T.L. Mair Fine Art Photography

Kiva Ruins - Cold Spring Cave A few years ago my son and I decided to take a trip to Arches national park, in south central Utah. We loaded up the Suburban and away we went in the middle of a late winter blizzard, as we moved south from Midway Utah towards Arches the snow slowly began to turn to rain, the sky was bleak, and gray, I wondered to myself what I was thinking to take a trip this time of year. Once we arrived at the motel in Moab and checked in we decided to take a ride up to the park, the heavy rain had created waterfalls from the hanging canyons, and plateaus of the slick rock, they were interesting but the light was flat, and dark, and just nothing for good photographs, so I  left the camera in the bag, and we just drove around, then decided to go back to the hotel. When morning came we woke to find freezing temps and snow, but the sun was shining and it was beautiful!! We packed up and headed back to Arches, the red rock in the white snow was ...

Little Deer Creek Autumn High up in the Wasatch mountains of Utah, near the Cascade Springs main parking lot you will find a dirt road that follows the Provo Deer Creek as she makes her way to the Provo river and on to Utah Lake. This beautiful little stream, home to wild brook trout, carries needed water from the beautiful Cascade Springs which is part of the National forest service, to the plants and wildlife that live here. Beautiful in every season of the year this area is particularly beautiful in the autumn, yellow, gold, red, and orange decorate the canyon, and the banks of the stream where beautiful dogwoods grow, turning red, and orange in the autumn. At certain times of the year you will find Moose, and deer watering and feeding along the stream, taking advantage of the lush plants that grow along the banks. The canyon walls are steep, and not a lot of sunlight makes its way to the canyon floor except at high noon, making this a cool pleasant place to ...

Into the Forest Horizontal - Redwood National Forest A couple of years ago we decided to make a real trip out to northern California. We booked a small home in Crescent City California through VRBO, if you’ve  never Herd of VRBO, Vacation Rentals By Owner, check them out, we have used them several Times, they are our go to when we travel, you get a home all to yourself, or your family, they  Come in large and small sizes so finding the perfect place is easy and if you shop you Can find a nice place with all the amenities for about the cost of a motel.  we booked a home about a block away from the beach, with a great view Of Battery Point Lighthouse from our kitchen window. Traveling from north central Utah to Northern California can be done in one shot If you’re intrepid, we are not that gung ho on driving so we stayed the first night in Reno NV. then got up early in the morning and headed out on “The loneliest Highway In America”  we...

First Snow Jackson from Teton Pass This year we took a trip to the Teton valley of Idaho hopping to catch the autumn colors in that part of the country, and Yellowstone National Park, the colors were in full swing, but as luck would have it the weather was dark, gray, and the skies were overcast, and it rained off and on, since the weather was bad and the clouds hung low over the mountains that surround the valley we decided to take a trip over the Teton pass, and into Jackson.  As we traveled up the pass through patches of fog, it had snowed through the night,  and there were a few places where the road was slick, traffic moved slowly up the winding road through the thick patches of fog and snow covered turns. As we neared the top the fog began to clear, and there was a little sun trying to break through the clouds that hung over the Teton mountains. As the sun pierced the clouds, and glided across the valley floor you could see the late autumn colors ...

                                                    Split Mountain Sunset Recently we had to opportunity to visit the Uinta basin near Vernal Utah, I have been to Vernal several times in my life, but always to visit the dinosaur national monument, and never took the time to look around the area and those places are worth seeing at least once in your lifetime. On this visit though I was on a photographic mission, we had considered going to canyon lands in southern Utah, but upon finding that every other person had the same idea, we could not get a motel room, so my wife suggested Vernal, we hadn’t been there for quite a few years, don’t know what could have changed, it’s just dinosaur bones, and rocks, right? On our way out of Vernal the morning after we arrived I noticed a bunch of billboards that said things like “Split Mountain Motel” ...

. The Beauty of Nature Here is another example of a file that could have easily been deleted, we are just now getting to the end of autumn in my area, but this is not an image from a month ago, this image sat on my computer hard drive for 11 years, each time I looked at it I wondered what I was thinking, then decided that I must have been thinking something, but what? As we learn new techniques it opens up new possibilities, but new techniques is not enough, perhaps our vision changes, we see new possibilities for old subjects. I think this is one of those old subjects, we have not had a real vibrant autumn for a few years, some years when it is good the colors only last for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks, other times it lasts for a month or longer, and who knows why. Back when I did a ton of portraits autumn was always the hot time of year, everyone wanted their portraits done in the fall colors, I would spend hours scouting locations that would work for different sized...

Timp over Sandy Baker Pass It was cold when we left the house, even colder once we arrived at the parking lot high up in the Wasatch mountains of Utah. My sons and I had planned on doing a morning elk hunt,  we packed what we needed, and only what we needed, because of that I decided to leave my tripod at home, never a good idea, but one it seams that is always made when you know you’re going to be hiking where the air is thin, and the hills are steep. We made our way in the dark up and around  a short section of the Great western trail, suitable only for foot traffic, and mountain bikes, not even elk use the trail as it turns out. I will admit I had to stop several times along the hike to rest and catch my breath. Yes it’s steep, and I am not as young, or in shape as I used to be, oh the ravages of time, once near the top, and almost on what is known as “The Ant Knolls” we stopped to take a break, I guess the hike was wearing on all of us by that time. A...