Today’s images and image makers, have no kinship with the title of this post. Read below the broken line for that.

Burrard-Lucas is a photographer (or photographers) I am not familiar with. I was captivated by this picture of a pretty blue bird. I prefer clean backgrounds (usually) for bird pictures. I generally also prefer some deep richness to those backgrounds. Something that makes the subject pop. In this case I fell in love with that wispy bluish-white background. It helps to emphasize the delicate nature of the bird. Well done.

I often toss the term legend around too casually when I am talking about some names in photography, especially nature photography. I use that term unashamedly with Frans Lanting. I have featured Art Wolfe on these pages, and recently I have shared the imagery of Jim Zuckerman and George Lepp. Frans Lanting belongs in that category. Life is funny, “legends” get to be legends by what they do, but also by something that is indefinable about them. Art Wolfe brings kindness to photography, but he also burns a passionate flame that cannot be extinguished. Frans does the same. He brings it from his own inner self, which is different from Art’s.

I have seen this magnificent Antarctic image before. 100 years from now people will still be sharing it, both because of its beauty and wonder, and because of the man who created it.

I do not know where this incredible Robert Dayton image was made, but it has the feel of a Galen Rowell (another legend) Yosemite N. P. picture. That is a compliment of the highest order.  I am sure that Robert has his own cache of great pictures.

Denise Ippolito has an individual style to her imagery that she should be proud of. She does not always go for that “knock you over the head” type shot. They are often more subtle. Most of us would have been wondering if we could crop this picture to include only frame filling birds and color. Denise knew ( I believe) she had what she wanted all along. I personally love this picture.

Jack Graham is a great professional nature photographer who has a stark, but powerful feel to his imagery. This black & white both makes you want to have been there at that moment, and makes you just a little fearful as well. Great shot.

Sometimes there’s nothing like an in your face portrait of a wild animal. This Mule Deer buck, staring into our eyes, with snow delicately falling all around, is mesmerizing. Ron Linton is the photographer.

As a child my mother, who worked in a hospital, would bring home outdated magazines for me to read. I was a voracious reader as a child. Those incredible Arizona Highways publications with large format landscapes by the likes of Joseph Muench, that’s right Joseph, (usually) not son David (now in his 70s) or grandson Marc, and those hunting magazines with magnificent bucks on the cover, were what inspired me to photography. My goal from day one was to shoot those bucks with a camera not a gun. Ron shot this one perfectly.

I saved the most unusual image for last. This is a citified picture made of the Aqua Towers condos in Chicago.

Kevin Raber has a magnificent way of looking at his subjects. He often isolates and abstracts and he has done that here, with an artful use of light and composition. This truly looks like a rainforest (or desert) plant more than a manmade object. He has a “great eye” as my father used to say.

Long live the abstract.

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The human animal is a most interesting creature. We are forever looking for joy and happiness….usually in all the wrong places. I speak from which I know. Often we look at others, and think they will make us happy.  Maybe those others are thinking the same when they look at us.

If life is a journey, and I have said and written countless times that I believe it is, then always remember that the journey “ain’t over till it’s over” to quote Yogi Berra (not Bear). Every step either moves you along the path, or back to where you once were. We live in a worldly and Godly state of free choice. Free will. Other people (mostly governments) will try to take that free choice away from us, but ultimately it’s up to us as to the quality and quantity of our journey.

The climb is difficult but rewarding…………the fall is free but devastating.  The choice is ours.

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When I write articles like the one above, I know they may sometimes seem a bit ambiguous. I do write in different styles, and while some of my posts are straight forward and obvious, others are designed to be more subtle, although they are at times provocative. I am more of a reader than a writer, and I enjoy writings from others that provoke thought, more than those that are carry the 1+1=2 scenario. Hopefully there is an audience for both.

Have a great day,                                                                                                                           Wayne