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Creative Flow, Yellowstone, and What’s Next
Published 4 days ago • 5 min read
Hi Reader,
We hope your year is off to a great start! Ours has certainly been a full one, and a fun one so far.
Before we dive into everything, a quick note. Our Boulder Mountain Creative Retreat is almost full, and registration closes February 24th. This retreat is shaping up to be a small, thoughtful group, exactly the kind of environment where meaningful creative growth happens. If you’ve been considering it, now would be the time. If you’re craving some photography self-care and want to grow your creative vision in a supportive group among beautiful Utah landscapes, we’d love to have you join us.
Now, onto the updates...
Much of January was spent relaunching Nature Vision and refining the look and feel of NPN. With the magazine successfully reimagined and released, we packed our bags and made our annual pilgrimage to Yellowstone. Winter in the park is always an incredible experience, and this year was no exception. We had beautiful conditions and a wonderful group. Here is a group photo on a frozen Yellowstone Lake, where we spent time photographing amazing ice pieces that had been pushed up around the shore and rocks.
Not long after returning, we had a quick turnaround to Death Valley for the Dark Sky Festival, where we were thrilled to volunteer. Helping new astrophotographers create their first night sky images never gets old. Watching someone see the cosmos appear on their screen for the first time is something special. The festival itself is an inspiring event put on by the National Park Service, with presentations from NASA, Caltech, and SETI that remind you just how small and connected we all are.
Now we’re stepping into our busiest season, teaching workshops in Death Valley, with some personal explorations and desert backpacking mixed in. Jennifer has also been hard at work on a collaborative book project with five inspiring colleagues that will be released very soon. You can learn more about that and everything else below.
Warmly, David & Jennifer
Creative Insights
Photographing an Old Friend
Being back in familiar places reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about lately. When you return to the same place year after year, it can start to feel routine. The creative spark fades, and you find yourself photographing the same scenes, the same details, the same ideas. That pull toward the familiar is natural. After all, those subjects resonate with us for a reason.
So how do we break free from that stagnation?
The obvious answer is to experiment. Try black and white. Try long exposures. Try intentional camera movement. And yes, those approaches can absolutely help shake things loose. But there’s another answer that’s far less talked about.
Stop trying so hard.
When we become overly focused on creating photographs, it’s easy to forget why we’re out there in the first place. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is put the camera down, slow your pace, and simply enjoy being in the landscape. Take it in without expectations. Wander without intent.
More often than not, creativity returns when we stop forcing it. When we let go, relax into the experience, and allow ourselves to just be present, the flow tends to find us again.
Nature Vision Magazine, Reimagined
Jennifer and I wear a lot of hats. Between Nature Photographers Network, the Moab Photography Symposium, and our workshops, it’s easy to forget that we also publish a nature photography magazine.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve been fairly quiet about Nature Vision. Not because it wasn’t important, but because it didn’t yet feel like a true reflection of our vision. That’s changed.
With Issue 11, we’ve taken full editorial control and reshaped the magazine from the ground up. This issue marks a clear shift in direction, one we’re incredibly proud of. The response so far has been deeply encouraging, and it’s confirmed that we’re on the right path.
We’ve created a free preview of the new issue so you can experience it for yourself.
Over the past several months, Jennifer has been working alongside Michele Sons, Charlotte Gibb, Claudia Welsh, Sarah Marino, and Anna Morgan on a collaborative project that has been quietly unfolding behind the scenes.
Together, they formed Circle of Light, a collaboration rooted in thoughtful conversations about landscape photography as a reflective practice and a relationship with place. At its core, this project explores how time, attention, and care shape both how and why we photograph.
Their first shared work is an ebook titled The Nature of Place: Personal Narratives in Landscape Photography. The writing is complete, and it’s now in the final stages of design, with a planned release in late April 2026.
If you’d like to follow along and learn more, you can visit the website below.
by Jon Swindall An exploration of Pen Densham’s process, shaped by his background in filmmaking, where movement and long exposures replace strict photographic rules to create more expressive images.
In this essay, Enrico Fossati examines how social media, location sharing, and image-driven tourism have transformed landscape photography from a practice of connection into a force that can harm the very places it celebrates.
by Michael Frye I really loved Michael Frye’s take on Antarctica. Instead of chasing scale or spectacle, he focuses on the endlessly changing ice itself, treating the place almost like a living, sculptural world. It’s a fascinating reminder of how much depth there is when you slow down and pay attention to what’s quietly unfolding in front of you.
Workshop Opportunities
2026 is nearly full. If you’re hoping to join us this year, now is the time.
The past month has been full and deeply rewarding.
We made our annual pilgrimage to Yellowstone, and as always, time in the interior of the park, staying in yurts and traveling by snowcoach, felt both immersive and inspiring. There’s something about winter in Yellowstone that never gets old. The quiet. The wildlife. The shifting light.
This trip continues to be one of our favorites year after year, and this group was no exception. Everyone brought their own creativity and energy, which made the experience even more special.
Here’s what our participants shared from the field:
Image by Shirley Weyrauch
Shirley Weyrauch — Yellowstone Winter Expedition
“This wasn’t just a workshop—it was an experience. A calm, thoughtful approach that gave us the time and space to develop our own vision in one of the most beautiful places on earth.”
Tim & Stephanie Huesgen — Yellowstone Winter Expedition
“A once-in-a-lifetime, life-changing experience. The yurt camp, the setting, and the supportive atmosphere made this far more than a photography workshop.”
Hi Reader, Happy New Year! December felt like a much-needed reset for us. We spent most of the month in one of our favorite places, Death Valley National Park. It was an unusual winter, with recent flooding closing many roads throughout the park, but that didn’t slow us down. Our Intimate Landscapes workshop was an incredible success, thanks to a fantastic group of participants who made the week truly memorable. In our downtime, we explored new mud flows and canyons, a constant reminder of...
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Hi Reader, We hope you're enjoying the transition to fall! September was a whirlwind. After some time to recharge, we kicked off our season in Yellowstone with clear skies for the Milky Way, foggy mornings, and an incredibly creative group that reminded us why we love this work. Then we headed to Moab for an event that changed everything. We were there to present at the Moab Photography Symposium, an event that shaped our paths years ago. We poured our hearts into our talks, sharing our...