About

Brian MunozI was born and raised in the beach town of La Jolla, California, where I gravitated towards both surf and beach scene photography. I always loved photography growing up and especially appreciated and enjoyed the work of Arizona Highways Magazine’s Joseph Muench. I became serious about photography in my thirties when I finally saved enough money for my first purchases, a 650 mm Century lens and an AT1 Canon camera.

I had always had a love for the mountains ever since our family summer vacations where spent in Yosemite National Park. We also took numerous trips in the winter to the local Laguna Mountains and to the desert town of Borrego Springs located in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

In 1987 I moved to the little mountain town of Leavenworth, Washington, at the behest of my brother who had moved there in the 1970’s. I first lived twenty-five miles out of town near Lake Wenatchee along the Wenatchee River where I spent autumn days with my camera exploring Nason Creek, Tumwater Canyon, Stevens Pass and the Wenatchee River. In the mid-nineties I moved into Leavenworth to be closer to the schools after the birth of my first daughter, Rachel.

rebecca-rachelWhen Rachel turned two we went to our first Leavenworth Christmas Lighting Festival together. After that I spent many mornings trying to capture the beauty of the downtown tree lighting especially in the early mornings after a night of fresh snow. I was finally able to capture one of those mornings on film, and that photo is now used by the Chamber of Commerce and the City of Leavenworth to advertise the Christmas Lighting Festival and the beauty of winter in downtown Leavenworth.

I was blessed with a second daughter, Rebecca, two and a half years after Rachel. We now try to have a family outing every year during spring break at the Hacienda Del Sol in Borrego Springs, a great place to relax, enjoy the sun, visit old friends and take lots of desert photos. With nearby Anza Borrego Desert State Park, slot canyons, metal sculptures at Galleta meadows, and my two daughters, the photographic opportunities are endless.

Most years I get the chance to return to La Jolla in the winter for a few months always hoping for a big swell and the opportunity to take new surf photographs. While in La Jolla my other favorite photo spots are of the lights reflected off of San Diego Harbor from the buildings of downtown San Diego taken from Coronado and Harbor and Shelter Islands.

After Borrego I head back north during the spring runoff to take photographs of the Columbia River Gorge windsurfing, waterfalls, rafting at Husum Falls on the White Salmon River, and kayaking on the big rapids of the Wenatchee river.

On my way back to and from Washington and Southern California, I make side photo-op trips to Yosemite, Mono Lake, the Eastern Sierra Nevadas, and to the spectacular waterfalls in Northern California’s Mosbrae and McArthur Burney Falls.

I am truly blessed to be able to visit and photograph all the beauty of the west coast and live in two beautiful places like Leavenworth, Washington and La Jolla, California.

Hope you enjoy my website