I'm starting 2017 by looking back at 2016, a year I went on tour with Wild Adriatic, spent another summer fishing in Alaska, lived in a surf camp in Costa Rica and delivered a best man speech at a wedding. These adventures, along with my day to day photo jaunts, helped me continue to grow and refine myself as an photographer, artist and adventurer. I am very excited for the growth opportunities of 2017. Also, if you'd like to purchase prints of any of the photos seen here, click the button below to take you to a special "Best of 2016" gallery.

JANUARY

In January, I spent most of my time venturing through the Olympic National Park. This photograph is of the Elwha River valley, taken from my snow shoe hike along the Hurricane Hill trail at Hurricane Ridge.

FEBRUARY

February brought more exploration of the Pacific Northwest. A good friend of mine asked me to help him learn his camera and teach him basic photography concepts. We spent the day in Port Townsend, WA. This photo is of him on the beach near the lighthouse in Fort Warden State Park.

MARCH

I took multiple trips to the former Lake Aldwell. The lake, originally formed behind the lower Elwha River dam, now lays bare, strewn with the carcasses of giants. After the removal of the dams in 2012 the 95ft deep lake revealed the treasures once hidden below its waters. The river has since reclaimed the area, constantly changing the landscape.

APRIL

In April I took a trip to the Cave B Winery in central Washington to help a friend with a stylized wedding shoot. I played the best man that day, but managed to snap a few photos.

MAY

As the weather began to warm and the rivers rise with the melting snow, I made a trip to the Sol Duc River, specifically the Sol Duc Falls trail. I stopped halfway through my walk to snap a photo of this little pool, which was hanging out alongside the trail.

JUNE

I headed up to Alaska for my second season as a deckhand on a gill-netter fishing boat in early June. The late light of summer is incredible. I snapped this photo from the back of the boat around 10:30pm during a light rainstorm the opening weekend of fishing,

JULY

This photo is from a series entitled "Alaska Horizons." During a 3 week trip from Juneau to the Canadian border in search of fish, I snapped a few photos of the horizon everyday.

AUGUST

Another from my "Alaska Horizons" series, this photo was taken on a separate 2 week trolling trip. We traveled up and down the inside passage of southeast Alaska chasing down fish. The photo is one of the many Alaskan cruise ships we would see pass by almost daily. I always made sure to wave when the boats were close enough.

SEPTEMBER

In between a trip to Minnesota and before heading down to Costa Rica, I spent a day walking around up at Hurricane Ridge. This shot is taken from the High Ridge trail.

OCTOBER

I spent the entire month of October (plus the last half of September) living in Costa Rica, working as a photographer for Dreamsea Surf Camp. Everyday we would head to the beach where, in between naps and beach soccer games, I would snap photos of the surfers. This is Laia.

NOVEMBER

After Costa Rica, I returned home to the Pacific Northwest. This photo is from the former Lake Aldwell lake bed after a fresh dusting of snow in the foothills.

DECEMBER

The cold weather of December didn't stop me from exploring. I spent some time out at Lake Sutherland and snapped this shot one cold morning.

BONUS 4

Back in January, I spent two weeks on tour with Wild Adriatic. Our first week was spent touring down the east coast from New York to Miami. The second week we rocked out on The Rock Boat - a 5 day cruise ship that is essentially a 5 day floating music festival.

Another snapshot from Costa Rica. It was a bit tricky to get timing down as I shot all these with an early edition GoPro which didn't have a back LCD.

This is a favorite of mine because it is so personal and intimate. In November, my best friend got married. Before all the dancing and delivering of my best man speech, I snapped this photo of him writing a letter to his future bride.

I could take photos of the Olympic National Park all day everyday. This is a shot from late summer up on Hurricane Ridge.