Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival
The 2025 Winter Carnival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is a spectacular celebration of winter sports, community spirit, and Western heritage. This annual event, held in mid-February, brings together cowboys and cowgirls showcasing their skills alongside thrilling demonstrations in skijoring—a breathtaking sport that merges skiing with horseback riding. The carnival features jaw-dropping ski jumping performances that send athletes soaring through the crisp mountain air, thrilling audiences with their incredible feats of bravery and skill.
As the streets and slopes come alive, this festival highlights the unique bond between horses and their riders, celebrating the rugged outdoor lifestyle of the Yampa Valley. The images tell a story of resilience and traditions shared amongst participants and spectators alike.
Ski Photography Tips, Tricks and Lessons Learned
Recently I had the idea to shoot some photos of one of my favorite non-photography-hobbies: Skiing. Let me say, I learned a lot from my first attempt at action sports imagery. In this blog I share some of my lessons learned and challenges faced from my first endeavor into this different genre of photography.
365 Sunlight
In this blog Cody documents a year of sunlight, mainly around the sunrise and sunset hours, but occasionally exploring other hours in the day when the light hits just right. Counter to his usual style of landscapes and wildlife shot almost exclusively with a mirrorless camera, he explores more shooting and editing on his phone. The goal of the project is just to capture nice sunlight every single day. There is one simple rule: Each photo must feature natural sunlight.
Where the heck will I go?
This is my year of DISCOVERY; a year where I intend to try new things, explore new places, and generally get out of some patterns I have fallen into over the last couple of years. Those patterns include, namely, quite a few repeat backpacking and camping trips.
2024 - The Best of the Bunch
What a year this has been for my photographic journey. I shot 21,474 photos as of December 11th and will likely shoot a few more before 2024 truly wraps. I went on photo trips to Great Sand Dunes National Park, the Wind River Range, Four Pass Loop, and Alaska…
Things to do (and eat) in Moab
Moab, a small town nestled in Utah’s red rock district, has occupied a special place in my heart since my first trip there with my parents and sister way back in 2017. Since then I’ve explored it six or seven times, once for a week straight as I worked remotely from the library parking lot (the WiFi was splendid and social distancing was… necessary). To say this place rocks is an understatement and I’m excited to share some of my favorite adventure (both short and long) and food recommendations.
How to Lose 10 pounds in 10 days: The AT Method
We were going to hike the first 135 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain, GA to the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina. We planned to do this in early October as the weather would be cooler and, with luck, the leaves would be changing colors. Spoiler: we got exactly what we wanted and more from our adventure.
Backpacking, Photography and Misadventures on Segment 8 of the Colorado Trail
When I backpacked this segment of the Colorado Trail in the summer of 2024, I knew it was going to be a tough weekend trip. The single-segment-distance was the longest I had done to date, the altitude was high above sea level at a ski resort, thunderstorms were possible in the afternoons, and I was going with a group of friends who would need help figuring out the logistics of a car shuffle.
Kickstart Their Love for the Wild: A Guide to Introducing Friends to Backpacking
I went on my first backpacking trip in 2017 in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. It was a three day trip where my party summited three of the state’s 46 peaks above 4000 feet. It was a wonderful trip and it got me absolutely addicted to backpacking, but did it fit my criteria for what makes a great intro backpacking trail? Absolutely.
Balancing Ultralight Backpacking With Photography
Ultralight Backpackers and Photographers have perhaps the most opposite ideologies for adventuring in the outdoors. As someone with experience in both of these activities, I wanted to share my thoughts on how to balance both options.
The 40 that got away… and the one that didn’t
As some of you may have seen on my instagram and in my portfolio, I recently got back from a trip to Alaska where I got to explore with my family the Anchorage, Moose Pass, and Seward areas. During this trip I saw salmon running, hiked a bunch, visited the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and Alaska SeaLife Center, and went on a cruise around Kenai Fjords National Park!
Terrifying Beauty
The Wind River Range in Wyoming is a hidden gem and dream destination for backpackers and climbers the world over. Its towering slabs of granite and mountain lakes are wondrous to behold for all who venture into this remote bastion of adventure. I am utterly obsessed with exploring the Winds after my first journey to them two years ago, last year, and once so far this year (2024).
Change.
“You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone” – Roy T. Bennett
This is not the first time in my life that I’m reflecting on this quote. I heard it years ago when I was in college and training to go into the military. When I first heard it, to me it meant stepping out of my physical comfort zone and entering a pain cave where I would happily live for hours as I trained in the gym and the pool. Now I’m interpreting and appreciating it in a different way; a way that is relevant to my life as an outdoorsman and a photographer.