When I take a visual trip through all of those social media sites that are known for photographs, my breath is taken away.  Legends, working pros, advanced amateurs and the true hobbyist.  It is amazing just how much talent there is among us.  Photographers of all sorts are striving to find a new point of view. They are covering old subjects with technical expertise. If you are a member of this world of photographers, don’t take all of those great image makers as a threat to your success, but instead view it as a challenge to find new subjects, or to find new ways of looking at old subjects.

There are pluses and minuses to everything in life, but overall, this is an exciting time for you to be a photographer.

Young Red Fox:  Striking a pose.

“Oh that sun is bright”

Pearls:  Well, my favorite kind of pearls….a dewy web. There were flowers in  back of this web and I knew they would make an interesting out of focus wash of colors.  Dewy webs are an insanely difficult type of photography. You are working up close and every single whiff of breeze, will move a strand. Getting your tripod (and your) legs in place without touching the plant, that’s touching the plant, that’s touch the web strand, that’s touching the web strand that you are photographing……is very difficult.  Slow and patient.  Slow and patient. It’s worth it though.

A Walk on The Ice:  Ducks are a thing of beauty as they glide through the water.  They are fascinating flyers with those rapid wing beats.  When they are on land they are funny. When they are on slippery ice I would pay an admission charge. Caught these Goldeneyes taking a walk on the ice.

Details:   Keeping detail in white birds can be a chore, but it is always worth the effort and  finding the under exposure needed.  One secret is to expose for detail on the neck. Not only do the neck feathers show more texture, but with swans they are darker from browsing in the pond’s undergrowth. This mute swan posed just the way I hoped he would.

Real Monuments:  We humans make monuments out of everything.  Some subjects are well deserving and some are frivolous.  Nature doesn’t fail when she makes monuments.  Such is the case with the valley of monuments usually known as Monument Valley.

I have not been visiting most of my normal social media sites recently. I am looking forward to visiting them before Christmas and writing at least one more article for Earth Images before Santa takes “to the air.”  What a great image that would make.