We will get to the viewing of photographs, after we decide what are our favorite things.

The other day I saw another one of those lists where people chime in with their favorite things. I always struggle with lists like that because I generally don’t have specific favorites. I like “too many” things. Just the same I gave it a try.

Favorite Color I am sure I don’t have a true favorite color, but blue comes pretty close. Especially deep, rich blues. Purples that have a blue bias are also colors I like.

Favorite Sport Seeing that all of my sports come from TV these days, I would have to say that NFL football is my favorite. It is the perfect TV sport. I still like car racing and professional Bull Riding is awesome. If they could find a way to take the judges out of that sport it could move up on my list. I can get interested in almost any sport including things like golf and tennis. Once I begin watching it I am often hooked.

Favorite Sound    I actually think my favorite sound is silence. Apologies to Simon & Garfunkel. If you listen carefully, you really can hear it. I also love the sound of birds singing. Almost any bird. At one time in my youth, I think the ear-splitting sound of a race car engine was my favorite, followed by the equally ear-splitting sounds of a heavily amplified rock band. Times change. I still like racing but I am now okay with the muffled sounds of television racing.

Favorite Food Wow! I have found a subject where I have thousands of favorites.  I do think I would be better off if a few more of my favorites had some vegetables as an ingredient.  I am of common stock so things like burgers and other sandwiches are certainly on my list. Without question ethnic foods like Mexican and Italian are big with me. In the end, I think a really good pizza will always be my favorite.

What I don’t like in the world of food are over priced restaurants where most patrons are there mostly to be seen by others. You receive a plate that is bigger than your table with just a smidgen of food in the exact center. Five microscopic dabbles of different sorts of food that do not go together or compliment each other. They are inartistically placed in the middle of your plate. I know that I like “minimalist” photography but come on.  All this for just $150.00. Sorry, I guess I forgot the list is not about our least favorites.

Favorite Place  I continue to lack the ability to nail these questions down. I of course have never visited most of the world so it would have been limited to where I have been.

My favorite place(s) to be, are in the high mountains. In the lower 48 of the United States that would mean the Colorado Rockies followed by the Rockies of Wyoming and Montana. Also the Northern Cascades of the Northwest are right there too. I have never been to the high mountains of California despite having been to that state a few times. I imagine they would be on my list if I had spent time there.

The atmosphere and life style that exists high in the mountains is perfect for me and the first time I ever visited these regions, I knew that was true.

My favorite locations(s) for photography are in the high desert of the southwest U.S. I would list Yellowstone N. P. for the incredible mix of wildlife, landscapes and general natural history, except it is just too crowded for me. Regionally, Horicon Marsh NWR is hard to beat, although I really love Crex Meadows Wildlife Area in the northwestern part of the state. I know many of you who know me would ask what about that little waterfall that you always talk about in our north woods? It has become too popular and well-known for me. If I went there now I would only long for the days when it was a deep woods wilderness spot that nobody visited. Locally Bong State Park and its versatility is my favorite spot. This question was of course not asked in the survey.

Favorite Dog Type  Are you kidding?  All dogs are the best!

Favorite Movie I could never pick a favorite movie but it will not surprise this audience to know that almost all that I really like, are old. I mean before I was born. That is partially because I don’t see current movies, and I have every oldie station on my TV switched on perpetually. Certainly Casablanca ranks right up there. I guess there is an incurable romantic deep down inside of me. Of course as you all know I love westerns. From The Oxbow Incident, to Stagecoach and High Noon the list is long. I like Hitchcock and other masters of psychological dramas as well. I am not a huge fan of musicals but I will watch an MGM Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie anytime.  Comedies…..my list would be too long in this and many other categories.

I guess I am not very good at this game.

Favorite Photography Subjects.  No this wasn’t on the list. In no particular order I would say landscapes, sunrise/sunset, birds, mammals, herps, insects, flowers, rocks, etc., etc. Of course I also love to make pictures of old buildings, old cars, trains, boats, planes and much more. I guess I don’t have a favorite photography subject but clearly photography itself is my favorite thing to do.

How about you?

Pictures

Let’s start with four great guest photographers. They have all been featured on these pages before.

Kevin McNeal is a top-level landscape artist who’s work I try not to miss. This image was made in British Columbia, Canada and does a great job of layering different parts of the scene. This visual compression is easy here because of the natural lay of the land. This is one of my favorite styles to use when photographing the land.

Close-up giant Mike Moats made this image of Fiddle Head Ferns. Mike is a compositional super star and he hit a home run with this one.

Jamie Konarski Davidson made this semi-abstract image of what I believe is a Poppy. Jamie has been making these pages every week or so and I am proud to have her pictures on Earth Images.

Finally we have an image that is both subtle and in your face at the same time. Subtle because of the low profile nature of the image of this beautiful alligator, and in your face because it is….well….an alligator. Marina Scarr made this fine image. I encourage you to visit Marina’s website to view her wildlife work.

A few of my own.

The sunrise/sunset, Maroon Bells, and second deer image have not been shown before.

I am not quite sure where I made this 2006 image but it seems like it might be a telephoto (100mm-150mm) shot made at sunset in the back marsh area of Bong State Rec. Area. Another possibility would be Sandhill State Wildlife Area in central Wisconsin.

Whenever I or any other photographer shows you an image of Colorado’s Maroon Bells Mountains, they inevitably are reflected in Maroon Lake. When I make pictures somewhere I try to look at my subject in as many ways as possible. This is a sunrise image of the Bells themselves. Wonderful texture.  This image was made in late summer and as you can see, there are still remnants of the previous winter. I love the mountains.

It won’t be long before the insect and dew season will be upon us. I usually tried to check the weather forecast the night before I went out, to see if dew was a likely result of the night. I found many heavily saturated insects like this dragonfly over the years.

I have shown this picture of a Whitetail Deer doe, with a hitchhiking male Brown-headed Cowbird on her back many times before. I of course made several images with the hitchhiker(s). I show this one because between the curved body of the deer, and the position of the bird, I was able to get both in focus, or if you prefer, covered with depth of field. Today I will also give an image with three Cowbirds where that could not be accomplished. The Cowbirds are there to find ticks and other insects, so she wisely makes no attempt to displace them.

In a recent post I showed a Herring Gull eating a rather disgusting looking rotting Carp. Today we have a cheerful looking, high-stepping, Ring-billed Gull proudly coming out of the water with a fish (Shad?) in its mouth.

I thank you for visiting us and please come back,                                                                    Wayne