Landscapes
Los Cabos, Mexico; Shawnee National Park, Illinois; Bali, Indonesia
This was my first trip to Baja California—a place that quickly captured my heart. Since then, I’ve returned four times within a year, but this first visit remains especially meaningful.
I arrived a day early before my first ocean safari and stayed at a hotel on the beach. The vibrant blues of the ocean and the giant waves crashing into the rocks immediately caught my attention. I put my bags down, grabbed my camera, and went straight to the shore. I spent the next few hours photographing the waves and simply watching the ocean move—powerful, rhythmic, and endlessly beautiful. It was the perfect introduction to a place I knew I’d return to.
The Garden of the Gods in Illinois. The leaves were starting to change, the sun was setting- it was perfect.
After arriving in Bali, I caught a taxi from the airport to my hotel. On the ride, I asked my driver if he’d be willing to pick me up the next morning and take me wherever he thought was worth seeing in the area. He kindly agreed—and the next day, he showed me around to a few beautiful spots.
My favorite was the rice terrace fields. It had been raining for about an hour, and everything felt quiet and fresh. As I wandered through the terraces, I noticed a leaf with perfect water droplets clinging to its surface. Something about it caught my eye—it almost didn’t look real, like the droplets had been placed there intentionally. I stopped to take a photo, drawn in by its simple beauty.
After a few hours watching humpback whales breach and play, we headed to a small reef near the shore. We saw a couple of blacktip reef sharks and explored the reef, which had a few different species of fish.
On the way back to the boat, I noticed this rock covered in life and surrounded by a small school of fish. It was such a calm, peaceful scene that I had to take a photo.