … Read More

A wide-angle landscape of a calm pond reflecting a bright blue sky and lush green trees, framed by overhanging branches in the foreground.

A “Morning Glory” Kind of Morning

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There is a specific kind of magic that only exists before the rest of the world hits the “snooze” button. I call it the Morning Glory—not just because of the flowers that bloom with the sun, but because of that … Read More

A wide-angle landscape photograph of a black Jeep Wrangler driving on a winding dirt road in a vast, arid desert plain. The road leads towards several imposing, multi-layered brown mountains under a blue sky with light, wispy clouds. The foreground is filled with dry, low-lying brush.

Where Canyons Touch the Sky

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Lens-Artists Challenge #388: Your Journey in 5-10 Images Anne-Christine asked us to consider these questions for this week’s challenge about a trip we took: “What were the highlights, what are the memories that will stay with me forever? Maybe the big … Read More

A dramatic view of Cinco Tinajas canyon, showing a small pool of water at the bottom of steep, dark rock walls under a bright blue sky with wispy clouds.

Shadows and Silhouettes of Big Bend Ranch

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Lens-Artists Challenge #387: Shadowed Instead of diving into my archives for John’s creative Shadowed challenge, I am using photos I captured just last week while visiting Big Bend Ranch State Park (not to be confused with Big Bend National Park). … Read More

Overnight Storm

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As predicted, we woke up this morning with lots of ice on the ground. There was a mix of freezing rain and ice overnight. Temperatures plunged into the teens (18ºF / -8ºC). We won’t cross the freezing mark probably until … Read More

Lens-Artists Challenge #382: Rejected

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Let’s talk about rejection this week. Don’t panic! I mean rejected photos, of course. With the low cost of cloud storage and external drives, I rarely delete an image, even if it’s blurry or has a less-than-ideal composition. Furthermore, I … Read More

Guadalupe Mountains

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Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a remote park in northwest Texas, near the New Mexico border and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The park offers excellent backcountry and backpacking opportunities, with over 80 miles (128 km) of hiking trails. McKittrick Canyon is a popular … Read More

Light Snow

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On January 21, 2025, we woke up to see our area covered with light snow. There was no significant precipitation. The featured photo shows what we saw on the other side of the fence in our backyard. Why am I … Read More

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