Sunrise at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Culture NHP. I let the ancient masonry fall to silhouette and caught the sun as a starburst at the edge of a standing wall. These walls have met the dawn like this for a thousand years. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #ChacoCanyon #PuebloBonito

At the base of a wall of Bryce hoodoos, looking straight up… spires crowded together and soaring into a hard blue sky. From below you feel how dense and tall they are, warm orange stone stacked shoulder to shoulder. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BryceCanyon #Hoodoos

Valley of the Gods, southeastern Utah, a little after 3am. I waited for the new moon so the sky would go as dark as it gets, then let the Milky Way arc up over the buttes. Some frames are worth losing sleep over. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #MilkyWay #Astrophotography

High above Ouray in the San Juans, a summit still holding its snow in July, the moon out in a daytime sky. Something quiet about two lights sharing the frame… the green tundra running right up to bare rock before it gives out. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Ouray #Colorado

This gnarled old tree stopped me climbing out of Bryce. Half of it long dead and twisting, it had more character than anything on the hillside… so I set the sun behind its branches and let it burst into a star. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BryceCanyon #Sunstar

On the Navajo Loop at Bryce, the trail threads a gap barely wide enough to look up through. Partway up sits one of the Two Bridges, its namesake. But it was the small tree on the canyon floor that caught me, green against all that stone. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BryceCanyon #NavajoLoop

Upper Antelope Canyon, pulled in close until the rock goes almost abstract. What held me were the vertical lines and that channel of light down the center, glowing where it catches and falling to shadow on either side. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #AntelopeCanyon #SlotCanyon

The Corvette crossed-flags badge on deep blue paint, from the Longmont show. Crisp and graphic: checkered racing flag, gold bowtie, and a fleur-de-lis nodding to Louis Chevrolet’s French roots. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Corvette #Chevrolet

Chaco Culture National Historical Park… one doorway framing the next, receding room to room. Ancestral Puebloan builders squared these up roughly a thousand years ago, stone on stone. A figure in a far room gives the scale. You feel the time here. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #ChacoCanyon #History

A tiger longwing at the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster. I kept the background muted so the wings could carry the frame… the orange, the black tips, the row of blue dots along the edge. In profile it reads almost like a graphic print. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Butterfly #Longwing

Same Longmont EAA fly-in, different bird… a 1941 Boeing PT-17 Stearman taxiing out, Front Range behind. The blue-and-yellow colors and the simple fact that it’s a biplane get me every time. Flown by Old Glory Air Corp. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Stearman #Biplane

Upper Antelope Canyon, looking straight up. I let the canyon do the framing here… its curving walls leaning in around a small triangle of blue. The flowing lines carry your eye right to that gap of sky. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #AntelopeCanyon #SlotCanyon

At the Longmont EAA fly-in, the ramp was almost all fixed-wing… then this bright orange Flight For Life helicopter lifted off and owned the frame. An Airbus H125, the lone rotor in a sky full of wings. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #FlightForLife #Helicopter

The one I worked hardest for at Bryce. I wanted the sun as a sunstar cresting this ridge, then spotted a tiny hole in the rock and moved along the trail until the burst came through that gap exactly. Beth waited me out. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BryceCanyon #Sunstar

Up close on the hood of a 2025 Corvette ZR1. The yellow skull is “Jake,” the Corvette Racing mascot, its crossed flags forming the face, set over bare carbon fiber. A quiet flex on a 1,064 hp car. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Corvette #ZR1

At Bryce, this balanced rock caught me for its shape. I stopped the lens down small and worked my position until the sun broke right at its edge as a clean starburst. Patience and a small aperture. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BryceCanyon #Sunstar

At a “Ford vs Chevy” show in Longmont… a Volkswagen. A Baja Bug built as Herbie, the No. 53 Love Bug, with light pods and off-road tires. I love a car that crashes a rivalry it was never invited to and just owns it. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BajaBug #VWBeetle

Monument Valley. Left to right… West Mitten, East Mitten farther back, Merrick Butte apart. I left a long sweep of red sand out front to let the empty space carry the scale and the quiet. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #MonumentValley #Southwest

Bryce, later that same morning. The early light turns the rock orange enough to look lit from within. The spire at left is Thor's Hammer... caprock balanced on a thin pedestal, the amphitheater rolling out behind. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BryceCanyon #ThorsHammer

Upper Antelope Canyon. The light comes in soft and indirect, and the sandstone seems to pour. What held me was the floor... a pool of pale sand at the base of a subtle beam, more spilling down toward it. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #AntelopeCanyon #Page

A 1941 Boeing PT-17 Stearman banking to land at the Vance Brand fly-in in Longmont, flown by Old Glory Air Corp. Bright yellow and blue against a clean Colorado sky. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Stearman #Aviation

Camp light in Page, AZ. A prickly pear in full magenta with a bud rising beside it, the last sun lighting the spines. The bloom feels earned after a long dry year. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #PricklyPear #DesertBloom

Bryce at first light. Beth found the frame… pine reaching across the rim as the sun spilled orange over the far plateau and the hoodoos held the last of the blue. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BryceCanyon #Sunrise

A bottlebrush in bloom on South Padre Island, Texas. The red sits so hard against the green that the plant almost glows…one flower full and bright, another just opening beside it. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Bottlebrush

A blue-footed booby gliding low over Banderas Bay, outside Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It leveled out into a fast, flat glide just above the surface, spray still trailing behind. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BlueFootedBooby

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, 2018. Caught a kid mid-laugh just as the balloon behind him made the exact same face. Pure joy, in stereo. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BalloonFiesta

A METRO Blue Line train pulling into the underground airport station in Minneapolis, headed downtown. Tried to catch the motion as it emerged from the tunnel into the platform light. Shot on the iPhone. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Minneapolis

Sunrise from the rim at Bryce Canyon, Utah. Instead of shooting straight out at the hoodoos, I found the sun coming up through the needles of a pine at the edge. The branches break the light into pieces. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BryceCanyon

Bryce Canyon, Utah, at sunrise. The first light comes in low and warm and sets the whole amphitheater of hoodoos glowing while the ones still in shadow stay cool and pale. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BryceCanyon

Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon just after sunrise. The layered masonry was the real subject…the starburst cresting the wall was the accent. Beth and I camped here and got up before dawn for the light. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #ChacoCulture

Upper Antelope Canyon, near Page, Arizona. This spot felt open where so much of the canyon is tight and close…the walls flowing up toward the light instead of pressing in. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #AntelopeCanyon

A layered sandstone overhang near Page, Arizona, folding over in ribbons and opening to a sliver of blue. All line and layer up top, open space below. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Arizona

Monument Valley. Used bleached dead branches to frame the Mitten, keeping the butte sharp while the branches go soft up front. Foreground that adds depth without stealing the frame. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #MonumentValley

A single cactus bloom near Page, Arizona, lit from behind against a dark background. Not open all the way yet, one petal still folded…the light through it turned it into a glowing lantern. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Arizona

Monument Valley. Looked straight up through an opening in the red rock at a triangle of blue sky. Strip it down and it’s just form and negative space. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #MonumentValley

Upper Antelope Canyon, near Page, Arizona. An arching opening where the rock curves over itself like a wave frozen mid-break. Cool blue-gray below, warm orange above. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #AntelopeCanyon

A pair of cactus blooms near Page, Arizona, in warm side light. Magenta against the gold of the dry grass…the desert doesn’t hold back on color when it blooms. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Arizona

Valley of the Gods, Utah. Lined up the Milky Way core to rise right out of that low butte on the horizon. Gives all those stars somewhere to land. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #MilkyWay

Upper Antelope Canyon, near Page, Arizona. The walls curve and fold overhead, worked smooth by water and time into shapes that read more like fabric than stone. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #AntelopeCanyon

Lake Powell, near Page, Arizona. The blue water cuts right through the red rock and keeps going, bend after bend, out toward the distant buttes. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #LakePowell

A cactus bloom catching the last evening light near Page, Arizona, with a butte soft in the background. The bloom sharp and glowing up front, the formation settling into shape behind it. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Arizona

Star trails over Valley of the Gods, Utah. Camera pointed at Polaris, one long exposure, and the Earth drew the circles. The buttes anchor the frame below. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #StarTrails

Monument Valley. Looked straight up and waited for the sun to slip behind the edge of the rock. From down here it’s just you, the stone, and the sky. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #MonumentValley

Cactus bloom near Page, Arizona. Backlight through the petals…the pink went translucent and the spines lit up gold around the edges. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #Macro

Monument Valley. Used this twisted dead tree to frame the Mitten through the branches. Bleached wood, red sand, blue sky. The tree has as much character as the buttes. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #MonumentValley

Monument Valley. Yellow bush, rock formation, sun starburst…three layers stacked in one frame. The desert puts color and light together in ways you couldn’t plan. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #MonumentValley

Monument Valley. Got close to a pair of yucca stalks and let the formations go soft behind them. Still recognizable even out of focus…that’s how distinctive those shapes are. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #MonumentValley

Valley of the Gods, Utah. Camped out here with Beth…wanted the butte silhouettes to anchor the frame while the Milky Way stretched overhead. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #MilkyWay

Fajada Butte at sunrise, Chaco Canyon. First light on the rock while the sky was still deep blue. Branches nearby gave me a natural frame on both sides. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #ChacoCulture

Goosenecks State Park, Utah. Pointed rock, layered cliff, stacking geometry. Black and white stripped it down to shapes. Take the color out and they get louder. #Photography #ScottKissPhoto #BlackAndWhite