Cannundrums: Travel - Landscape Photos

I don't focus on landscape photography, or use landscape photos much in my blog posts, so it is more of a challenge going through my photos to find them. I did come up with about 120 initially that I liked, and I whittled it down to 63.

Some of my favorites involve animals. In fact, the animal was the reason for the photo and the landscape is secondary. But the combination of animal and beautiful scenery adds interest to the photo.

This is one of my favorites, from Custer State Park in South Dakota. Here, for the first time, I got a sense of what it would have been like to be alive 175 years ago and see the vast herds of bison on the plains.

Another bison photo, but this time at Antelope Island State Park in the Great Salt Lake, with a view of the Wasatch Front in the background.

On safari in Minneriya NP in Sri Lanka. Elephants split the vehicles into two and showcase this beautiful green open area and backdrop of jungle.

Another jungle backdrop, this time with zebras in the foreground, in the Okavango Delta of Botswana.

Reticulated giraffes, scattered trees and heavy clouds in the desert of Buffalo Springs National Reserve in Kenya.

By stark contrast, this giraffe, with wildebeest in the background, showcases the endless, desolate pan of Etosha NP in Namibia.

Shifting gears, a partially visible humpback whale adds interest to a lighthouse in Passamaquoddy Bay near St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada.

Harbor seals rest on ice in front of the Northwestern Glacier in Kenai Fjords NP in Alaska.

Steller sea lions find their own niche in rocks on an island in the Gulf of Alaska in Kenai Fjords NP.

Some of the landscapes are mostly about human made structures, or just include a bit of human made objects to add interest to the photo.

The Jema el fna in Marrakech, Morocco has got to be one of the most interesting markets in all the world. This photo is from a restaurant over-looking the square in the sweet light of dusk.

The ancient town of Jerash in Jordan.

The ancient town of Volubilis in Morocco. The stork and nest in the center add interest and could push it up to the animal and scenery section.

The ancient hill town of Ait BenHaddou in Morocco with the Atlas Mountains in the background.

The modern urban suburb of Lehi, Utah. But it is just a prop for the beautiful clouds and white mountain above and behind it.

The modern town of Las Cruces, New Mexico, in the foreground and partially in the light, against the background of the foreboding and beautiful Organ Mountains.

A window in the wall of the slave trading Fort St. Anthony, in Axim, Ghana, along the Gold Coast. It frames one of the most beautiful ocean coasts I've ever seen.

Judy stands on a foundation of an ancient fort built on Sigiriya Rock, in Sri Lanka. The background is of beautiful mountains, lakes, rivers and incredible greenery.

The sun-drenched town of Ilulissat, Greenland, seems out of place next to the huge icebergs of the Ilulissat Icefjord. One of the most gorgeous settings in the world.

More incredible icebergs in the Ilulissat Icefjord. The boats to the left side give perspective and add interest.

Finally, this bridge at Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, near Portland, Oregon, is the reason for the photo. Without the bridge, I don't think I would have taken the photo.

I find deserts to be some of the most interesting and beautiful places in the world.

This is big-time desert, the Sahara of North Africa. The Erg Chebbi Dunes of Morocco are the backdrop for the foreboding, bleak, harsh Black Desert.

A sunset view of the Erg Chebbi Dunes.

Part of the Singing Sand Dunes of the Gobi Desert outside Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China.

My granddaughters running down the Coral Pink Sand Dunes outside Kanab, Utah.

Yardang National Geologic Park on the border of Gansu and Xinjiang Provinces in China.

The multi-hued Grand Staircase stretching from northern Arizona into southern Utah. The Vermilion Cliffs are in the foreground and Bryce Canyon NP is in the background.

A closer view of the Vermilion Cliffs in northern Arizona.

Steven's Arch, near Coyote Gulch and the Escalante River in southern Utah.

Hickman's Bridge in Capital Reef NP, southern Utah.

Capital Reef NP.

A flash flood brings water through the normally drive arroyo in Alamo Canyon, in Organ Pipe Cactus NM, southern Arizona.

Big Bend Ranch State Park, on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande River in southwestern Texas, and Chihuahua State, Mexico on the other side. The Rio Grande is just barely visible in the center of the photo.

The desert mountains below Hamblin Ranch in southwestern Utah, eastern Nevada. A small stream, not visible in the photo, goes through the greenery in the center of the photo.

Mountains are a favorite landscape subject. I particularly like them rugged and raw, not covered in forest greenery.

My son, Sam, near the summit of Mt. Russell in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Definitely rugged and raw. At over 14,000 feet with little vegetation, these regions are like deserts themselves.

A picture taken by Sam, of me, as we hike up scree below the head wall of Mount Russell.

Mt. Whitney, near Mt. Russell in the Sierra Nevadas.

A photo from the 14,000+ foot summit of Mt. Tyndall in the Sierra Nevadas. Mt. Williamson, the second tallest mountain in California, is to the right. The northern Sierras stretch out into the distance. Note the frozen lake below.

Split Mountain, another 14,000+ foot mountain in the Sierra Nevadas. The composition of the rock on the mountain changes partway up, giving it a look like it is two separate mountains. A beautiful lake is at the base.

Mount Popocateptl in central Mexico, almost 18,000 feet tall. The peak is hidden by clouds and steam. The steam in the upper center is from it in the process of erupting and there are also clouds around it.

The Alaska Range, which includes Mt. Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, covered in clouds.

Snow covered Boulder Mountain, in southern Utah, from the east, looking west.

A stream in the Ala-Too Range of Kyrgyzstan.

The Caucasus Mountains near Lahic, Azerbaijan. Fall colored leaves enhance the view.

Glaciers and icebergs are spectacular. Here are some of my favorites.

One of my favorite photos, of us in a small plane flying over the Alaska Range near Mount Denali. The blue glacier below with a black stripe in the middle gives it the look of a racetrack.

The Northwestern Glacier in Kenai Fjords NP in Alaska.

Johns Hopkins Glacier (center) in Glacier Bay, Alaska.

The Greenland ice cap (a type of glacier) outside of Ilulissat.

Another photo that I love, but that no one else seems to appreciate. The Greenland ice cap from the air. It is hard to distinguish the sky from the ice. This is what the vast majority of Greenland is.

Icebergs in the Ilulissat Icefjord, taken from just outside Ilulissat.

Gigantic icebergs in the Ilulissat Icefjord.

A rounded iceberg in the Ilulissat Icefjord - like a football stadium, or a crown.

I'm not a big beach person, so ocean views are few and far between in my photos. But I have a few I like.

This is the iconic view of Trunk Bay in Virgin Islands NP.

Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Rocky coast in Bundala NP, Sri Lanka.

The southern end of Disko Island looking out into the iceberg filled Disko Bay (from a small airplane) in Greenland. Another photo that others don't seem to appreciate, but that I love.

Finally, waterfalls, rivers and lakes.

Thousand Island Lake in the Ansel Adams Wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas in California. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The iconic view is from the other end, looking up at Banner Peak which is behind me in this photo. We saw ospreys catching fish in the lake and were visited by bear and deer in our campsite.

The Grotto near the end of the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada, which juts into Lake Huron at Georgian Bay.

The Rio Grande in Boquillas Canyon in Big Bend NP, Texas. The other side of the river is the State of Coahuila, Mexico.

A lake in Okefenokee NWR in southeastern Georgia.

Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Zambia. The falls empty into the cross bar of a "T" and flow out through the upright of the "T" as the Lower Zambezi River, which is the gap in the photo below.