I am always saying that my time to share old photos and talk about nature photography is about over.  Then I see a photo or have a thought, and here I am again.  My instincts always return

A moment only lasts……well…….for a moment.  With photography you can make moments last for lifetimes.  Ever see an Ansel Adams photo?  A Mathew Brady Civil War photo?  People will be looking at those images long after you and I become dust.  Remembering…..imagining.

I loved the gentile ripples and changing tonal values in this lake at sunrise.  Is it a close-up?  Is an entire lake?  Whatever it is to you personally, is exactly what it is.  Photos belong to the photographer at their inception, but they become yours to imagine and enjoy once they are shared.  Photographs are adventures.

This is a straight image just the way it was made in camera.  It holds more questions than it gives answers.  It’s an obvious subject.  A sunrise and it’s reflection. Yet what lurks in the shadow areas of the image?  It’s a mystery with very few clues. It feeds our imagination, all be it, differently for each one of us.

Sunrise/sunset is about more than just abstractions and sometimes the sky alone will carry an image.

This wouldn’t make a very good field guide photo.  Of course there is much more to wildlife photography than field guides.  Actually I have seen many a Dunlin in this exact position.  Maybe it says just as much about this species as a “heads up” photo.

It is pretty well-known that I love making macro pictures of anything in nature covered in dew.  Back in the 1990s I was doing a pretty good job of getting recognized for being published in national publications.  The problem was that except for a few calendar shots and DNR photos, nobody in WI knew who I was.  One month Wisconsin Trails gave me their entire portfolio section.  It was titled Jewels of The Morning.  You guessed it.  The subjects were entirely dew covered insects, flowers, webs and so on.  I was soon doing slide show seminars in my own home state.  I always give thanks for that morning dew.  I have photographed some dragonflies covered in so much dew that I have been asked if they are actually alive.  Only living dragonflies “live” in my files.

Spectacular action shots of birds are getting to be quite common.  Sometimes even great action can become cliché.  To me there is nothing like those intimate moments that are captured only when a bird first accepts and then forgets you.  You are now a part of the natural world they live in.  The strutting shorebird is a Wilson’s Phalarope and the “scratcher” is a male Eastern Bluebird.

I always say the most versatile subjects in nature are flowers.  They lend themselves beautifully to semi abstracts like the Asters below.  You could find a thousand compositions in this single patch of flowers.

Sometimes a species of wildflower is so perfect, I just want to show it to the world.  The Fringed Gentian is such a flower.

Every now and again, on Flickr, Facebook or some other photo sharing service, someone will post a photo but not call the location and I will recognize that location, and comment and mention the place.  This happens with local spots and  places all around North America.  In other instances they will name the location of the picture, and within the comment section I will (of course) go on and on singing the praises of the location.  Places are like old friends to me. They live and breathe and have a personality all of their own.  Sometimes I get lost in the memories of the moments spent in those great places, and then my will power to remain silent is equally lost.

There is a vastness to the years in our lives’, but it still all comes down to a handful of very special moments. Creating images and leaving them for the world, is one way to have them last forever. Our images are our immortality.