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)
98 images found

Loading ()...

  • Evening bright lights illuminate the town of Martigny, winter home of  St. Bernard dogs of Alps fame. Nestled between the snow-capped mountains in the Alps, it is a junction of roads that join Switzerland with Italy and France.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024124.TIF
  • Aerial view of some of the 16,000 participants in the Ski Marathon as Nordic skiers trek across frozen upper Engadine valley. The winter event has been hosted since 1969 drawing athletes and tourists to mountain communities around Saint Moritz in the Alps.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024133.TIF
  • Twilight scene from above snow-covered New York's Central Park. An elevated view shows a curved road planned by Frederick Law Olmsted to create a greater sense of space and mystery about what was to come around the next bend.<br />
Olmsted partnered with Calvert Vaux to plan “Greensward,” and won a design competition to make the what became a beloved urban park. When the idea was conceived, New York was much smaller and no one could imagine the open space surrounded by a city with tall buildings. Olmsted was a visionary and understood that man needed nature to combat the stresses of city life.  Construction began in 1858  and was completed fifteen years later. Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963 and is now managed by Central Park Conservancy, a nonprofit which contributes eighty five percent of the park’s $37.5 budget. More than thirty-five million visitors to Manhattan come to the park annually.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968596.jpg
  • Aerial view of snow covered mountain top removal mining site. After blasting the top of a mountain, trucks remove debris dumping dirt and rock into valleys and streams destroying watersheds. Over 1,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been buried and 300,000 acres of diverse temperate hardwood forests obliterated with valley hills like the white V in the foreground. Pollution from toxic chemicals fill sludge ponds and in flooding, contaminate drinking water. A moonscape of unusable land is left.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_996789.jpg
  • Morning sun kisses the icy tops of winter trees in snow blanketed New York’s Central Park. An elevated view shows a walker following a curved path planned by Frederick Law Olmsted to create a greater sense of space and mystery about what was to come around the next bend.<br />
Olmsted partnered with Calvert Vaux to plan “Greensward,” and won a design competition to make the what became a beloved urban park. When the idea was conceived, New York was much smaller and no one could imagine the open space surrounded by a city with tall buildings. Olmsted was a visionary and understood that man needed nature to combat the stresses of city life.  Construction began in 1858  and was completed fifteen years later. Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963 and is now managed by Central Park Conservancy, a nonprofit which contributes eighty five percent of the park’s $37.5 budget.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968752.jpg
  • Snowy winter view of King Ludwig II's Schloss Neuschwanstein Castle. The 19th century palace is perched on rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau in Bavaria. It was intended as a private residence but the King lived there for only 172 days. It was opened to the public shortly after his death. <br />
It is the dreamy inspiration for Cinderellas's Castle in Sleeping Beauty.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024015.TIF
  • An evening view of the snow-covered resort town of Sestriere, Italy. Olympic alpine skiing competition was held on the slopes in the Alps during the 2006 competition and now draws tourists to the quiet mountain region.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024034.jpg
  • View of the Montreal skyline from high atop a walkway through Mount Royal Park. Frederick Law Olmsted designed Mount Royal beginning in 1874 emphasizing the region's mountainous topography. He planted vegetation that exaggerated the terrain such as shade trees at the bottom of the carriage path that climbs the mountain, so  it resembled a valley. As the visitor went higher and higher the vegetation was more sparse completing the illusion of the exaggerated height.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968629.jpg
  • Twilight view of Olympic mountains and evergreens in snowy landscape.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760069.jpg
  • Twilight falls on the snow-covered village of Castelrotto which is also known as Kastelruth in German. The tower of a cathedral lights up the northern Italian resort town that serves as a winter destination in the Dolomites. Large distinctive mountains loom over the communities attracting tourists in all seasons.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024132.JPG
  • Tourists carry umbrellas to make their way up snow-covered streets during a winter storm in Fussen, Germany.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024016.jpg
  • Japanese tourists view the Matterhorn and pose for photos with the iconic St. Bernard dogs in the Alps. Around two million tourists visit annually to Switzerland's most popular destination nearby Zermatt.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024117.jpg
  • View of the iconic Matterhorn and surrounding mountains in the Alps is made from a morning helicopter flight.  First ascent of the 14,692-foot mountain was in 1865 although four climbers died on the descent. <br />
The National Snow and Ice Data Center describes Matterhorn geology in "All About Glaciers." Cirques are rounded hollows or bowl shapes after a glacier has melted away. Aretes are jagged narrow rides created when two glaciers meet eroding on both sides. And horns are created when several cirque glaciers erode until all that is left is a steep, pointed peak with sharp ridge-like Arêtes leading to the top.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024079.TIF
  • Winter view of cascading Niagara Falls where mist and spray form a crust of ice that builds in the freezing water.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968647.jpg
  • Warm, well-dressed dogs and tourist families wait for a race to begin on frozen Lake Saint Moritz. The Engadine valley hosts winter competitions such as skijoring where a skier is pulled by horses or dogs and a cross country or Nordic skiing marathon race.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1021458.TIF
  • "Wild men" in suits of tree lichen celebrate Schleicherlaufen. It is a similar cultural tradition to Carnival but it is held once every five years in early spring when light wins over darkness of winter. Men collect moss in the woods for weeks before and women in Telfs sew it onto clothing to make the costumes for the parade.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024010.TIF
  • A rustic gazebo shelter perched on a frozen lake after a winter's snow in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. The 585 acre public green space that opened in 1867 was designed by the influential landscape architecture team of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux.  Prospect Park Alliance was formed in 1987 to help maintain and preserve Olmsted and Vaux’s work. They have rebuilt the designers’ rustic shelters with the original methods—no nails, only pegs and dowels to keep the wooden lakeside structures together.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_956191.jpg
  • The Taku winds blow icy ridges framing an overlook of the Inside Passage from Douglas Island and the Tongass National Forest near Juneau. Sunset comes early and days are short in the winter months with approximately 7 hours of light.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075060.jpg
  • Aerial view of a drag line that scrapes through rock after a explosives blast away the top of mountains. A fresh snow contrasts the blackened coal that is revealed. Mountaintop removal mining devastates the landscape, turning areas that should be lush with forests and wildlife into barren moonscapes.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023728.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
  • 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.jpg
  • Snow accents the contours of a fresh valley fill at a coal mine site seen in an aerial view. Tops of mountains are blasted away and flattened to reveal a small seam of coal, and the rock and debris is dumped into V-shaped valleys filling in stream beds.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023727.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_1023729-1.JPG
  • Shrouded in a light, misty snow, Chapin Parkway is one of seven tree-lined boulevards planned for the Buffalo, New York park system. Although other cities have implemented this kind of plan, it was in 1868 that Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux tried to integrate a system of parks and parkways for the first time.<br />
<br />
Olmsted designed the parkways so that within steps of each resident’s door was the entrance to a park-like setting. The parkways in Olmsted’s day were smoothly paved and intended solely for use of private carriages. Featuring 200-foot rights of way and flanked by several rows of trees, they were designed to provide open space for the neighborhoods through which they passed.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_956194.jpg
  • Skiers assemble high atop Aguille du Midi in the French Alps near Mont Blanc. A cable car lift takes tourists one way or round trip from Chamonix for a view of the snow-covered mountain scenery at 3,842 meters. Some skiers ready themselves  for the challenge of a steep, downhill slope.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024037.jpg
  • A man boards an icy lift up to Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak in the Wetterstein Mountains. Three glaciers flank the mountain that is just over 9,700 feet high. The first ascent was in 1820, but today cable cars transport skiers and sightseers to the top for a view that is obstructed on snowy white-out on this day.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024014.TIF
  • Mont Blanc rises in the distance behind craggy peaks and ridges as drifting morning fog lifts revealing the "White Mountain."  Aerial view in an early morning helicopter flight.<br />
<br />
It is the highest in the Alps measuring nearly 16,000 feet. Located in the watershed between valleys in Italy and France, ownership of the summit has been a subject of historical dispute. <br />
<br />
Famous for the emergence of modern alpine mountaineering after the first ascent in 1786, because It is easily accessible the mountain claims many climbing deaths annually.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024115.jpg
  • The Taku winds blow icy ridges that  overlook the Inside Passage. Stillness is only broken by the sound of skiers breaking through crusty snow to view the sunset view on top of Douglas Island nearby Juneau.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1086960.jpg
  • The Taku winds blow icy ridges that  overlook the Inside Passage, stunting the trees that frame the view on top of Douglas Island nearby Juneau.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1086959.jpg
  • A cowgirl drives her herd down a dusty trail from their winter range in Beef Basin, Utah. In the last rays of light, the cowgirl works late to move her cattle on public land near Monticello, Utah. Land whipped into dust by a dry winter offers little forage for cattle on this Bureau of Land Management grazing allotment. In the spring, ranchers pay a fee to drive cattle onto higher, wetter ground.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_680961-16.jpg
  • A cowboy drives a herd down a dusty trail from their winter range in Beef Basin, Utah. In the last rays of light, the sky glows as the rancher works late to move cattle on public land near Monticello, Utah. Land whipped into dust by a dry winter offers little forage for cattle on this Bureau of Land Management grazing allotment.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_680961-14.jpg
  • A cowboy cracks his whip driving a herd down a dusty trail from their winter range in Beef Basin, Utah. In the last rays of light, the rancher works late to move cattle on public land near Monticello, Utah. Land whipped into dust by a dry winter offers little forage for cattle on this Bureau of Land Management grazing allotment. In the spring, ranchers pay a fee to drive cattle onto higher, wetter ground.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_715695-09.jpg
  • A cowboy drives a herd down a dusty trail from their winter range in Beef Basin, Utah. In the last rays of light, the sky glows as the rancher works late to move cattle on public land near Monticello, Utah. Land whipped into dust by a dry winter offers little forage for cattle on this Bureau of Land Management grazing allotment. In the spring, ranchers pay a fee to drive cattle onto higher, wetter ground.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_715695-07.jpg
  • A cowgirl drives her herd down a dusty trail from their winter range in Beef Basin, Utah. In morning light, the cowgirl works to move her cattle on public land near Monticello, Utah. Land whipped into dust by a dry winter offers little forage for cattle on this Bureau of Land Management grazing allotment. In the spring, ranchers pay a fee to drive cattle onto higher, wetter ground.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_715695-03.jpg
  • A cowgirl cracks her whip driving her herd down a dusty trail from their winter range in Beef Basin, Utah. In the last rays of light, the cowgirl works late to move her cattle on public land near Monticello, Utah. The adjacent Indian Creek Ranch is now owned by the Nature Conservancy. Land whipped into dust by a dry winter offers little forage for cattle on this Bureau of Land Management grazing allotment. In the spring, ranchers pay a fee to drive cattle onto higher, wetter ground.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_680961.jpg
  • A cowgirl drives her herd down a dusty trail from their winter range in Beef Basin, Utah. Her son ranches with her and works to move cattle on public land near Monticello, Utah.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_680961-15.jpg
  • A cowgirl drives her herd down a dusty trail from their winter range in Beef Basin, Utah. In morning light, the cowgirl works to move her cattle on public land near Monticello, Utah.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_680961-12.jpg
  • Winter tourists shop in the posh resort town of Saint Moritz known for it's fashionable, stylish clientele and designer fashions. A hotel pioneer first attracted tourists to the high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland in 1864.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_985670.TIF
  • A rushing stream flows through woods blanketed in snow in Niagara reservation that surrounds the area around Niagara Falls. Frederick Law Olmsted, America's first landscape designer, worked with both U.S. and Canadian officials to make a plan to preserve the natural beauty from logging and overuse.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968648.jpg
  • A full moon rises over a snow covered McLean Hospital building in Belmont that first opened in 1811. The former asylum is a private, nonprofit psychiatric hospital that combines teaching, treatment and research for psychiatric disorders.<br />
Frederick Law Olmsted designed the grounds in his early life and spent his last years there as a resident.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968661.jpg
  • Tourists gather to wait for a bus on snow-covered streets in trendy Courmayeur. It is a busy ski season in the area of Mont Blanc on the Italian side of the Alps.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024036.jpg
  • A glacier recedes near the Matterhorn leaving ridges and jagged peaks where there was once ice. An aerial photo shows much of the iconic mountain was carved away by glacial erosion. <br />
The National Snow and Ice Data Center describes Matterhorn geology in "All About Glaciers." Cirques are rounded hollows or bowl shapes after a glacier has melted away. Aretes are jagged narrow rides created when two glaciers meet eroding on both sides. And horns are created when several cirque glaciers erode until all that is left is a steep, pointed peak with sharp ridge-like Arêtes leading to the top.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024113.jpg
  • Morning fog rises over a summit cross on Zinalrothorn and other mountain peaks in the Alps surrounding the Matterhorn. Image is made from an early morning helicopter flight.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024112.TIF
  • Morning fog rises from craggy mountain peaks in the Alps surrounding the Matterhorn. The Alps range formed when two tectonic plates of Africa dn Eurasia slowly collided millions of years ago creating some of highest peaks in Europe.<br />
Rugged Zinalrothorn and Weisshorn in the background.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024111.TIF
  • A logger takes a coffee break near a campfire  while cutting trees in a snow-dusted forest near Lake Bled.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024030.jpg
  • Slovenians walk along a snow-covered path to a hilltop church near Ljubljana.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024026.TIF
  • Early morning rays of sunlight peek over jagged peaks in the Dolomite Mountains, a mountain range in the northern Italian Alps numbering 18 peaks which rise to above 3,000 meters. The striking landscape features vertical walls, sheer cliffs and a high density of narrow, deep and long valleys. The geology seen in an aerial photo is marked by steeples, pinnacles and rock walls, the site also contains glacial landforms and karst systems.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024144.TIF
  • Sunlight kisses a snow-dusted peak in the Dolomite Mountains. The mountain range in the northern Italian Alps numbers 18 peaks which rise to above 3,000 meters. The striking landscape features vertical walls, sheer cliffs and a high density of narrow, deep and long valleys. The geology is marked by steeples, pinnacles and rock walls, the site also contains glacial landforms and karst systems. The characteristic rock of the Dolomites consists of fossilised coral reefs formed during the Triassic Period (around 250 million years ago) by organisms and sedimentary matter at the bottom of the ancient tropical Tethys Ocean.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024145.jpg
  • Twilight falls on the quiet, Ladin village of LaVal in the Dolomites where the church stands high on the hillside. The picturesque community in the Alps depends on agriculture and crafts.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024087.jpg
  • Snow dusted a sequoia tree located in the southern portion of Yosemite National Park. The Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias is the largest sequoia grove in Yosemite and is home to over 500 mature giant sequoias. The national park idea is rooted in the Mariposa Grove. In 1864 President Lincoln signed legislation protecting the Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley for "public use, resort, and recreation." This landmark legislation holds an important place in our country's history and was enacted at a time when the nation was embroiled in the Civil War. For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government set aside scenic natural areas to be protected for the benefit of future generations. Later added to Yosemite National Park in 1906, the Mariposa Grove is a popular feature for visitors.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968594.jpg
  • Twilight falls on the Ladin village of LaVal in the snow-covered Dolomites. Perched on the lush green, mountain hillside is 15th century Gothic style Christian Church of Santa Barbara.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024130.JPG
  • Snow dusted a sequoia tree located in the southern portion of Yosemite National Park. The Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias is the largest sequoia grove in Yosemite and is home to over 500 mature giant sequoias. The national park idea is rooted in the Mariposa Grove. In 1864 President Lincoln signed legislation protecting the Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley for "public use, resort, and recreation." This landmark legislation holds an important place in our country's history and was enacted at a time when the nation was embroiled in the Civil War. For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government set aside scenic natural areas to be protected for the benefit of future generations. Later added to Yosemite National Park in 1906, the Mariposa Grove is a popular feature for visitors.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968657.jpg
  • Skiers relax in the sun at a ski resort restaurant in the Dolomites. Resorts provide places to stop and rest and enjoy food and drink along a mountain trail in the Alps.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024131.JPG
  • South Chilkat Mountain peaks are kissed with warm light at sunset above the Icy Strait. High winds sweep ice and snow from ridge tops creating a landscape that is severe, yet appears serene. Winds were so strong that it took several flights to find calm air to make this image.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075066.jpg
  • Skiers race down the slopes of Sestriere, site of Olympic skiing events near Turin in 2006. Snow flies up as they cut back and forth gliding down the snowy downhill path. The resort was first built in the 1930s by the Agnelli family founders of FIAT, and today is one of the largest ski resorts in Italy.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_986278.jpg
  • A stand of snow-dusted evergreen trees on a hillside.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760112.jpg
  • Each Wednesday these friends gather for skiing and homemade wine away from the trendy ski resorts in the Swiss Alps.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024136.TIF
  • Taillights blur as a bus squeezes through building on the narrow streets of the Swiss village of Santa Maria. The charm of the mountain communities draws tourists, but the streets were built long before gas-powered transportation.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024135.JPG
  • Ice-covered peaks of South Chilkat Mountains appear to have frosting on their tops from melting snow. Aerial photos is made when winds lay near sunset.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075067.TIF
  • A storm clears creating a serene landscape along the Mendenhall River after a light, morning snow on trees and surrounding mountains in the Tongass National Forest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075062.TIF
  • Icy winds blow snow clouds blow over the jagged ridges of the South Chilkat Mountains that rise above Southeast Alaska's coast. Weather makes aerial photography a challenge as strong gusting winds force small float planes to land.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075061.jpg
  • Mont Blanc rises in the distance behind craggy peaks and ridges seen in an aerial image. Drifting morning fog lifts revealing the snow-covered White Mountain, the highest in the Alps measuring nearly 16,000 feet. Located in the watershed between valleys in Italy and France, ownership of the summit has been a subject of historical dispute. <br />
The mountain is famous for the emergence of modern alpine mountaineering  after the first ascent in 1786.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024116.jpg
  • Skiers negotiate rocks on the ski runs at Passo Di Sella in the Dolomites where the snow pack melts and annually declines because of warming temperatures. Climate change is warming mountain regions at the lower elevation.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024101.TIF
  • 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
  • A Ladin family travels to church in LaVal on a horse-drawn sled. The brothers and sister keep to old traditions that include an ethnic language only spoken in the isolated village in the Dolomites. The Church of Santa Barbara is a 15th century Gothic building.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024085.TIF
  • Renown ice climber Marco Prezelj tackles an ice candle in Triglav National Park, Slovenia's only national park in the Alps. Frozen waterfalls are a technical challenge and Prezelj explained he listens to the pitch of sound of ice cracking to plan the safest route.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024025.TIF
  • Synthetic blankets cover a Pitztal Glacial ski slope in an attempt to absorb the sun and reduce snow melt.  Such drastic measures to save the Alps' retreating glaciers may prove futile. If current temperatures trends hold according to climate scientists, half the Alpine ice will be gone by 2050 and two thirds melted by 2100.<br />
Loss of alpine glaciers would alter the region’s ecology–not to mention its economy. Workers are hired to cover the snow pack with a fleece blanket seems equivalent to putting a band-aid on a glacier.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_985663.TIF
  • A young evergreen tree doubled over in deep snow.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760119.jpg
  • A stand of snow-dusted evergreen trees on a hillside.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760113.jpg
  • A stately oak tree stands in the snow-covered grand meadow of Delaware Park in Buffalo, New York.  A symbol of strength and endurance, the oak can live 500 to 600 years and grow up to 100 feet if left undisturbed.<br />
<br />
Frederick Law Olmsted, America’s first and greatest landscape architect, planned the city’s system of six major parks and connecting parkways representing one of his largest bodies of work. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the system comprises seventy five percent of the city’s parkland. 
During the 1901 Pan American Exposition, Buffalo was celebrated not only as the City of Light, but the City of Trees.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_956193.jpg
  • A young hockey player dressed in a red snowsuit heads for the frozen lake in Mount Royal Park. Montreal's city park is beloved by in all four seasons with skiers, skater, hikers and bikers. It is a magnificent urban green space featuring 200 hectares of biodiversity and natural beauty. Inaugurated in 1876, it was planned by Frederick Law Olmsted who is famous for creating New York's Central Park.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_956189.jpg
  • Thrill seekers wear dry suits to ice dive in St. Moritz Lake in the Swiss Alps. The Alpine resort town draws visitors year around and is known as a ritzy and glamorous playground for European tourists.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024123.TIF
  • A cross country skier traverses a snowy trail near the train that passes through spectacular Alps scenery negotiating 55 tunnels and 196 bridges.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_02851.TIF
  • Snow blows across an icy, wintery back road in Steens Mountain as harsh weather comes to Oregon's high desert.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222778.jpg
  • Portrait of a wild horse in the snow-covered Ochoco National Forest in the Big Summit Wild Horse Territory in Oregon. The origins of the herd are not entirely clear according to the U.SD. Forest Service. Early accounts describe local ranchers in the 1920s turning loose quality animals from a good breeding stock to ensure a future supply of good horses. Recent genetic testing has linked the Ochoco Mustangs to Iberian and Andalusian stock, leaving much to be discovered about their true heritage.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222777.jpg
  • A crisp early morning after a freshly fallen snow in the Mendenhall Valley at an inn near Juneau.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075150.jpg
  • A widow looks forward to the ritual of checking her mailbox daily. Her faithful canine companion Leica waits patiently along the snowy road in the Alps.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024013.jpg
  • Cross country skier glides along side his dog as snow falls on frozen Mendenhall Lake surrounded by trees at the base of the glacier in Alaska's Southeast.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075065.jpg
  • Frosty morning snow on a canoe and trees surrounding a small lake near Mendenhall Glacier.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075064.TIF
  • Fog slowly lifts in the valley following a morning snow in Juneau near the Mendenhall Glacier and surrounding mountain peaks in the Tongass National Forest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075063.TIF
  • A Ladin farmer drives a horse-drawn sled on steep hills with small patches of melting snow outside the Dolomites. The community of LaVal remains isolated by geography and the people retained their own ethnic language although they also speak German and Italian.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024128.TIF
  • Harsh winds blow snow across the craggy ridges and peaks of the South Chilkat Mountains illuminating intense, orange colors of a winter sunset.<br />
The aerial view of the Coastal Range is directly across the Lynn Canal and the Juneau Icefield in southeast Alaska.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1073537.TIF
  • Harsh winds blow snow across the craggy peaks of the South Chilkat Mountains, illuminating intense, orange colors of a winter sunset.<br />
Photographed from the air, the Coastal Range is directly across the Lynn Canal and the Juneau Icefield in southeast Alaska.
    MM7258_20060310_15159.tif
  • More than 5,000 miles of roads are carved into the remote landscape to clear-cut large swatches of forests on Chichagof Island. An aerial picture after a winter snow reveals the patchwork on lower reaches of the mountains where logging traditionally occurs. <br />
Taxpayer money has subsidized the timber industry since 1980. Tongass National Forest timber management has cost U.S. taxpayers roughly one billion dollars, making it the largest money loser in the entire national forest system.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1073536.TIF
  • Salmon dries on racks before being smoked with alder at a Native Alaskan fish camp near Sitka. The catch will help supplement traditional food supplies through winter months.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1073535.TIF
  • A large extended family cans apples from their garden. everyone has a different chore from washing the fruit, peeling and cutting it to put into jars. After a hot water bath, the jars are divided up to store for the winter.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023688.jpg
  • A woman browses to shop for tourist postcards depicting the Alps mountain scenery and attractions at a street side stand catering to tourists in Chamonix.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024078.jpg
  • A brown bear's claws hang onto the salmon in Kuril Lake.<br />
<br />
Grizzly bears need to eat about 40 fish a day to put on weight to make it through the winter.<br />
<br />
Brown bears in Kamchatka can be 7 to 9 feet in length and weigh 700-800 pounds. Species: U. arctic Genus:Ursus<br />
<br />
Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-13.TIF
  • A Koryak man dries fish in his summer camp that will feed his family through the winter. Koryaks are an indigenous people of Kamchatka Krai in the Russian Far East, who inhabit the coastlands of the Bering Sea to the south of the Anadyr basin and the country to the immediate north of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The koryak are typically split into two groups. The coastal people Nemelan (or Nymylan) meaning ‘village dwellers’ due to their sedentary fishing habits and the inland Koryaks, reindeer herders called Chauchen (or Chauchven) meaning ‘rich in reindeer’ who are more nomadic.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260943.TIF
  • A brown bear photographed underwater while fishing. Bears thrive on salmon but compete with 137 species of fish, birds, and mammals that also depend on salmon as a main staple of their diet. <br />
<br />
Grizzly bears gorge on rich protein of salmon for three months.  Though they munch on greens and berries, salmon are their main protein source and they fatten up before hibernating in the winter. <br />
<br />
Brown bears in Kamchatka can be 7 to 9 feet in length and weigh 700-800 pounds. Species: U. arctic Genus:Ursus<br />
<br />
Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the peninsula.<br />
<br />
To make this photograph, which was selected as one of the best photographs in National Geographic, I had to be approximately six feet away from bears like this one that was charging into the water to try to catch a fish. The water in Duril Lake is murky, so I had to be close and shot this photograph with a 12mm lens.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1248221.TIF
  • Fresh snow on mountains overlooking Mendenhall Glacier and Lake.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114694.jpg
  • Cross country skiing with a dog on Mendenhall Lake.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114692.jpg
  • A skier taking a jump at the Siusi ski area.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114591.jpg
  • A cross country ski marathon.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114527.jpg
  • Window shopping outside of the Palace Hotel.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114515.jpg
  • A wild mustang trudges through snow pawing at drifts foraging for grasses to survive on in the Ochoco Mountains.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1200574.TIF
  • A car stuck in snow.
    RANDY OLSON_RF4319_1114299.JPG
  • A cross country ski marathon.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114526.jpg