If photography means anything it means vision.

Icelandic Visions  I thoroughly enjoy viewing the nature images of other photographers.  About two years ago I came across Daniel Bergmann and his bird and landscape photography from his native Iceland.  He usually runs three photo workshops as well.  I would invite you to click on the link below, when you are done here.  Enjoy his unique and powerful Icelandic Visions.. http://www.danielbergmann.com/html/portfolio/index.html

Now a few Visions of my own.  Today’s images were made with Nikon D70, Nikon D80 and Nikon D3 cameras.

One of my favorite subjects of the past five years, has been several families of Red Foxes.  Below you will find a poignant moment between a young mother and one of her babies.  Nikon 500mm  f7.1  1/250

My second favorite wildlife subject of recent years was without a doubt three families (same mother) of Great-horned Owls.  For two of those 3 years I followed them from the laying of eggs, through the fledging of the owlets.  To my sadness they did not nest in that wonderful old tree cavity in 2010.  I can only hope they simply chose a different and less busy location.  The images below were made in 2009.  Top photo Nikon 500mm+1.4 tele-converter  f 6.3  1/250  Bottom shot  Nikon 500mm+1.4 tele-converter  f 9  1/640

One of my favorite things to do is cruise through the country looking for scenes to photograph.  When the country you are cruising in is the Colorado Rockies finding great scenes is rather simple. Stopping was for sure when I noticed this spot along the Arkansas River.  I was attracted to the color of the rock but the whole scene captivated me.  Nikon 18/70mm set at 70mm  f 8 1/500

Finding spectacular locations around my current home is a bit more problematic.  Still every place is beautiful at the right time.  I have always gone out to make pictures in the early morning.  Among the treasures that doing that brings to me is dew.  I found this northern Illinois Prairie blanketed with dew and chose a backlit abstract vision for this image.  I made this image with my Nikon 105 micro lens.  This sensational flat field corrected close up lens is great for landscape and wildlife photography when you need a focal length of that size.  Nikon 105  f 32 1/40

Wisconsin’s north woods is an incredible place in autumn.  It is not only great because of fall colors.  Our small northern lakes often develop small pockets of morning fog in autumn.  Both of the below images are of the same backwoods lake.  The top is a small island standing strong in the morning backlight and the second gives up a hint of fall color.  Top image Nikon 105  f 14  1/250  Bottom shot Nikon 105 f 14 1/50

One of North America’s most common woodpeckers is the Downy.  This male below is actually taking seed from a near-by feeder and putting it in the split in the wooden rail and then breaking it open.  Nikon 500mm  f 7.1  1 /640

These two “young bucks” seemed to have been squeezed out of last year’s Whitetail deer rut.  Oh well maybe next year. Nikon 500mm  f 5.6  1/60

Some time ago I was walking along a stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline where I frequently find shorebirds feeding in late summer.  No shorebirds but a flock of mixed young and mature Cedar Waxwings took over the near-by trees like a swarm of bees.  They took every piece of fruit they could find and were gone in maybe 5 minutes.  I managed to catch this upside down juvenile before they left for greener pastures.  Or trees.   Nikon 500mm f 5  1/100

Everyone has their own photographic vision.  When I work with new photographers they often think they were the ones that were not given their fair share of vision.  Of course they will develop their own personal vision in due time.  I always believed that I was at my best as a teacher only when the student became better than the teacher.  I guess that means I was good quite a bit of the time.  I finally realized that no matter how much technical advice I taught, and no matter how much compositional or artistic knowledge I imparted,  sharing a never ending enthusiasm and love for nature and photography would “infect” the student in a way that would help carry them on the great things long after I was gone.

“Live not only the full length of your life, but the full width as well”  Wayne Nelson

Thanks guys,

Wayne