Phil Colla

My wife and daughters teach and nurse, they're the best. I code and spend time outdoors.

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

White rhino, Nairobi National Park. This is just outside busy Nairobi city. Tracy, Richard, Audrey and I took a morning game drive there and were impressed by the variety of animals we saw, including both black and white rhinos.

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

I looked in the dictionary under “Chonky” and there was a picture of this guy

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

San Diego downtown at dawn this morning. Not sure what I was doing at this hour, Starbucks wasn’t even open yet.

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Point La Jolla dawn, the Cove and a bit of Children’s Pool

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Sea lions pack onto a ledge during the big swell of the past couple days

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Marsh Pride lioness at dusk, Kenya

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Little cub leads the way. The Marsh Pride of lions, Maasai Mara, Kenya

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Downtown San Diego, Fiesta Island, Mission Bay, San Diego Bay, Coronado Bridge, and Tijuana in the distance. Clear morning view this a.m. from Mt Soledad

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Elephants and heat shimmer on dry lake bed, Amboseli, Kenya

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

West End Catalina Island. Some of my favorite kelp forests are right down there at the very tip of the island.

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

One of my always-goals when diving at the Coronados is a nice portrait of a sea lion on one of the carpets of pink algae. I like the contrast of the golden-brown of an adult female sea lion’s coat and the pinkish hue and rosy glow of the algae (with apologies to George Costanza).

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Milky Way over Arch Rock in Joshua Tree NP. Garry McCarthy had the original idea for this composition and together we pulled it off about 10 years ago. It has been copied many times since. This can only be shot effectively a few nights each year.

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

A stack of three giant black sea bass hovering in kelp, Catalina Island. They are likely interested in spawning but since that occurs at night its hard to confirm.

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Castle Butte at sunset, Valley of the Gods, Utah.

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Raplee Ridge at sunset, Utah. The colors in the triangular flatirons light up nicely at sunset if there is a clear horizon. Geology nerds: this spot is often called “Raplee Anticline” but the Utah Geological Survey says it is better classified as a monocline.

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Stars and Magellanic Clouds over Kilimanjaro, watering hole in the foreground, at Tortilis Camp, Amboseli, Kenya

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Ballooning in Kenya

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Elephants walking across a dry lake bed, Amboseli NP, Kenya

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Lilac-breasted roller, Maasai Mara NP, Kenya

[Phil Colla @PhilColla]

Flamingos at sunrise, Amboseli NP, Kenya