“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”
— Anne Frank, Diary
from Steptoe Butte
Adams County, WA
The Columbia River once flowed here.
The juvenile eagle first caught my attention, then the Snow Geese all took off…
"A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the broadness of its vision and the height of its dreams."
— Herb Caen
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.”
— Andy Rooney
from Fir Island, Skagit Valley
from Paradise Valley Skyline Trail
from Artist Point
“If gold has been prized because it is the most inert element, changeless and incorruptible, water is prized for the opposite reason -- its fluidity, mobility, changeability that make it a necessity and a metaphor for life itself. To value gold over water is to value economy over ecology, that which can be locked up over that which connects all things.”
— Rebecca Solnit, Storming the Gates of Paradise
Olympic Mountains beyond.
“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
— Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
"Landscapes of great wonder and beauty lie under our feet and all around us. They are discovered in tunnels in the ground, the heart of flowers, the hollows of trees, fresh-water ponds, seaweed jungles between tides, and even drops of water. Life in these hidden worlds is more startling in reality than anything we can imagine. How could this earth of ours, which is only a speck in the heavens, have so much variety of life, so many curious and exciting creatures?"
— Walt Disney
“Flowers are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities in the world.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.”
— Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds
“This world is but a canvas to our imagination.”
— Henry David Thoreau
Carousel & Steam Plant, 1972
The Space Needle was designed by architect John Graham for the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair. I met John Graham in 1978, he encouraged me to become an architect; and that’s how I made a living and a life for 38 years. Now that I’m retired, fine art photography is my passion and my pursuit.
Built in 1902, it’s now a Community Center. This was where I went to school grades K-6, 1955-1962.
Designed and built 1929-1932.
“But the love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need — if only we had the eyes to see. Original sin, the true original sin, is the blind destruction for the sake of greed of this natural paradise which lies all around us — if only we were worthy of it.”
“Nature is indifferent to our love, but never unfaithful.”
— Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
This photo was taken in 1996. In 1998 a flash flood damaged the main street and buildings. In 2001 the movie set was rebuilt. In 2006 the set was burned by an arsonist and hasn't been replaced.
Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan people lived here in the canyons of Southern Utah between 600-1300 CE. They had no written language. Their petroglyphs tell what appears to be their stories, hunting patterns, crop cycles, and ceremonies for the mythologies of their lives.
The geography of Capitol Reef NP is primarily a geologic feature that is beautiful to behold. It’s a nearly 100 mi (160 km) long up-thrust formation called the Waterpocket Fold—a rocky spine extending from Thousand Lake Mountain to Lake Powell—is preserved within the park.
This photo is looking west from the Notom-Bullfrog Road at the monocline just south of the Burr Trail switchbacks leading to the town of Boulder, UT.
Terri and I had our wedding just feet from where this photo was taken.
Taken from the Kiva Koffeehouse on Hwy 12.
Also taken from the Kiva Koffeehouse.
Taken from Upper Cathedral Valley overlook.
“I think over again my adventures.
My fears,
those small ones that seemed so big.
For all the things I had to get,
and to reach.
And yet, there is only one great thing;
the only thing.
To live to see the great day that dawns
and the light that fills the world.”
— old Inuit song
Often on summer evenings in Eastern WA, the sunset clouds are spectacular.
"Imagination is the liberty of the mind. It is intrepid and eager, and the extreme of its achievement lies in abstraction."
— Wallace Stevens
“Photography is the art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
— Elliot Erwitt
“I know a girl… She puts the color inside of my world.”
Stephanie Foster, Summer of ‘77
The Portland is the last steam-powered, sternwheel tugboat to be built in the United States.
Museum of Flight - Seattle, WA
As a kid, I used to spend time on the wheat farm that my Mennonite grandfather Joe Schrag homesteaded near Ritzville, WA in 1904. Back then, before the days of the automobile, farmers lived on their land. Now many farmers live in town and “commute” to their farms. Many of the old homestead houses, barns, and other outbuildings have been abandoned and are gradually disappearing from the landscape.
I’ve been thinking about this project of documenting these abandoned buildings for some years now. A Schrag family reunion in the summer of 2019 inspired me to get started. In 2018 I purchased a Phantom 4 Pro drone, and it’s the perfect tool for this. My wife’s comment that these places were “nothing left but the skeletons” gave me the name.
Some of these properties were the homes of relatives of mine.
A few years ago I bought a Phantom 4 drone. After learning some shooting and editing techniques, these are the first for me to post.
These 4K videos are linked from my YouTube account. You may have to adjust the display settings (gear icon at lower right of video display frame) to get the best resolution.
This is an area just east of Capitol Reef National Park on the road to Cathedral Valley.
Part of the Milwaukee RR line, this bridge over the Columbia River at Beverly, WA was completed in 1909 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Milwaukee RR route across Washington State has been abandoned and the tracks removed. It is now the Palouse-to-Cascades Trail. At the time I took this video, the bridge was closed to pedestrians due to a fire at the west end of the bridge in 2014. However, the fire damage has been repaired and it is again open to pedestrians.
These wooden ships and barges were placed in the bay just north of Everett in the 1930s. You can find 4-5 more videos of these ships on YouTube.
This is a circumnavigation of the gooseneck in the Colorado River just below Deadhorse Point State Park.