A sense of place
My portfolio spans the red-rock country of the Southwest, national parks, forests, coastlines, and the mountains of Peru. Alongside those landscapes are encounters with wildlife: elk and moose in Grand Teton, bighorn sheep in canyon country, and quieter moments with animals in their surroundings.
Looking up
The night sky is another part of that story. My photographs include the Milky Way above the landscape, aurora over the Wasatch, details of the Moon, and deep-sky subjects such as Andromeda, the Pleiades, and the Orion Nebula. On my dedicated Instagram account, BrandonAstrobackyard, I share Northern Hemisphere astrophotography, including deep-sky objects, planets, the Sun, and the Moon. It’s a different scale of exploration, connected by the same invitation to look more closely.
The journey behind the frame
In July 2025, I traveled solo to Peru to see Machu Picchu. The journey took me through Cusco, up to Humantay Lake, and along the four-day Inca Trail before a final visit to Rainbow Mountain and the Red Valley. Those photographs hold more than the views: they bring back the effort of the trek, the scale of the mountains, and the moment it all began to sink in.
The Red Valley photograph with a llama is a particular favorite. After days of trekking, the beauty and altitude of Rainbow Mountain—and the surrounding valley—gave me a moment to appreciate everything I had just experienced. At Machu Picchu, I was struck by both the view and the engineering, and by how much there is still to understand about the city.
Read my Peru story →Beyond the still image
My YouTube channel, BrandonWichmannPhotography, carries the journey into video. Hiking and travel vlogs from places including Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, and Mount Rainier share more of the surroundings and the time spent exploring them. On Instagram, my photography account brings together those outdoor interests—from hikes and national parks to forests, sunsets, wildlife, and drone footage.
Sharing the view
This website brings those interests together: a gallery of the places and skies I photograph, a travel journal for the stories behind them, and practical guides for looking more closely through a camera. I hope you find a photograph that stays with you—and a reason to get outside and make one of your own.
Explore the photography guides for ideas about light, composition, and night photography, or use the image comparer to consider how different edits change a photograph.