Dave Edwards Noyes here, welcoming you to DEN Photo Travel!
I grew up in Southern Oregon, doing a lot of camping, hiking, and whitewater rafting with my family. Growing up in the outdoors instilled in me a love of being in nature. Today I feel quite at home in the forest and on the river, and I am grateful to my parents for making outdoor adventures such a big part of my upbringing. We also went on an annual family vacation once per year, which exposed me to the glory of the tropics and planted a love of travel, new sights, and different cultures deep within me.
I became interested in photography during my angsty teenage years, learning on my dad’s old Nikon film camera and shooting almost all in black & white. I stepped away from it in my twenties, studying music composition and vocal performance at Portland State University before becoming an elementary music educator in the Portland area and raising my three children.
I picked up the camera again as my children grew up and they became old enough to hit the trail with me, starting with a simple point and shoot digital camera.
My first manual-capable digital camera went with me everywhere for a decade as I honed my technical and compositional skills. A few years ago I made a big leap and purchased a Sony A7iii and a variety of lenses which upped my game significantly. After shooting thousands of images and not doing anything with them I decided to change that by starting DEN Photo Travel. In many ways this site is a lifetime in the making.
About the photographs…
My goal as a photographer is capture the beauty of the scene through solid composition and camera operation. Far too many photographers these days are using AI and advanced photo editing software like Photoshop and Lightroom to produce images that are heavily altered. I utilize only the most basic photo editing tools that came standard with my computer. I only retouch out the occasional dust specks or water droplets that got on my lens as I was shooting, and I make only slight adjustments to levels of exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, and color saturation; editing images only to the point where the image matches what I recall the scene looking and feeling like. Our planet is absolutely gorgeous all on it’s own. My hope to inspire people with reality, not with fancy digital tricks…to help you see the magic of the real world.
My home in SE Portland is fairly small – too small to set up a photo printing studio. After much research and vetting, I chose New Mexico Fine Art to outsource my photo printing to. All of the wide range of print media that NMFA offers look absolutely fantastic, their color fidelity and print clarity is spot on, and the way they pack their orders is extremely solid. I’ve been delighted with their professional, gallery-quality prints across all media as well as their well-built custom framing options and their timely production. Overall I am quite happy with the decision to work with New Mexico Fine Art and I hope you are as well!
I am inching closer and closer to retiring from my work as a teacher, which I do love! But until I actually retire in a few years, I ask you to give me 2-3 days to process print orders. I can only do so much in one day! In addition I go on a few day trips every month to shoot new photographs and explore new locations. A banner will appear at the top of the website if I’ll be unable to process orders for a more extended period of time – I cannot process orders when I’m in the wilderness on a multi-day photo shoot, and I do not bring my hard drives with me when traveling internationally out of an abundance of caution. I appreciate your understanding!
About the writing…
People have called me a Renaissance man – I teach, play several instruments, sing, dance, garden, and build water features. I’ve got some skills with a kayak paddle, I love to cook…and I’m a pretty decent writer. Throughout the years I’ve had several poems, essays, and even a scientific paper published. I also love planning trips and taking friends and family to see the sights – it’s gotten to the point that I’ve become known as “Tour Director Dave”, a trait my father passed on to me. A blog seemed like the perfect union of these skills, offering a way to help others see the wonders of the world and a means to further share my photography.
I consider myself an avid environmentalist.
Perhaps, if my site can inspire people to get out in nature more, people’s appreciation for nature will increase. After all nature is all around us. We live in it. We cannot control it or escape it, but we certainly can and do influence it. My hope is that increased appreciation and appetite for nature will ultimately help people take the needed steps toward preserving our natural world. We live at a time when the decisions we make now will have long-lasting implications for the future, and not just for us – the health and vitality of planet-wide climate systems, as well as the fate of all life, may well depend on the choices we make today. Those who have stronger connections with nature are more likely to make the choices that help the planet thrive.
On a more practical level, I really cannot stand the majority of travel blogs out there today. So many feel and read like diaries or like big long advertisements which try to sell you locations and experiences. I cover it all, from the outstanding to the disappointing, and I will be honest with you, my readers, about my impressions of every place I write about. To that end I created the DEN Rating Scale for locations, a simple 1 (low) – 10 (high) scale as a way to show how strongly I overall recommend something. Almost nowhere gets a 10.
DEN Photo Travel is my attempt to provide well-written, interesting, useful, current information about travel, nature, and cultural attractions.
I return to locations and update blog posts accordingly as I see conditions change. I try to keep up on closures due to forest fires, storms, and other events. Sadly we’ve lost so many beautiful Northwest locations due to fires in the last decade, yet few travel blogs or travel websites edit their articles to reflect current conditions. The last thing I want is for a reader to be inspired to check out a new-to-them spot only to arrive and discover it’s closed because it burned down four years ago. My primary motivation is to give you solid, truthful information so you can make informed decisions about how and where you spend your leisure time.
I cover not just nature but also cultural attractions because humanity has created some amazing stuff too, and a memorable trip could, and often should, include a mix of experiences. I’ve come to really appreciate various cultures and the way that each one has adapted to its environmental surroundings over time. The Pacific Northwest is perhaps the “newest” place on the planet in terms of commonly-known human history and visible reminders of it on the landscape, so visiting pretty much anywhere else means catching a glimpse into a longer view of culture and a noticeably deeper connection to the past.
I also believe that accessibility in travel is too important to overlook.
I’m working hard to cover locations where those with mobility impairments or issues can get out there and enjoy the world. Removing barriers means doing the research, both in the field and online, and providing honest assessments of every location I visit and write about. My goal for DEN Photo Travel’s blog articles is for readers to view them as trustworthy, accurate resources. Everyone deserves to get to spend time out in the world and in nature regardless of mobility concerns or sensory impairments.
If you’re looking for information or inspiration and you can’t find what you’re looking for on this site, please contact me! I’m working through posting the hundreds of articles I’ve written as well as frequently getting out there myself, visiting new-to-me locations, and sharing my findings. This means this site is constantly growing. If you’re looking for something specific and cannot find it, it likely means I just haven’t published that article yet. I’m happy to prioritize getting you the info you’re looking for. I invite you to message DEN Photo Travel via Facebook, Instagram, or email and let me know how I might help you!
In Harmony,
Dave Edwards Noyes, founder of DEN Photo Travel
