I love these twisted old trees whether they are Bristle Cone Pines or Junipers like the one you see below.  My goal was to show the overall habitat but feature the twirling tree trunk.  As is usually the case, I enjoy the shadowy light on the tree.

Still another from my “a light in the storm” series.  I especially enjoy sunrises/sunsets when you get those small flashes of light that illuminate bits of clouds, while retaining the dark shape of the larger clouds. If I could have ordered this the to my taste, there would be a few more and they would form a pattern.

Disrespect…..Female Bufflehead.  There are so many types of ducks where the female of the species is almost ignored. Sometimes personality is just as important as color and design.  I find female Bufflehead ducks cute and cuddly.   I know those are not macho words on my part.  You just want to pet them and pick them up and hold them.  No I don’t actually do that, but I’d like to.

More egret art. Just another in a long series of images of Great Egrets that I have shown. In all cases the birds deserve the credit for the art, an I for the photography.

I was asked the question “are all of these egrets, some dancing and some with fancy poses, the same bird?”  I can’t answer that question but many of them were taken on different days.  This image was made over a month after the “welcome to the dance” photo that I posted recently.  Spending time and keeping patience with these guys usually will bring rewards to you.

One of the most difficult things for a nature photographer to accomplish is making clean and simple images of insects.  I was actually driving through a state park when I saw this Lacewing perched on a flower.  Apparently my eyesight was a bit better in 2008. I wasted little time in parking my car and hiking back to this plant. My first question was will I be able to find this one plant when there were dozens alongside the road?  Then of course what are the chances that the insect will still be there?  I did and it was. 

Sparkle. Sometimes it’s the subject, and sometimes it’s the visual stimulation.  The sun stars were created by stopping my 105 macros lens down to f32. The light refracting around the edges of the hexagon/octagon shaped shutter caused the effect. The smaller you make that shutter opening, the more the light is forced to bend around the now sharper corners of that shutter.

Something’s wrong!  Sometimes you just need to have fun.

All these years of chasing pictures.

It really began in 1971, and I made a few pix this past Tuesday. That’s over 40 years.  I’ve photographed people, models (yes, models are people), cars, buildings, sports competition, pets, rock bands, wildlife, insects, spiders, snails, landscapes, flowers, mushrooms, lichen, moss, ice, the moon, the sun, rock, bark, farm crops, farm machinery, food, nuts and bolts, electrical components, computer peripheral equipment (believe it or not in the 1970s), airplanes, trains, forgotten Americans (Madison Ave. Chicago ) and I am quite sure, one or two things that I have forgotten.  Many in this world would look at that list, and say boy you have wasted your life.  After all they’re just pictures.

I learned much from those few people who I have photographed.  I’ve learned even more from the friends I’ve made along the way. Those old buildings helped teach me about history. To know where you are going is to know where you’ve been. Those computer components helped teach me about a future I could never have imagined.  The airplanes made me take to the sky and experience the world. Those old flophouse alcoholics ( I say that with love and compassion) in Chicago told me we are all one step from the bottom.  The champions that I met taught me that the top is within reach, because there is a champion living inside each and every one of us.  My journey taught me that sometimes faith is as important as knowledge.

I thank God for sending me on this photographic journey.  Every picture tells a story, and they say as much about us as they do our subjects.