Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow Photography

  • Portfolio
  • About
  • Contact
  • Archive
    • All Galleries
    • Search
    • Cart
    • Lightbox
    • Client Area

Search Results

Refine Search
Match all words
Match any word
Prints
Personal Use
Royalty-Free
Rights-Managed
(leave unchecked to
search all images)
Next
216 images found

Loading ()...

  • Three vehicles traverse rolling hills across the green tundra in summer months as the "haul road" runs 414 miles north to the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay. The Dalton highway was built during construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline in the 1970s, mostly gravel highway with a few paved sections. It follows nearby the pipeline through rolling, forested hills, across the Yukon River and Arctic Circle, through the rugged Brooks Range, and over the North Slope to the Arctic Ocean.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-29.JPG
  • A lone truck moves down the Dalton Highway also known as the "haul road" running 414 miles north to the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay. Built during construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline in the 1970s, this mostly gravel highway travels through rolling, forested hills, across the Yukon River and Arctic Circle, through the rugged Brooks Range, and over the North Slope to the Arctic Ocean.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705771.jpg
  • Ranchers work together to rope and brand calves in a corral near Indian Creek. Throughout the West in the spring, cowboys and cowgirls don western hats, saddle up their horses and put their roping skills to use to mark their cattle with permanent identification.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705703.jpg
  • From atop a distant hill, a rancher on horseback watches over his herd of sheep on Steens Mountain in southeastern Oregon.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705663.jpg
  • A village lays at the foot of a mountain range.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6879_708738.TIF
  • Views along the Dalton highway reveal the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). The oil transportation system spanning 800 miles across Alaska lies partly in the foothills of the Brooks Range. It includes the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, running through Alaska's wilderness to the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is elevated and cooled by refrigeration coils to keep the warmed oil from melting the permafrost. Completed in 1977, it is one of the world's largest pipeline systems.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-28.JPG
  • A boy bounces a soccer ball of his head while playing on a field near a large statue of a man with two horses.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6689_702588_4.TIF
  • A workman on a flatbed truck unloads a large storage tank at a gas drilling site. The petroleum industry has been exploring for oil and gas in Wyoming for over 135 years. In 1884 the first oil well was drilled southeast of Lander.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705782.jpg
  • A mining employee works around a large piece digging equipment used at Black Thunder, a coal surface mine. Located in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, the dragline bucket used at the mine holds 170 cubic yards of coal that is extracted, processed, then loaded onto trains. Almost 100 million tons of low sulpher coal is shipped from this surface mine to power plants.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705777.jpg
  • The Trans-Alaska Pipeline runs through the Alaskan wilderness connecting the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska, U.S., with the harbor at Valdez, 800 miles to the south. Half of the pipeline is elevated to prevent the heated oil in it from thawing the permafrost and to allow wildlife to pass more easily under it. The pipeline is also cooled by refrigerant coils that keep them from transmitting heat into the thaw-sensitive permafrost. The pipeline pumps 47,000 gallons of oil a month.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705772.jpg
  • A bulldozer works in a slurry of mud pushing rock that is washed at a gold mine near Coldfoot, Alaska. Gold was discovered in 1899 and prosoectors abandoned it five years later. The area was used as a service stop for trucks for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline beside the "haul road" or Dalton Highway to Prudhoe Bay in the North Slope.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705769.jpg
  • Views along the Dalton highway reveal the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), an oil transportation system spanning Alaska that includes the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, running through Alaska's wilderness to the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is elevated and cooled by refrigeration coils to keep the warmed oil from melting the permafrost. It is one of the world's largest pipeline systems.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705684.jpg
  • Wearing a black hat and white hat, a young cowboy balances on a corral fence waiting for his father to finish working on the ranch in southern Oregon.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705658.jpg
  • Svans compete to see who can pick up the biggest rock.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6879_708764.TIF
  • A boy bounces a soccer ball of his head while playing on a field near a large statue of a man with two horses.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6879_708746.TIF
  • Two men look at two sacrificed sheep.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6879_708733.TIF
  • The Sumela Monastery clings to mountain cliff in the Pontic Mountains.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6879_708212.TIF
  • Clouds gather at the base of Kaieteur Falls as seen from this elevated view in the rain forest.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6570_704406.JPG
  • A Monastery Pontic Mountains.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6689_702588_7.TIF
  • A lone cyclist crosses the maritime chaparral of Fort Ord National Monument, once a bustling Army post on central California's Monterey Peninsula and now a Bureau of Land Management-run reserve for recreation and scarce native habitats. The coastal gem has 86 miles of trails to ride a bike or horse or hike through diverse habitats.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-51.JPG
  • A family of trumpeter swans and a cygnet swims in blue waters of Tangle Lakes near Alaska's Denali National Park. Trumpeter Swans forage in shallow water, reaching under the surface to eat aquatic vegetation. Although Trumpeter Swans have been dubbed “a classic conservation success” and numbers have increased, human threats affect the population. The swans are extremely sensitive to human disturbance at their breeding sites and will abandon nests and cygnets if disturbed.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705764-2.JPG
  • A red-haired, freckle-faced, young lad has sunscreen lotion applied before starting out on a rafting trip on the Colorado River.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729.jpg
  • Wild stallions square off at a watering hole as other horses drink. Horses come to drink in a hierarchy, so these two mustangs are competing for dominance as water becomes more scarce for wildlife.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705725.jpg
  • A full moon rises over the arid landscape glowing in pastels at twilight in Oregon's Alvord Desert.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705706.jpg
  • The Sumela Monastery clings to the side of a mountain cliff.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6879_708736.JPG
  • View of the town of Sinop.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6689_691811.JPG
  • Freewheeling four-wheelers trek across Coral Pink Sand Dunes of southwestern Utah. Part state park, part Bureau of Land Management wilderness quality land, the dunes are both playground and battleground. ATV riders fight for wide-open access: environmentalists for rare plant and animal species. <br />
The orange/pink color is from the Navajo sandstone layer formed 190 million years ago in the early Jurassic period. High winds pass through the region whipping sand into piles and water seeped down into the sand, carrying minerals with a mineral composition of iron, calcium carbonate, and manganese which gave the rock warm hues.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-2.JPG
  • A freewheeling four-wheeler flies over the Coral Pink Sand Dunes of southwestern Utah. Part state park, part Bureau of Land Management wilderness quality land, the dunes are both playground and battleground. ATV riders fight for wide-open access: environmentalists for rare plant and animal species. <br />
The color is from the Navajo sandstone layer formed 190 million years ago in the early Jurassic period. High winds pass through the region whipping sand into piles and water seeped down into the sand, carrying minerals with a mineral composition of iron, calcium carbonate, and manganese which gave the rock warm colors.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-1.JPG
  • A family of trumpeter swans and a cygnet swims in blue waters of Tangle Lakes near Alaska's Denali National Park. Trumpeter Swans forage in shallow water, reaching under the surface to eat aquatic vegetation. Although Trumpeter Swans have been dubbed “a classic conservation success” and numbers have increased, human threats affect the population. The swans are extremely sensitive to human disturbance at their breeding sites and will abandon nests and cygnets if disturbed.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705764-3.JPG
  • A family of trumpeter swans and a cygnet swims in blue waters of Tangle Lakes near Alaska's Denali National Park. Trumpeter Swans forage in shallow water, reaching under the surface to eat aquatic vegetation. Although Trumpeter Swans have been dubbed “a classic conservation success” and numbers have increased, human threats affect the population. The swans are extremely sensitive to human disturbance at their breeding sites and will abandon nests and cygnets if disturbed.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705764-1.JPG
  • A large industrial mining truck carries a load of coal from Black Thunder, the largest surface mine in the U.S. Located in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, the mine extracts coal that is transported by rail to power plants in the East.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705780.jpg
  • A piece of mining equipment of behemoth proportions operates at a surface coal mining site, Black Thunder, the largest surface coal mine in the U.S.   Located in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, the dragline bucket holds 170 cubic yards of coal that is extracted, processed, then loaded onto trains. Almost 100 million tons of low sulpher coal is shipped from this surface mine to power plants.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705778.jpg
  • Residents of a historic, rustic log cabin hooked up to the modern amenity of receiving satellite television. Moose antlers adorn the walls of the cabin in the short summer months in the North Slope of Alaska.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705770.jpg
  • A family of trumpeter swans and a cygnet swims in blue waters of Tangle Lakes near Alaska's Denali National Park. Trumpeter Swans forage in shallow water, reaching under the surface to eat aquatic vegetation. Although Trumpeter Swans have been dubbed “a classic conservation success” and numbers have increased, human threats affect the population. The swans are extremely sensitive to human disturbance at their breeding sites and will abandon nests and cygnets if disturbed.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705764.jpg
  • A family of trumpeter swans swims in clear waters of Tangle Lakes hiding in the grasses in the shadow of Alaska's Denali National Park. Trumpeter Swans forage in shallow water, reaching under the surface to eat aquatic vegetation. Although Trumpeter Swans have been dubbed “a classic conservation success” and numbers have increased, human threats affect the population. The swans are extremely sensitive to human disturbance at their breeding sites and will abandon nests and cygnets if disturbed.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705759.jpg
  • In the last gasp of autumn, a few sparse leaves cling to bare branches of an aspen tree, Populus tremuloides. Aspens have heart-shaped leaves that tremble in the slightest breeze which is why they are also called "quaking aspens." Backlit in warm sun, the tree native  to North America, thrives in the higher altitude of the San Juan Mountains in Colorado.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705746.jpg
  • A full moon rises over calm waters of the Rogue River as pastel blue light creates a peaceful scene in the Oregon landscape.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705733.jpg
  • Delicate rock formations shaped by wind erosion overlook the Grand Canyon. The Navajo sandstone layer formed 190 million years ago in the early Jurassic period. Southern Utah was much closer to the equator and giant, wind-whipped sand dunes dominated the landscape. Polar ice caps melted and the climate changed forming an inland sea that covered the Southwest. Water seeped down into the sand, carrying minerals with a mineral composition of iron, calcium carbonate, and manganese which gave the rock warm colors.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705695.jpg
  • Hiking along an overlook above a rocky shoreline on the Lost Coast in the King Range National Conservation Area (NCA).<br />
The King Range NCA encompasses 68,000 acres along 35 miles of California’s north coast. The landscape was too rugged for highway building, giving the remote region the title of California’s Lost Coast. It is the Nation's first NCA, designated in 1970.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705678.jpg
  • A herd of wild horses gallops across the dry Nevada range chased by a helicopter during a Bureau of Land Management roundup. Mustang herds are federally protected, but their numbers are regulated creating conflict. Darn browns and black are typical colors in wild horse herds.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705670.jpg
  • Svaneti, a small bustling village sits below sharp, snow-covered mountains.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6879_708755.TIF
  • A man carries a wood plank while working at the Sumela Monastery.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6879_708737.JPG
  • Pagan animal sacrifice beneath 12th century tower in Svaneti.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6879_708702.TIF
  • Pagan animal sacrifice beneath 12th century tower in Svaneti.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6879_708699.TIF
  • A group of Turkish women eat a meal of potatoes, green beans, and bread outdoors.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6689_702553.TIF
  • An aerial shot along the Essequibo River near Rockstone.  Light clouds form a translucent ceiling above the rain forest and river.  This picture focuses on part of the area a team of researchers is working in to learn about fish populations andnumbers.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6570_704407.JPG
  • A petroglyph of a horned animal carved onto a rock face. Significant late prehistoric archeological sites in the desert Southwest are preserved in Agua Fria National Monument that measures 71,100-acres in Arizona.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705673.jpg
  • A group of Umbero people look with wonder at a polaroid photograph seeing their image for the first time.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6998_718284.jpg
  • Aerial view shows snow that accentuates the contours of a flattened, freshly cut mountaintop removal site in Cabin Creek, West Virginia. Mountaintop removal is a mining practice where the tops of mountains are blasted away to expose the seams of coal underneath.<br />
As much as 500 feet or more of a mountain summit may be leveled. The earth and rock from the mountaintop is then dumped into the neighboring valleys.<br />
Analysis from a study that Appalachian Voices commissioned along with Natural Resources Defense Council  shows that 1.2 million acres have been mined for coal. “Over 500 mountains have been leveled, and nearly 2,000 miles of precious Appalachian headwater streams have been buried and polluted by mountaintop removal.”
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023729-2.JPG
  • A worker sets fire to a home that is demolished to rubble as a result of mine expansion. As mountaintop removal mine permits allow the surface mines to expand, they often displace residents in their way.  Dingess-Rum Coal Company served notice to Dehue residents renting old coal company houses, giving them 30 days to move. <br />
Dehue, like dozens of other mining towns, was once a busy center of activity with a grocery, post office, theater, barbershop, pool hall, school payroll office, and Civic Club. These communities become ghost towns and over time are dismantled. Day lilies and fruit trees often mark the spot of leveled homes lining a road.<br />
Dehue was located off Route 10 on Rum Creek south of Logan. It began in 1916 as a coal company town owned by Youngstown Mines Corporation. It existed as late as the 1970s, but the homes were never sold to private residents. Most houses were cleared and burned in 2000 and 2001.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_996260-1.JPG
  • Morning sunlight fills the canyons and rock formations created by erosion as the surrounding Colorado River sliced through the Colorado Plateau near Moab, Utah. Canyonlands National Park’s stunning vistas in Island in the Sky, are red rock Wingate sandstone <br />
cliffs and spires.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-36.JPG
  • Castleton Rock is a 400-foot Wingate Sandstone tower standing on a 1,000 foot Moenkopi-Chinle cone above the northeastern border of Castle Valley, Utah. It is a world-renown desert rock formation that has numerous climbing routes and is located outside of Moab.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-34.JPG
  • Human skull and other bones surfaced from under melting tundra from abandoned sunken houses and boats in what is believed to be a failed sailing expedition. The story goes that ship wrecked explorers built shelters to survive and were poisoned by their lead food containers before they could be rescued. The site is near Barrow but closer to Lonely, Alaska near the DEW line or Distant Early Warning radar station in the far northern Arctic.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-31.JPG
  • Three caribou walk by storage tanks for oil near Prudhoe Bay where the Central Arctic herd migrates north each summer. After more than 40 years of production, Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay is the largest oil field in North America.  Lonely is located to the west and is a DEW line or Distant Early Warning radar station in the far northern Arctic.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-30.JPG
  • A moose forages amid the woodlands stands in tall grass near Anchorage, Alaska. Alces alces gigas is the largest member of the deer family. Adults range in size from 800-1600 pounds and can be 6 feet tall. Antlers are carried by only males.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-26.JPG
  • Joshua trees are a type of yucca that can reach that Heavily dependent on annual rains, the native plant is formally known as Yucca brevifolia, which grows at lower elevations is desert terrain near the Virgin River in southwest Utah.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-12.JPG
  • A Yucca buccata plant growing in the Arizona desert with stiff fibers that are used in Native cultures for needle and thread.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-11.JPG
  • Horses from a neighboring ranch graze on Arivaipa Canyon’s lush bottomland among protected native plants.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-10.JPG
  • Aerial view of TexasGulf Potash Ponds which are solar evaporation ponds used in the process of mining potash. Potash, a water-soluble potassium salt  is extracted and blue dye is added to increase the rate of evaporation. It is mainly used in fertilizer products but also in the making of soap, glass, ceramics and batteries.<br />
The mine is currently owned and operated by Intredpid Potash Inc and the ponds cover 400 acres of land surrounded by sandstone cliffs and wilderness near Moab.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-3.JPG
  • Sun illuminates golden leaves of aspen trees displaying autumn colors in the forests of the San Juan mountains in San Miguel County. Fall arrives early in high elevation near Telluride, Colorado.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705676-5.JPG
  • A gold leafed aspen tree displays autumn colors as forest trees cling to rock cliffs in the San Juan mountains. Fall arrives early in high elevation in San Miguel Countnear Telluride, Colorado.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705676-4.JPG
  • Golden leaves of aspen trees are backlit with autumn colors contrasting the white bark in the forests of the San Juan mountains. Fall arrives early in high elevation in San Miguel County near Telluride, Colorado.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705676-3.JPG
  • A stand of aspen trees displays golden leaves of autumn colors in the forests of the snow-capped San Juan mountains. Fall arrives early in high elevation in San Miguel County near Telluride, Colorado.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705676-2.JPG
  • A stand of aspen trees with golden leaves displays autumn colors in the forests of the snow-capped San Juan mountains. Fall arrives early in high elevation in San Miguel County near Telluride, Colorado.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705676-1.JPG
  • A fire crew marches in formation toward a growing wildfire. Flames leap high as a fire caused by lightning spread into the night along a ridge line. Wild land fire devastation costs millions of dollars and loss of property and life. <br />
According to the Washington Post: High temperatures. Low humidity. Little rainfall. Dry vegetation. Fast winds.<br />
Wildfires depend on a combination of environmental conditions to start and spread. As global temperatures rise, research shows these conditions appear more intensely and frequently — escalating the risk of wildfires. Around 85 percent of wildfires over the past two decades were started by people.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705721-1.jpg
  • Flames leap high as a wildfire caused by lightning spreads into the night along a ridge line. Wild land fire devastation costs millions of dollars and loss of property and life. <br />
According to the Washington Post: High temperatures. Low humidity. Little rainfall. Dry vegetation. Fast winds.<br />
Wildfires depend on a combination of environmental conditions to start and spread. As global temperatures rise, research shows these conditions appear more intensely and frequently — escalating the risk of wildfires. Around 85 percent of wildfires over the past two decades were started by people.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705720-8.jpg
  • Flames leap high as a wildfire caused by lightning spreads into the night along a ridge line. Wild land fire devastation costs millions of dollars and loss of property and life. <br />
According to the Washington Post: High temperatures. Low humidity. Little rainfall. Dry vegetation. Fast winds.<br />
Wildfires depend on a combination of environmental conditions to start and spread. As global temperatures rise, research shows these conditions appear more intensely and frequently — escalating the risk of wildfires. Around 85 percent of wildfires over the past two decades were started by people.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705720-7.jpg
  • Flames leap high as a wildfire caused by lightning spreads into the night along a ridge line. Wild land fire devastation costs millions of dollars and loss of property and life. <br />
According to the Washington Post: High temperatures. Low humidity. Little rainfall. Dry vegetation. Fast winds.<br />
Wildfires depend on a combination of environmental conditions to start and spread. As global temperatures rise, research shows these conditions appear more intensely and frequently — escalating the risk of wildfires. Around 85 percent of wildfires over the past two decades were started by people.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705720-6.jpg
  • Flames leap high as a wildfire caused by lightning spreads into the night along a ridge line. Wild land fire devastation costs millions of dollars and loss of property and life. <br />
According to the Washington Post: High temperatures. Low humidity. Little rainfall. Dry vegetation. Fast winds.<br />
Wildfires depend on a combination of environmental conditions to start and spread. As global temperatures rise, research shows these conditions appear more intensely and frequently — escalating the risk of wildfires. Around 85 percent of wildfires over the past two decades were started by people.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705720-5.jpg
  • Flames leap high as a wildfire caused by lightning spreads into the night along a ridge line. Wild land fire devastation costs millions of dollars and loss of property and life. <br />
According to the Washington Post: High temperatures. Low humidity. Little rainfall. Dry vegetation. Fast winds.<br />
Wildfires depend on a combination of environmental conditions to start and spread. As global temperatures rise, research shows these conditions appear more intensely and frequently — escalating the risk of wildfires. Around 85 percent of wildfires over the past two decades were started by people.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705720-4.jpg
  • Flames leap high as a wildfire caused by lightning spreads into the night along a ridge line. Wild land fire devastation costs millions of dollars and loss of property and life. <br />
According to the Washington Post: High temperatures. Low humidity. Little rainfall. Dry vegetation. Fast winds.<br />
Wildfires depend on a combination of environmental conditions to start and spread. As global temperatures rise, research shows these conditions appear more intensely and frequently — escalating the risk of wildfires. Around 85 percent of wildfires over the past two decades were started by people.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705720-3.jpg
  • Flames leap high as a wildfire caused by lightning spreads into the night along a ridge line. Wild land fire devastation costs millions of dollars and loss of property and life. <br />
According to the Washington Post: High temperatures. Low humidity. Little rainfall. Dry vegetation. Fast winds.<br />
Wildfires depend on a combination of environmental conditions to start and spread. As global temperatures rise, research shows these conditions appear more intensely and frequently — escalating the risk of wildfires. Around 85 percent of wildfires over the past two decades were started by people.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705720-2.jpg
  • Fire fighters prepare to fight a wildfire caused by lightning that spread into the night along a ridge line. Wild land fire devastation costs millions of dollars and loss of property and life. <br />
According to the Washington Post: High temperatures. Low humidity. Little rainfall. Dry vegetation. Fast winds.<br />
Wildfires depend on a combination of environmental conditions to start and spread. As global temperatures rise, research shows these conditions appear more intensely and frequently — escalating the risk of wildfires. Around 85 percent of wildfires over the past two decades were started by people.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705720-1.jpg
  • A street scene of Pontic Greek people
    RANDY OLSON_MM6689_702588_9.TIF
  • A street scene of Pontic Greek people is reflected in a window.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6689_702588_10.TIF
  • Circassian dancers in a Black Sea village prepare for a festival.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6689_702588_11.TIF
  • Mbuti Pygmy hunter with spear and rolled up net for snaring game. He is tying leaves onto branches that the semi-nomadic tribe assembles to make shelter.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001230_2.TIF
  • Mbuti Pygmy hunter with spear and rolled up net for snaring game as he walks through the forest.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001230_4.TIF
  • A blanket is rolled onto the Pitztal Glacier to keep ice from melting and  protect the ski industry in the Alps.<br />
Glacial melts first recorded at the start of the 19th century—a point that also coincides with the start of the industrial age and burning of large amounts of fossil fuels. Since then the glaciers have lost between 30 to 40% of their area and nearly half their volume.  The coverings remind us of little mountains they are creating out of felt.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024109.jpg
  • A blanket is rolled onto the Pitztal Glacier to prevent snow from melting. It is a method workers use to combat the effects of climate change and global warming.  Integral to the local economy, ski resorts need protection from higher temperatures that melt the ice.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024108.TIF
  • Dimly lit tunnels through the Alps allow traffic to avoid snow-covered passes.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024100.TIF
  • A blur envelopes a young parishioner who carries a candle-lit canvas lantern in a processional that celebrates Christians' Holy Week. It is a centuries-old annual Mendrisio tradition.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024099.jpg
  • Monday is laundry day at Val Mustair as nuns fold a flowered sheet in the convent courtyard. The world-famous Benedictine Convent and a UNESCO World Heritage Site is in the Swiss Alps. Founded in the 8th century, the Christian convent is home to Benedictine nuns since the 12th Century. Eleven make their home behind closed walls, living a life of commitment to poverty and celibacy. Each nun has her work and they come together for meals and prayer.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024095.jpg
  • A couple relaxes in an outdoor heated pool surrounded by snow in the Dolomites. Steam rises in the cold alpine air that attracts tourists to the Alps.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024090.jpg
  • Mother teaches her daughter to cook traditional foods in their family's restaurant in the small Ladin village of LaVal in the Dolomites.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024088.jpg
  • Two Ladin women dress in traditional clothing that is often worn on Sundays and for ceremonial occasions linked to the ancient customs. Ladins in the small village in the Dolomites divided from other ethnic relatives to the far reaches of the mountains further away from German influences. The people living here speak Italian and German, but Ladin in their first language.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024084.jpg
  • After a candle-lit bath in milk and honey, a couple is served champagne, then they snuggle down in a straw-filled bed. Luxury spas find unique ways to attract tourists.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024081.TIF
  • A couple shares a milk-and-honey bath in a bathroom lit by candles at a luxury spa in the Alps. Tourists are attracted to unique experiences offered at various, unique resorts.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024080.TIF
  • Red-suited ski instructors gather to play a game of cards before students arrive for morning lessons on the ice.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024031.jpg
  • Water cascading over rocks in a woodland setting.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760127.jpg
  • A heart drawn in the sand on a beach.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760089.jpg
  • A family frolics in the surf on a beach with sea stacks.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760086.jpg
  • Walkers on a fog-shrouded beach at low tide.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760071.jpg
  • A fisherman tries his luck at the Golden Gate Bridge.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6842_956213.jpg
  • Children playing in the snow on a hillside outside their home in Sylvester.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023949.jpg
  • A young girl in braids sits on a swing at the Caudill homestead during a weekend family reunion bringing relatives together.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023750.jpg
  • Hobet 21 mountain top removal coal mine seen from the air, grows larger and approaches a family home. Mines run 24 hours a day, seven days a week creating coal dust impossible to keep out of houses.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023747.jpg
  • Hydroseed grass is sprayed on steep contours of a reclaimed mountaintop removal mine site in an effort to control erosion. Reclamation requires mining companies to return the land to it's original contours and plant but little grows on these rocky soils and the operation is often repeated.  Spray-on grass replaces more than 60 tree species that ruled some of the world’s most diverse temperate forests.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023732.jpg
  • A truck dumps rock over the edge of a cliff creating a valley fill at a mountain top removal coal mine.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023731.jpg
  • Elevated view of a small mine operation finding coal after a larger company left. The owner of this operation stated that "One man's trash is another man's treasure." His equipment works on a mountain top coal mine.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023730.jpg
Next