Today’s post is meant to fill in the holes between articles while I put together a new post showing the wildlife work of some top photographers.  The pictures are mine, and are primarily made up of images I have previously opted not to show.

I guess I have become a substitute photographer on my own blog.

In or out?  Am I on the inside looking out, or the outside looking in?  I have photographed the flower covered grounds of this historic building before, but only once did I use the prison like wrought iron fence in my composition.

I have never shown this particular image from Great Sand Dunes, Colorado before.  I love using photographic techniques to hide the size of my subjects, or to emphasize how small or large they might be. If you notice the white shirt just above the tree line in the lower right hand corner of the picture frame, you will see people. I used a telephoto (220mm) lens to adequately display the size and power of the dunes, and to sandwich the people against them.  I did not want to show the top of the dunes or beyond, in this photo. That helps to give the impression that they reach upward to infinity. Those are of course full-sized trees in the bottom of the picture. The reality of the immensity of the dunes, and seeming insignificance of the human forms against them, is accurate and true.  Just the same, I used photographic knowledge to illustrate and accentuate those facts.

I fully hiked these dunes just once. That was not on the visit when I made the picture you see. I carried my tripod, camera and medium format equipment with me. My feet, (shoes) and legs (pants) were soaking wet from the football field width, roaring river of snow melt that I first crossed to reach the dunes. East to west and north to south I fully covered Great Sand Dunes. That included the highest (700 foot) dunes that exist here. The light was only good for about 10 minutes of the hours spent hiking, but I have never regretted that hike.  When opportunity knocks for you to do something you will not forget, answer.

Seeing orange. This is just two ways to look at the center of two flowers of the same species.  The first image was created in “the valley of light and shadow” so to speak. I love to work with shadows. The second was in overcast. Nice pollen too.

Life is a struggle….but never give up. House Sparrows trying to gather nesting material.

I’ve only photographed moose on four occasions and they were mostly fleeting. This one was on the western slope of Rocky Mt. N. P.  She was below the roadside and I quickly got out and gathered up my tripod and camera.  I had managed just a few frames when the crowd began appearing.  Before long there were dozens of people, mostly with their point and shoots and cell phones. Getting ever closer and closer. Then there was the two parents attempting to get their 5 years old child in the photo with the moose. My day of moose photography was long over and my respect for tourists greatly diminished…….once again.

Moose kill more people in North American than bears or Cougars. It’s kind of hard to blame them.

It has been a while since I have shown a bunch of fox photos.  The images below either have not been shown in a long while, or have never been shown before. That means that they are not the best in my files, but I do think they are worth seeing.

It was an honor to be a substitute photographer on the Earth Images Blog.

Have a great day and I will talk with you again soon,                                                              Wayne