Leighton Photography & Imaging

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  • East Pawnee Butte in the Pawnee National Grasslands of Northern Colorado. This fantastic geological feature was only made more beautiful by the numbers of pronghorn antelope and desert wildflowers found dotted around the region.
    East Pawnee Butte
  • East Pawnee Butte in the Pawnee National Grasslands of Northern Colorado. This fantastic geological feature was only made more beautiful by the numbers of pronghorn antelope and desert wildflowers found dotted around the region.
    East Pawnee Butte
  • East Pawnee Butte in the Pawnee National Grasslands of Northern Colorado. This fantastic geological feature was only made more beautiful by the numbers of pronghorn antelope and desert wildflowers found dotted around the region.
    East Pawnee Butte
  • Massive panoramic view of Southern Utah's Bryce Canyon with its hundreds upon hundreds of hoodoos and other wild sandstone rock formations. In fact - while every continent on Earth has these hoodoos, nowhere in the world has as many as there are right here, in Bryce Canyon National Park! This massive print is at full natural size a whopping 9.75 feet x 3.6 feet (3m x 1.1m) and was created from twelve images. So large in fact that you can see the individual branches on every tree!
    Bryce Canyon Panorama
  • One of many bald eagles actively hunting over Lower Klamath Lake on a sunny late winter day in Northern California.
    Bald Eagle
  • A prairie falcon streaks past, pivots and dives while hunting along a large cliff in Northeastern Califonia in rural Modoc County. Very similar yet only slightly diminished in size and speed as its distant cousin, the peregrine falcon, the prairie falcon makes its home in the wide, open prairies and arid deserts of the American West interior.
    Prairie Falcon in Flight
  • Eastern Washington's iconic Palouse Falls is a 198-foot waterfall on the Palouse River which empties into the Snake River. These ancient basalt cliffs were created by lava and ground down by massive glaciers.
    Palouse Falls
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • Ancient basalt columns are a typical sight in Central Washington. They are formed by cooling lava, forming cracks that create these columns by contracting. The faster the lava cools, the thinner the columns. These thick columns cooled gradually over some time. The presence of the lichens that now cover the stony face is an indicator of very good air quality and a lack of pollution.
    Lichen-Covered Basalt Cliff in Cowic..nyon
  • This whole area was once an ancient shallow sea. These towering buttes of sandstone are all that remain after the surrounding rock and land were washed away by climate change. The rocks are still loaded with fossils of fish and seashells. Marine dinosaur skeletons have been found in region too!
    West Pawnee Butte
  • These fantastic cliffs are some of the only stand-out features in this remote part of northwestern Colorado.
    Pawnee Buttes
  • These fantastic cliffs are some of the only stand-out features in this remote part of northwestern Colorado.
    Pawnee Buttes
  • A western pond turtle basks in the sun on a beautiful California day on Lower Klamath Lake near the Oregon border. Listed as a vulnerable/threatened species, these small turtles are slow-growing, often maturing at around 10 years old and are taking a hard hit from invasive bird and animal species - especially bullfrogs and bass.
    Western Pond Turtle
  • This enormous great horned owl was spotted from almost a quarter-mile away perched in a cottonwood tree next to Lower Klamath Lake in Northern California.
    Great Horned Owl
  • A western pond turtle basks in the sun on a beautiful California day on Lower Klamath Lake near the Oregon border. Listed as a vulnerable/threatened species, these small turtles are slow-growing, often maturing at around 10 years old and are taking a hard hit from invasive bird and animal species - especially bullfrogs and bass.
    Western Pond Turtle
  • A prairie falcon streaks past, pivots and dives while hunting along a large cliff in Northeastern Califonia in rural Modoc County. Very similar yet only slightly diminished in size and speed as its distant cousin, the peregrine falcon, the prairie falcon makes its home in the wide, open prairies and arid deserts of the American West interior.
    Prairie Falcon in Flight
  • A prairie falcon streaks past, pivots and dives while hunting along a large cliff in Northeastern Califonia in rural Modoc County. Very similar yet only slightly diminished in size and speed as its distant cousin, the peregrine falcon, the prairie falcon makes its home in the wide, open prairies and arid deserts of the American West interior.
    Prairie Falcon in Flight
  • Native to North America, muskrats are semi-aquatic rodents named for their musky smell and rat-like appearance. They are found in most of Canada and the United States, as well as some parts of Northern Mexico where they inhabit extremely variable habitats and altitudes. Muskrats are always associated with wetlands, whether that is a lake, swamp, pond, river, etc. Although the common name contains the word "rat", it is taxonomically just a very large, semi-aquatic vole, and not related to any rat species. This one was found munching on vegetation at the edge of Tule Lake in Northern California, near the Oregon border.
    Muskrat
  • Native to North America, muskrats are semi-aquatic rodents named for their musky smell and rat-like appearance. They are found in most of Canada and the United States, as well as some parts of Northern Mexico where they inhabit extremely variable habitats and altitudes. Muskrats are always associated with wetlands, whether that is a lake, swamp, pond, river, etc. Although the common name contains the word "rat", it is taxonomically just a very large, semi-aquatic vole, and not related to any rat species. This one was found munching on vegetation at the edge of Tule Lake in Northern California, near the Oregon border.
    Muskrat
  • Native to North America, muskrats are semi-aquatic rodents named for their musky smell and rat-like appearance. They are found in most of Canada and the United States, as well as some parts of Northern Mexico where they inhabit extremely variable habitats and altitudes. Muskrats are always associated with wetlands, whether that is a lake, swamp, pond, river, etc. Although the common name contains the word "rat", it is taxonomically just a very large, semi-aquatic vole, and not related to any rat species. This one was found munching on vegetation at the edge of Tule Lake in Northern California, near the Oregon border.
    Muskrat
  • Native to North America, muskrats are semi-aquatic rodents named for their musky smell and rat-like appearance. They are found in most of Canada and the United States, as well as some parts of Northern Mexico where they inhabit extremely variable habitats and altitudes. Muskrats are always associated with wetlands, whether that is a lake, swamp, pond, river, etc. Although the common name contains the word "rat", it is taxonomically just a very large, semi-aquatic vole, and not related to any rat species. This one was found munching on vegetation at the edge of Tule Lake in Northern California, near the Oregon border.
    Muskrat
  • Native to North America, muskrats are semi-aquatic rodents named for their musky smell and rat-like appearance. They are found in most of Canada and the United States, as well as some parts of Northern Mexico where they inhabit extremely variable habitats and altitudes. Muskrats are always associated with wetlands, whether that is a lake, swamp, pond, river, etc. Although the common name contains the word "rat", it is taxonomically just a very large, semi-aquatic vole, and not related to any rat species. This one was found swimming near the shore of Tule Lake in Northern California, near the Oregon border.
    Swimming Muskrat
  • Cameron Falls is a very famous, beautiful and serene waterfall in Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta, Canada where Cameron Creek cascades over one-and-a-half billion year-old Precambrian bedrock.
    Cameron Falls
  • This wildly colorful community of mixed lichen and an (as yet) unidentified moss covered the basalt cliffs in rural Central Washington north of Ephrata in the middle of January.
    Lichen and Moss Community
  • The Palouse River is a somewhat short river in southeastern Washington that joins the Snake River, which in turn joins the mighty Columbia River that forms the border between Washington and Oregon. It is best known for it's magnificent waterfall - Palouse Falls.
    Palouse River
  • The Palouse River is a somewhat short river in southeastern Washington that joins the Snake River, which in turn joins the mighty Columbia River that forms the border between Washington and Oregon. It is best known for it's magnificent waterfall - Palouse Falls.
    Palouse River
  • Eastern Washington's iconic Palouse Falls is a 198-foot waterfall on the Palouse River which empties into the Snake River. These ancient basalt cliffs were created by lava and ground down by massive glaciers.
    Palouse Falls
  • Eastern Washington's iconic Palouse Falls is a 198-foot waterfall on the Palouse River which empties into the Snake River. These ancient basalt cliffs were created by lava and ground down by massive glaciers.
    Palouse Falls
  • Eastern Washington's iconic Palouse Falls is a 198-foot waterfall on the Palouse River which empties into the Snake River. These ancient basalt cliffs were created by lava and ground down by massive glaciers.
    Palouse Falls
  • Eastern Washington's iconic Palouse Falls is a 198-foot waterfall on the Palouse River which empties into the Snake River. These ancient basalt cliffs were created by lava and ground down by massive glaciers.
    Palouse Falls
  • Eastern Washington's iconic Palouse Falls is a 198-foot waterfall on the Palouse River which empties into the Snake River. These ancient basalt cliffs were created by lava and ground down by massive glaciers.
    Palouse Falls
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • Sunset is almost always a dramatic show of light and shadow, as witnessed here in Cowiche Canyon, just west of Yakima, WA. Strong beams of sunlight beautifully backlit these desert wildflowers (Carey's balsamroot).
    Sunset in the Sagebrush Desert
  • This rock was once molten lava forced from deep within the earth as it covered most of Central Washington, up to three miles deep in some places. Many thousands of years of erosion, weathering and exposure to the elements has left us with massive crumbling rock formations like this basalt rock wall.
    Rocky Basalt Bluffs of Cowiche Canyon
  • This whole area was once an ancient shallow sea. These towering buttes of sandstone are all that remain after the surrounding rock and land were washed away by climate change. The rocks are still loaded with fossils of fish and seashells. Marine dinosaur skeletons have been found in region too!
    West Pawnee Butte
  • These fantastic cliffs are some of the only stand-out features in this remote part of northwestern Colorado.
    Pawnee Buttes
  • This whole area was once an ancient shallow sea. These towering buttes of sandstone are all that remain after the surrounding rock and land were washed away by climate change. The rocks are still loaded with fossils of fish and seashells. Marine dinosaur skeletons have been found in region too!
    West Pawnee Butte
  • Some of the amazingly beautiful rock formations photographed here at dusk in Arches National Park in Eastern Utah.
    Moab Rock Formations
  • The Palouse River is a somewhat short river in southeastern Washington that joins the Snake River, which in turn joins the mighty Columbia River that forms the border between Washington and Oregon. It is best known for it's magnificent waterfall - Palouse Falls.
    Palouse River
  • I literally stepped on this interesting exposed fossil bone by accident as I was hiking along the side of an arroyo just outside of McKittrick Canyon in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The geology of the area dates back to the Permian Era which lasted from 299 million to 251 million years ago, and these rocks are all part of an ancient reef system near the edge of what we now call the Delaware Sea. This entire region is loaded with fossils, and is the site of much archaeological activity.
    Unidentified Fossil
  • Not too long ago I was traveling across Oregon Coast on a nature photography trip with an old friend and one of the places he wanted to check out was Thor's Well, located about midway down the state's incredible coastline at a place called Cape Perpetua. <br />
<br />
Formed out of natural volcanic rock (basalt), this wild geologic anomaly was probably formed by a cave beaten into the cliff that eventually collapsed forming this unusual seeming deep hole in the ground but is actually open underwater to the surf. This causes water to explode violently upward through the "well", followed by the foamy water to duck back down into the depths of the earth.<br />
<br />
It was utterly fascinating, even if I did get hit and completely soaked by one of the infamous rogue waves of the Pacific Ocean.
    Thor's Well
  • Cerro Castellan - also known as Castolon Peak or Castellan Peak, is a conical volcanic mountain in West Texas that rises 1000 feet above the desert floor (3,293 feet above sea level) in Big Bend National Park. Cerro Castellan itself is part of an ancient series of summits once known as the Corazones Peaks that has since succumbed to millennia of erosion by wind, precipitation, searing heat and bitterly cold winters. <br />
Geologically, this ancient mountain range remnant is a high stack of volcanic rocks, including ash, lava, and tuffaceous rocks. It is capped by a dense lava flow underlain by various tuffs and basalts. A somewhat northwest fault cuts the eastern face of Cerro Castellan. Although little vegetation grows on the sheer cliffs and steep, pointed profile of its peak, the lower slopes of Cerro Castellan support a sparse growth of Chihuahuan Desert scrub, including most prominently such characteristic species as creosote bush and ocotillo.
    Cerro Castellan
  • The Joshua tree, symbol of the Mojave desert, reaches out into the blue early April sky. One reason it is believed that this iconic yucca is losing habitat, and declining in numbers is in the fossil record of the recent extinction (in geological years) of the Shasta ground sloth, one of the giant sloths that went the way of the mammoths and other American megafauna. Fossilized scat shows the remains of the seeds, leaves and pulp of joshua trees... and was possibly in a loose symbiotic relationship with it as to provide food in return for seed propagation.
    Joshua Tree
  • Model ~ Lauren ~ April 11, 2010 at Leon Sinks Geological Area - just outside of Tallahassee, Florida.
    Lauren-3.jpg
  • Cerro Castellan - also known as Castolon Peak or Castellan Peak, is a conical volcanic mountain in West Texas that rises 1000 feet above the desert floor (3,293 feet above sea level) in Big Bend National Park. Cerro Castellan itself is part of an ancient series of summits once known as the Corazones Peaks that has since succumbed to millennia of erosion by wind, precipitation, searing heat and bitterly cold winters. <br />
Geologically, this ancient mountain range remnant is a high stack of volcanic rocks, including ash, lava, and tuffaceous rocks. It is capped by a dense lava flow underlain by various tuffs and basalts. A somewhat northwest fault cuts the eastern face of Cerro Castellan. Although little vegetation grows on the sheer cliffs and steep, pointed profile of its peak, the lower slopes of Cerro Castellan support a sparse growth of Chihuahuan Desert scrub, including most prominently such characteristic species as creosote bush and ocotillo.
    Cerro Castellan
  • Cerro Castellan - also known as Castolon Peak or Castellan Peak, is a conical volcanic mountain in West Texas that rises 1000 feet above the desert floor (3,293 feet above sea level) in Big Bend National Park. Cerro Castellan itself is part of an ancient series of summits once known as the Corazones Peaks that has since succumbed to millennia of erosion by wind, precipitation, searing heat and bitterly cold winters. <br />
Geologically, this ancient mountain range remnant is a high stack of volcanic rocks, including ash, lava, and tuffaceous rocks. It is capped by a dense lava flow underlain by various tuffs and basalts. A somewhat northwest fault cuts the eastern face of Cerro Castellan. Although little vegetation grows on the sheer cliffs and steep, pointed profile of its peak, the lower slopes of Cerro Castellan support a sparse growth of Chihuahuan Desert scrub, including most prominently such characteristic species as creosote bush and ocotillo.
    Cerro Castellan
  • Cerro Castellan - also known as Castolon Peak or Castellan Peak, is a conical volcanic mountain in West Texas that rises 1000 feet above the desert floor (3,293 feet above sea level) in Big Bend National Park. Cerro Castellan itself is part of an ancient series of summits once known as the Corazones Peaks that has since succumbed to millennia of erosion by wind, precipitation, searing heat and bitterly cold winters. <br />
Geologically, this ancient mountain range remnant is a high stack of volcanic rocks, including ash, lava, and tuffaceous rocks. It is capped by a dense lava flow underlain by various tuffs and basalts. A somewhat northwest fault cuts the eastern face of Cerro Castellan. Although little vegetation grows on the sheer cliffs and steep, pointed profile of its peak, the lower slopes of Cerro Castellan support a sparse growth of Chihuahuan Desert scrub, including most prominently such characteristic species as creosote bush and ocotillo.
    Cerro Castellan
  • One of the most interesting facts about the mock-orange is the fact that it develops different properties based on where it is found in the wild. Because of the varying habitats where it is found, Native Americans of different tribes and geological locations had very different uses for this same shrub. Some used the wood for making strong and straight arrow shafts. Others made reliable and sturdy digging sticks with them. One of the most amazing characteristics is that if you crush the leaves and flowers together between your hands and keep rubbing, you will create a soapy lather, great for bathing! This one was found blooming next to the Yakima River in Kittitas County, Washington.
    Mock-Orange