Picture: Scotty Barnhart playing at the 52nd Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, Monterey, California For nearly a decade my music tastes had reached a plateau. Years ago I was only listening to the radio; I hadn’t yet gotten an iThingy or loaded my music into iTunes. I don’t know what broke the camel’s back, but at [...]

Picture: Temporary graffiti; self-portrait (kinda) after “leaving my mark” while snowshoeing with my family at Calaveras Big Trees State Park, California “Any old fool can drop on their back in the snow and make a snow angel.” – Me. My family and I were enjoying a snowshoeing adventure this last weekend. At one point on [...]

Picture: Fisherman holding up a catch & release steelhead caught in the Sacramento River near the Sundial Bridge in evening light, Redding, California I love to go fishing. I don’t really care if I catch a fish or not; it’s the activity and relaxation that matters. Still, I love the joy and thrill of catching [...]

Picture: Young boy looking up at all the names on the wall at the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii A few days ago I heard something about the experience of having your life flash before your eyes just before you die. I thought to myself, “Gee, I wonder what I’ll remember at [...]

Picture: Photographer at work in the High Sierra, near Yosemite, California Today I turned in the edited manuscript and new chapter introductions for my current… no, wait… make that previous book project. I’m both proud and honored to announce that I have a brand new book project I’m now working on. This will be my [...]

Picture: Person reading on the coast on a cool evening, Montana del Oro State Park, San Luis Obispo County, California Recently I mentioned some news about my latest book project, where I’d gotten an email from my publisher explaining they were re-packaging the book I’d spent the last year working on. I also mentioned the [...]

Picture: Hula Dancer doing The Wedding Hula, Paradise Cove Luau, Ko Olina, Oahu, Hawaii Deep down, we all know it. But our brain likes to fill n the g ps. Objects that are farther away from us appear smaller. That’s obvious when you’re looking across a landscape toward a distant city or mountain. But the [...]

Picture: My wife, Connie, and daughter, Alyssa in Hawaii. Twenty-nine and a few extra years ago, the universe graced this planet with the birth of the woman who would become my wife, life partner, and soul mate. I consider that to be my greatest present, on this 28th day of July. I hope you’ll bear [...]

Picture: Hula Dancers underneath an evening moon while performing at the Paradise Cove Luau, Ko Olina, Oahu, Hawaii. The title words alone should give you a good hint at where I’ve been. And it was a long time overdue. I just finished a two week family vacation, of which one of those weeks was spent [...]

Picture: Photographer next to tracks left by mysterious moving rocks on the dried flat mud at the Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California Last fall I had my first chance to visit the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park. While walking out on the Playa, I met a photographer I’ll simply refer to [...]