Chris Kayler Photography

This image is from deep within Kanarra Canyon in a rarely visited section of Zion National Park. With snow on the ground as we hiked in, it was definitely a chilly experience. Needless to say, my two pairs of wool socks layered with synthetic socks and Gore-Tex waterproof socks did not keep me completely warm. That’s okay, as being able to visit waterfalls and beautiful streams running through a deep slot canyon was completely worth any discomfort! In this photograph, I particularly like the the small Box Alder backlit by intense canyon glow, and of course, the two tier waterfall.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

This image is from a pleasant morning spent at Connery Pond in the High Peaks of Upstate New York. The conditions were absolutely perfect with rising fog, pink clouds, and no wind. If you have never visited the High Peaks, I highly recommend it. The sheer size of the mountains there, combined with the intimacy of the small ponds and quiet forests really make for a unique experience, and the hiking, while very strenuous, is very rewarding!

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Sorry for the lack of posts, my blog was experiencing some technical difficulties. After a few calls to my GoDaddy, the issue has finally been resolved. I’m glad, because after my trip to the northeast, southeast and the desert southwest, I have many new images to show!

This image was taken a wonderful, cool, foggy day in Pisgah National Forest. The color this year was the best I have ever seen. Truly amazing. This single bright yellow Maple tree was found at a high elevation alongside the winding Blue Ridge Parkway.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

While in the Adirondacks, I spent one night atop Indian Head overlooking the upper and lower Ausable Lakes. Inspired by what was probably the most amazing view and campsite I’ve ever had, with stars stretching far across the inky sky, high peaks towering 2,000 feet above to my left and right, and the Ausable Lakes 1,000 feet below, I stayed up late taking exposures of the stars fading into the horizon. This particular image was a 30 minute long exposure.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Autumn is here, and I’ve been keeping myself quite busy so far. I’ve just returned two week trip to the high peaks of the Adirondacks and the northern half of Vermont. This particular image was taken in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, on a sunny, yet foggy day. As the sun began to break behind me, the diffused light shown upon the foliage and trunks, while the dissipating fog picked up the rich blue color of the sky. In a few days, I will be heading out of town yet again to travel to North Carolina, Utah, Arizona, and wherever else we may end up in between with my friend Alex Mody. I’ll try to post up another image before from my northeast trip before I head out!

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Another image from the hard-to-get-to Pendleton Run in Blackwater Falls State Park, WV. In this image, I really liked the way the water fanned out into the foreground.

In a few hours, I’m off to Upstate New York to visit family and friends for about a week. I’m hoping to go on a backpacking trip in the Adirondacks and plan to do some scouting while there, as I may plan a trip for this autumn.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

This image was taken high atop Black Balsam Knob in the Pisgah National Forest. This view, from my campsite, didn’t get quite as colorful as I was hoping, but I ended up quite liking the dark and moody feel of the image, combined with the flowing grasses of Black Balsam’s unique ecosystem.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Here’s an image from about a month ago, taken during a heavy rainstorm along Pendleton Run. This was the first time I had photographed these falls, and with the heavy spring flow, the conditions were perfect. Getting down there wasn’t easy, with a long, steep, rhododendron-filled scramble to the base, but it was well worth it.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

This image was taken atop one of the largest stretches of balds in the southern Appalachians. A bald is basically a grassy, treeless meadow on top of a high mountain. The particular one on this mountain was producing its own weather the night I was up there. Battling 40 mile per hour winds, I placed my tripod as steadily as I could on top of this outcropping of rocks, and photographed the clouds racing by barely above my head. As the sun dipped below the horizon, it lit up the clouds from behind with an intense magenta color. After the big show was over, I retreated back to my tarp and, after two servings of lovely Ramen, spent a long, windy night waiting for sunrise!

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Coming back to you, with a new blog design, here is an image from a short trip I took to the southern Appalachians. I visited parts of the Tennessee/North Carolina border, as well as areas further south in NC. Overall, the area is just amazing, and I am looking forward to a trip back down there, perhaps in autumn. This particular image is of a Catawba Rhododendron (Rhododendron catawbiense) just days after shedding its beautiful pink petals. I quite liked the simple shapes of the rhododendron branching outwards from the ground, and of course the carpet of pink. While I was certainly hoping to see some flowers in full bloom, I’m happy that I was able to make the most of the situation and create a unique image.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Well hello there! Just back from a lovely spring vacation with my beautiful girlfriend down to Georgia and then to the Smokies for a few days. I didn’t take many pictures, but liked what I saw. I plan to come back to the Smokies sometime this summer. This particular image was taken from a small wooden bridge overlooking the Middle Prong of the Little River, in the Tremont section of the park. Naturally, I liked the dogwoods, the spring color, and also the way the stream disappeared into the distant horizon. This week, I plan on making a trip to Shenandoah National Park to catch some of the fresh spring growth along Skyline Drive. What a great time of year!

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. It’s been, well, brown and boring around here! No snow, and no greenery. However, things are changing rapidly as many new flowers are beginning to sprout up and leaves are popping out. I hope to get out and make many new images over the coming weeks and months! For now, here is an older image from last summer high above the treeline in the San Juans. I’ve never seen such a beautiful display of flowers, let alone in such an amazing location. It was a truly moving experience to take it all in.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Ice? What the heck is that doing here? I know, spring is in the air and I’m sick of ice just as much as the next person … but bear with me. This morning I was looking through some older images from last month and felt like posting this photograph up as a comparison to my most recent ice image “Swirly Ice, Maryland.” I’m quite happy with this ice image, as it is a little different than most I take. Instead of focusing straight down on patterns alone, using a 70-200 with closeup diopter attached, I used my bare 70-200 @ 70mm and attempted to capture more of the flowing patterns of this large chunk of pristine ice (a rarity here in the Mid-Atlantic it seems). Please, compare this image to the Swirly Ice and let me know what you think! Which do you prefer, and why?

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

This beautiful Ring-billed Gull was taken the night before my last post. During this sunset, there weren’t any clouds to light up in the sky, however, the clear winter sun did cast a beautiful pink light onto everything it touched. When I saw a group of Ring-billed Gulls resting on the beach, I decided to photograph them against the dark blues and purples of the earth shadow on the opposite horizon. I ended up quite liking the subtle contrasts between all of the pastel colors.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

I just got back from a great weekend trip down to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge with my lovely girlfriend. This was the first time I had been to Chincoteague during mid-winter, and it was a bit slower than normal. However, with a bit of searching there was still lots of great stuff to see. When sunset rolled around on the final night, we were treated to quite a show. It was so bright, and so intense. One of the best sunsets I’ve ever seen! I hope this image can give you even a tiny percentage of the joy I felt while witnessing the sky turn to fire over the Atlantic.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Here’s another image from one of my short local day trips. This ice had some of the nicest patterns I’ve ever happened to come across!

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

I went out for a photo shoot this morning after the bit of snow we received here in the east. While I was out, it began to snow again and we managed to tack on another inch or so. As I walked around the forests of the Manassas Battlefield, with snow falling down around me, I used slow shutter speeds to blur out the falling snow and make it look like light fog.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

I made a quick trip to a local park yesterday morning to photograph some ice. Despite the balmy 44F air temperature that day (nice!) we had been in a cold spell for quite some time and beautiful ice patterns abounded everywhere I looked. One of my favorite things about photographing ice, is that the patterns are always different. In this image, all of the globs reminded me of looking at pond water under a microscope back in high school. Good times!

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com