Dengler Images

10/16/2026

▪️Along the Halemaʻumaʻu Trail in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, the coiled frond of a young fern — called a crozier or fiddlehead — showcases one of the oldest growth forms in the plant kingdom. Ferns have unfurled this way for more than 360 million years, long before flowering plants existed. Several fern species along the trail exhibit the same spiral emergence, including the native ʻamaʻu (Sadleria cyatheoides) and the larger hāpuʻu (Cibotium spp.), both foundational to the rainforest ecosystem here.

The tightly wound spiral protects the delicate developing tissue as it pushes upward, unrolling only once it clears potential hazards. In Hawaiian culture, the fiddlehead symbolizes new life and new beginnings, and fern imagery appears widely in traditional art, chant, and hula. Early Hawaiians also ate the young fronds of hāpuʻu in times of scarcity.

For other Hawai'i stories and photos, check out my blog on Medium; always free, no paywall. >> Link in comments ⬇️

10/15/2026

How can you go to Hawaii and not photograph the sunset? Cliche, sure, but always as dramatic as fireworks on the Fourth of July.

This sunset was photographed on the Kohala Coast of Hawaii Island. The west-facing Kohala and Kona coasts consistently deliver dramatic sunsets because of basic geography: the massive bulk of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa blocks the moisture-laden trade winds coming from the northeast, leaving the leeward side dry, clear, and oriented directly into the setting sun.

The silhouetted palms here are coconut palms (Cocos nucifera), a Polynesian-introduced "canoe plant" brought by the earliest Hawaiian voyagers somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 years ago.

• For other Hawai'i stories and photos, check out my blog on Medium; always free, no paywall. >> Link in comments ⬇️

10/07/2026

A recent discussion with a friend about the impact of bad design on content reminded me of what I wrote back in 2002. This page is from the 89-page News-Leader Design Style Guide I wrote when I redesigned the newspaper that year. The design advice I offered in the guide’s introduction is timeless and easy to remember. It was good advice then, and still is today.

10/05/2026

VIDEO & STORY: I timed my trip to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park to catch Kīlauea's lava fountains. Pele didn't cooperate, but the trails, petroglyphs, and forests did. Read my story for free on Medium, no paywall. >> Link in comments. ⬇️

08/03/2026

Attending the 2026 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships is probably the closest I’ll ever get to attending an Olympic event, let alone photographing one. Images look best on a monitor or iPad. >> Link to story and photos in comments below. ⬇️

04/03/2026

Quote from the story: “This is not going to strengthen the Forest Service, it is going to weaken it,” Bonnie said. “It’s not about solving problems, it’s about blowing things up.”

None of the farm groups want this. No one in conservation wants this. Nobody.

In the Trump administration’s reorganization of the struggling agency, painful echoes of BLM’s past moves.

03/08/2026

By manipulating animals to do wonderful things, we may become numb to their real wonder.

02/06/2026

Unbelievable. Every photographer and picture editor.

All nine staff photographers have been laid off.

01/23/2026

When I was a newsroom graphics/design editor I would review the front pages of newspapers from across the country on a daily basis. Today’s MST has some pretty powerful photojournalism.

11/29/2025

Sad. If you have ever been to Juneau, you most likely went to see the Mendenhall Glacier. I wonder how long it will take before it is out of view.

Scientists say that means the glacier has entered a new phase of its retreat.