at Yellowstone Canyon, the lighting the backdrop and everything else was perfect for capturing this moment. Thanks to @serdmanczyk for being a great subject here!

This one was my first experiment with exposure blending. HDR can give some great results from complex lighting, but what about when no light exists? Exposure blending allows you to use limited light to give a better picture of the scene. All those little streaks you see are the stars moving through the sky. You can also see a shooting star there in the middle!

The Crowfoot Glacier is about 20 miles northwest of Lake Louise in Banff National Park on the Icefields parkway. The glacier used to resemble a crow’s foot but the bottom toe/claw has dropped off due to glacial melt from increased average temperatures in the region. The glacier looks like a painting when you see it in person, this photo was my attempt at capturing the amazingness.

Yellowstone is full of awesome stuff. Mammoth Hot Springs is the largest and most impressive geothermal area at the National Park. Looking out at the mountain vistas through the Earth’s steaming emissions is a fantastic experience.

Fortunately, my visit back to Charlotte overlapped with the grand opening of the Bechler Museum of Modern Art. Charlotte’s architecture is largely bland and corporate, the same glass and steel that’s typical of un-imaginative “efficient” building designs. Now that the Bechler is open, I hope it becomes the face of the city. Housing some awesome pieces only bolsters its amazingness. Who knew there were so many modern art tapestries? Or that said tapestries were woven by Picasso?

Sure, its far from perfect as @thediscochicken will tell you. But this is the kind of challenging provocative space Uptown CLT needs desperately. The only awesome building in Blandcouver is the downtown library… the only structure that stands out from the countless towers copied and pasted from Hong Kong.

One of the most iconic images from Banff National Park in Alberta, Jane and I just happened upon it as we were driving from our campsite near Lake Louise to Banff.

The mountain was named in 1858 by James Hector for its castle-like or fortress appearance. Following the post-war visit of U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower, the name was changed to Mount Eisenhower by the then Canadian Prime Minister W. L. Mackenzie-King. Eventually, public pressure forced the name to be changed back in 1979 to its original because the Alberta locals were outraged at the snap judgement of the Canadian PM.

@ Porter Sculpture Park between Sioux Falls and Mitchell, SD on I-90. This place was one of the highlights of the roadtrip this summer with so many awesome sculpture and meeting/talking to Mr. Wayne Porter himself.

The first significant snow of the Winter coated Vancouver today. Despite what most Canadians think, Vancouver didn’t freak out or shut down. My jog around the neighborhood to prepare for my study session for a Materials Chemistry midterm on Wednesday treated me to the snow of Pacific Spirit Park and these awesome cars parked around the corner.

in waiting for the Santa Parade to start, I captured a lot of great shots… I like this one because of the flag in the background and the colors of the foreground, i’ll be posting the rest on my flickr stream which you can access below

The Boathouse at Lake Louise in Banff National Park. I still have so many amazing photos to post from my road-trip from NC to BC. This is one example. I’m longing for the sun and blue skies of the Canadian Rockies after the incessant gray that hangs above the trees and building of Vancouver winters.