Diving in the Channel Islands

I finally got a chance to dive the kelp forests of California last weekend! A 4 hour one way trip into the Pacific led us to the backside of Santa Rosa Island which is part of the Channel Islands National Park & Marine Sanctuary. 12 foot swells made the trip out and back a little rough (to put it very mildly). So you can try to grasp the intensity of the ocean, a 250+ pound man fell to one side of the galley as the boat lurched to the port side and then as the boat lurched the other way, he was hurled into the air and landed on his back onto the galley table breaking it completely off of it's steel base! I got sick twice on the way out there and I consider myself to have a very strong stomach. Fun times at sea!

Once we reached the backside of Santa Rosa, the cliffs from the island shielded us from the wind to give us some pristine diving conditions. The visibility was great and the sun was casting its rays through the kelp canopy beautifully.

Here are a few pics from the trip:








A self portrait from beneath the surface...








A brightly colored Garibaldi, the California state fish, cruises about the kelp forest looking for food.




An adult male California Sheephead protects it's domain.


Giant Kelp or Giant Bladder Kelp (named for the large spherical sacks seen above) are common along the Pacific coast from Baja up to Alaska.














Thousands of lavender sea anemones found a refuge on this rocky outcropping.


A sunflower starfish, helped along by its 24 arms and 15,000 tube feet moves rapidly (for a starfish) along the ocean floor at a quick 40 inches per minute.




I think this is my favorite photo from the dive trip (above). Something about the image, perhaps the soft light or maybe the muted colors...or maybe both, seem to successfully capture the true ethereal feeling of diving in the kelp forests.

2000 Miles of the Pacific Northwest

Last weekend I took some time to explore the Pacific northwest coast with my cousin, Dave. He met me in Seattle and we headed south along the coast of Oregon and ended up in the Redwoods of Northern California. The return trip took us more inland and we found our way into the Columbia River Gorge for a bit. A wonderful adventure that went by way too fast..only making me want to return again as soon as I can.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip:

An Adventure in the Ozarks

Last weekend was spent backcountry camping and paddling 60 miles down the Current River in the Ozarks...a great waterway lined with some incredible caves to explore. Here are a few pics from the trip:




Checking out some of the speleothems (cave formations).


A Grotto salamander wanders around blindly in the cave water.


If you look close, you can see Chris scaling the cliff face to reach one of the upper cave openings.






Chad, Chris, Adam, Austin and myself.

Alaska

Here are a few photos from a recent trip to Alaska. I started the trip in Prince William Sound photographing the glaciers and marine life and ended in Denali National Park. The weather was perfect and the wildlife were on the move...the makings of a wonderful trip.



The Alaska Range with Mount McKinley looming in the background...one of the tallest mountains in the world.









A grizzly bear crosses the tundra.



A sea otter and her pup.





A glacier named "Surprise" sends icy chunks splashing into Prince William Sound.





Harbor seals bask in the sunlight.



This cliff is a nesting place of over 10,000 black-footed kittiwakes (sort of like seagulls)



Moose portrait.



A male caribou leads his harem across the tundra.





A dall sheep looks out at the world.

Joshua Howard...National Geographic Young Explorer Grantee

I just found out that the National Geographic Society awarded me a grant to move forward with my project, The Power to Move Mountains: Mountaintop Removal in Appalachia!

More details to come!

Wild Wyoming...

I recently had the opportunity to visit the state of Wyoming again - one of my favorite places in the world. Here are a few images I captured along the way:

National Geographic Adventure Magazine...

I'm very happy to announce that my black & white photograph, Vast Skies, was recently selected to be featured on the National Geographic Adventure Magazine website.

Here is the photo and the brief description that is featured on the site:

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
This was a solo trip to the Grand Tetons back in March of 2007. It was my last spring break before I graduated from college, and I chose to get lost in the Tetons for the week—one of the best trips of my life. Being the off-season, I seemed to have the whole place to myself. Shooting in black and white can add so much meaning and depth to a photo. In this photograph, the high contrast of the black and white image allowed the Teton Range to stand out nicely from the low-hanging clouds and the bright sunburst.—Joshua Howard

A Great Time in the Keys...

I just got back from spending several days down in Key Largo. I was able to finish up my PADI Advanced Open Water certification along with my certification to be a National Geographic diver. The Advanced class included several dives which took me through Molasses Reef as well as the U.S.S. Spiegel Grove. The wreck dives were incredible!

To become a National Geographic specialty diver, one learns about conservation, behavioral biology of life below the surface as well as how to maneuver and photograph the underwater environment in a way that relays the need for preservation. A photo project focused on the biodiversity of the underwater world wrapped up the learning sessions. Definitely an epic trip in my book...

Here are a few images I took along the way:

Looking through the ring of an old Spanish anchor in Molasses Reef...


Looking up at the underwater world from the bottom of the ocean...



100 feet below the surface on the U.S.S. Spiegel Grove...




My dive instructor inside the Spiegel...





Under the sea with my National Geographic Dive Instructor...


A scorpion fish - look closely as he blends in with the rocks...


A massive Goliath Grouper that probably would have a hard time fitting inside my mom’s minivan...approx. 700lbs...





A school of blue striped grunts...

Lunar Photography

Two weekends ago, with a full moon approaching, I knew I had a great opportunity to try my hand at capturing some quality images of the moon. This, my favorite image of the bunch, was taken with a full frame Canon 5d along with a 600mm f/4 IS lens with stacked 2.0x & 1.4x teleconverters...approximately 1680mm worth of lens.

Big Bucks in the Smokies

Last week, while doing some preliminary work in Tennessee for an upcoming documentary that I'll be shooting, I found some time to sneak down to the Smokies. The timing could not have been better as the wildlife was stirring all throughout Appalachia...

Washington Coastline

I recently got back from a trip to the Pacific Northwest - a section of this planet that is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to explore and photograph. After hiking a mile through the temperate rainforest I came upon this beautiful rugged coastline. Nothing prepares you for the violence and power of the Washington coast...

Success in an International Photo Competition!

I was very pleased to hear that my black & white photo series, "Rugged Wilderness", received an honorable mention in the Nature: landscapes category of the 2008 International Photo Awards.

Here is the series, "Rugged Wilderness":

Walking with Moose in New England...

I just got back from a great trip to the Northeast! The foliage was at its peak color and the weather was perfect. The highlight of my trip was a beautiful morning that I spent strolling through the woods of New Hampshire with a mother moose and her calf.

During the trip I traveled from Montreal down to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine and spent the last morning overlooking Lake Champlain from upstate New York.

Here are some of the images from the photo shoot. The rest will be on the website very soon! Contact me for purchasing prints.

West Virginia Photo Shoot

This past weekend I was privileged to travel to West Virginia for an incredible white water rafting trip with some friends. The day before we took on the Class V rapids, we flyfished the rivers and hiked the beautiful countryside. Here are a few of the images that I captured along the way...

Under the Sea...

Well, this past weekend was definitely one for the books. I had the amazing opportunity to complete my SCUBA diving certification down in the warm, tropical waters off of Key Largo. I love the ocean and I love photography - it was finally time to combine the two! I cannot wait to get back under the water, camera in hand, to capture more of the amazing world beneath the surface.

If you've ever wanted to swim with the fish and the rays, click here to visit the PADI certified dive school where I learned.

Here are some of my underwater images...




...following a beautiful Southern Stingray through the reef.


...spying on a trunkfish


...a queen angelfish looks for a snack





...the beautiful coral of French Reef


...swimming through a school of blue parrotfish