WILD Wednesday – Earth Is Our Witness: Africa!

I recently sat down once again with Parimal Deshpande for an episode of Earth Is Our Witness – in which I was the subject rather than the Artist-In-Residence. We’ll be releasing the episode in its entirety this holiday season. Until then, enjoy this segment on photographing wildlife in Africa as I discuss a variety of subjects ranging from conservation to technique – and stay tuned for more as we approach the release of Wild Lives!

Don’t forget to follow Earth Is Our Witness on Youtube, Instagram and Facebook for more amazing photographs and the stories behind them.

mountain ridge

Art Wolfe Live! Iceland, Volcanoes & More!

Tuesday night, Parimal joined me for the premier episode of Art Wolfe Live! Thank you so much for all the positive feedback on the new format – while it hasn’t changed dramatically since the days of Tequila Time, it’s my goal to make it more purposeful and succinct, tying it into the past month of travel, teaching, photographing, and more! If you missed it, enjoy!

We will do this monthly – the next episode will air on October 26th at 6 PM on Facebook and YouTube. From initial feedback, it sounds as if the experience is a little better on the YouTube platform, so be sure to follow me there as well if you’re not already! It will also be a good place to catch up on the video I’ll be shooting.

Finally, Earth Is Our Witness returns on Tuesday, October 19th at 6 PM PST! Parimal welcomes National Geographic Explorer James Balog of Chasing Ice fame –  an epic return for EIOW! I’ll be in town for this one – don’t miss it!

mountain ridge

EIOW Welcomes Tom Mangelsen; Tequila Time Update!

From left to right: Frans Lanting, Art Wolfe, Tom Mangelsen in the Galapagos Islands 2018. Photo by Yuri Choufour.

Tomorrow night, my good friend and renowned wilderness photographer Tom Mangelsen joins Parimal and myself on Earth Is Our Witness. Tom will be sharing photographs from his Legacy Reserve Colelction with us; a very limited collection of his most poignant wildlife images and the stories behind the struggle that iconic species face in their fight for survival in a modern world.

Tom and myself go way back, so the banter should be flowing and I know you’ll be instantly engaged by his images and their stories! Join us tomorrow, May 4th at 6 PM PST on the EIOW Facebook or YouTube pages!

Following EIOW, at 7:30 PM PST  – join us once again for Tequila Time Live! Parimal will be sharing more timely photos from his homeland of India, currently experiencing immense strife in the face of the pandemic. As national headlines emerge from that region of the world, it’s the perfect time to glean some insight and perspective from someone whom is familiar.

Following Parimal’s presentation, I’ll have some exciting news about the future of Tequila Time and future live broadcasts.

See you tomorrow for our visit with Tom & Tequila Time!

mountain ridge

#FridayVibes – Migratory Birds (A Day Early!)


Tomorrow is Migratory Bird Day! With projects like Migrations and the upcoming wild, I’ve no shortage of photos to celebrate these stalwart world travelers. Enjoy the image gallery!

On the subject of ‘world travelers’, tomorrow morning Parimal and myself will be live at 10 AM on Earth Is Our Witness to talk with “The Big Cat People” Angela and Jonathan Scott to hear the awesome tales that come of over four decades of experience photographing the lions of Africa.

Enjoy the images and we hope to see you live tomorrow morning!

mountain ridge

#FridayVibes – Getting Back To It!

Happy Friday! Apologies for a light week on the blog, but a lot has been going on – I talked about upcoming workshops last night on Tequila Time. It goes without saying, but I will say it anyways – safety first! We take the pandemic seriously, and with an appropriate measured preparations and precautions. As we start traveling again with the hopes of a vaccine on the horizon, I’m taking every precaution to keep myself and our participants safe. We come with masks and hand sanitizer for all participants, and both Gavriel and myself are COVID tested and ready to get out there!

If you’re local to the Pacific Northwest or plan to be in the area soon, We have a few spaces left in upcoming workshops, including one space remaining to join us on the Oregon coast in Bandon next week! The Mt. Rainier Fall Color workshop has sold out – but now is a great time to sign up for next year with early bird pricing.



Above is a photo gallery from the Olympic Peninsula, home to Lake Quinault and setting for an upcoming workshop at the end of the month. Some of these images you might recognize from last evening’s Tequila Time. A couple spaces remain – don’t miss out if you’re aching to get out and shoot!

If you missed it, catch up on last night’s interview with legendary surf photographer Ted Grambeau on Earth Is Our Witness either on Facebook or YouTube. As usual, the EIOW Instagram page has images of all our featured photographers. Come for the fantastic photographs, but stay for the humor and immersive stories our guests have to share!

Last but not least, we have ANOTHER Earth Is Our Witness happening tomorrow at 10 AM PST – this time with Manoocher Deghati. Manoocher has been photographing world events for over four decades including the Iranian revolution in his home country, from which he has been living in exile since 1985 when he was forbidden to leave his home with his camera. There are sure to be some fascinating stories here!

mountain ridge

#FridayFeelilng – TT & EIOW Recap!


Happy Friday everyone! I’m about to head out for an overnight trip to the Mt. Rainier area but before I hit the road I wanted to give a quick update on what’s going.

First things first, the final episode of season 1 of Pathways to Creativity dropped on Tuesday. I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback for the series, and fantastic suggestions have been sent my way for future episodes. Keep them coming! If you’ve been waiting for the whole series to drop before purchasing, now is the time! 13 lessons encompassing nearly 12 hours and hundreds of photos. Most importantly, I’m focusing almost 100% on themes and concepts that are evergreen and don’t require you to be a technical wizard – because I certainly am not!

Comment below with your suggestions – I’m already hard at work on Season 2!


Last night was another fun-filled episode of Tequila Time – now with improved audio for Facebook users! Check it out if you didn’t get to catch it live and remember, all past streams of tequila time are available on Facebook and Instagram.

Following the shenanigans of TT, Canon Master Photographer and author of Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Photography Richard I’Anson joined Parimal and myself on Earth Is Our Witness – our weekly talk with photographers around the globe featuring their work and their perspective on the inspirational people and cultures of the world. Past episodes are also avialable on Facebook and YouTube – and don’t forget to follow EIOW on Instagram for beautiful galleries of work from the featured photographers!

Welp that’s it for me – time to hit the road. See you soon!

mountain ridge

Pathways to Creativity Season 1 is a Wrap & EIOW w/Richard I’anson!

All 13 Pathways to Creativity Season 1 episodes are in the books, and I’m already prepping for season 2. Stay tuned to the blog for updates! The feedback for Season 1 has been tremendous and appreciated. I’ve been meaning to do this for so long that I can’t believe it’s a reality, let alone with 13 episodes in the can. It’s taken hundreds of hours to compile and edit, let alone the nearly five decades of captures that have gone into it. At least my time stuck at home hasn’t been without productivity!

I’m already looking forward to creating Season 2, and implementing all the things we’ve learned along the way. Leave a comment below if you’re a subscriber if you have any suggestions or comments.

Another project that I’ve been enjoying is the Earth Is Our Witness live-stream that Parimal and myself have been doing on Thursday nights following Tequila Time. EIOW is our chance to speak with photographers from all over the world who are bringing awareness and insight into cultures, wildlife, the environment and more. With so much negativity we want to emphasize the good happening, and we want you to join us!

This week’s guest will be Canon Master photographer and Lonely Planet author Richard I’Anson! Join us on Facebook live or Youtube this Thursday at 7 PM Pacific!

mountain ridge

Tequila Time Images, Earth is Our Witness w/Bandeep Signh!


As promised during Tequila Time last night, here are the images from last night’s talk in case you wanted a closer look. As always we can print almost any image you see here, on my website, or anywhere else! Contact my staff and let them know what you’re looking for  – they would be happy to help walk you through the process. If you happen to like an image from this series, just use the “i” button to see the photo info and note the last 3 digits of the file name when you inquire about the image.

In case you missed it, after TT Parimal and myself also had a great talk with Bandeep Singh and his never before seen body of work, “Gaia’s Song”. Check it out, and be sure to follow Earth is our witness on YouTube for more great interviews with photographers about their important work documenting culture, conservation, climate, and more!

mountain ridge

Witness with Michelle Valberg & Submit your Tequila Time questions!

Hard to believe it, but we’ve been doing a weekly live broadcast every Thursday night for four months now. If you’ve been missing out and can make it work with your time zone, make sure you follow me on Facebook and Instagram so you don’t miss out on tomorrow’s live broadcast! I need your help though – in the form of more questions! Leave a comment below with anything you might want to know about photography, my career, or something completely random – have fun with it!

We’ve also added Earth Is Our Witness to the mix, which is a fantastic way to get to know some of the world’s greatest photographers some of which you’ve likely heard of, and others you should know! The premise of EIOW is to emphasize the ways that we are, by and large, similar around the world, with the same goals, dreams, and wishes for our friends, our families, and ourselves.

This week on EIOW, we will be talking with Canadian Geographic photographer-in-residence & Nikon Ambassador Michelle Valberg on her work in the Arctic and the inspiring stories behind the lives of the Inuit people who reside there.

Tequila Time kicks off at 5:30 PM PST every Thursday on Facebook Live & Instagram.

Earth is Our Witness begins at 7 PM PST on Thursday on Facebook Live & Youtube.

Enjoy – oh and last but not least, Pathways to Creativity episode 9: Using Light Part 1 is up and available!

mountain ridge

New: Episode of PTC! Trees Gift Edition! Earth Is Our Witness! Tequila Time!


A lot to catch you up on this Tuesday!

First and foremost, there’s a fresh new episode of Pathways to Creativity uploaded, so if you’ve purchased the season, check it out! This one is all about shutter speeds. Freezing miniscule droplets of water in sharp focus while a tiny bird drinks from a puddle gives us a glimpse into a world we never see with the naked eye, while the blurred motion and lines of a group of zebras through tall grass provides more context than a focused image is capable of conveying. It’s all there!

There is also a gorgeous gift edition of Trees: Between Earth & Heaven available, published as of today! As you saw on a recent episode of Tequila Time, the first edition of Trees is one of my Top 10 personal favorites, and this new gift edition retains the quality of that release in a more compact format.

Last but most definitely not least, if you haven’t already give Earth Is Our Witness a follow on both Facebook and Instagram and be sure to join us live on Thursday evenings following soon after Tequila Time. This week Parimal and myself will be talking with ocean photographer & the prestigious HIPA grand-prize winner Jasmine Carey on the secret lives of whales. I can’t wait! Thank you SO MUCH for everyone who joins our live broadcasts, and those who go back and watch them later. The positive feedback has been tremendous. See you then!

mountain ridge