I haven’t much to say (or share) today on the subject of photography, so I thought we would take a simple journey through the three basic forms of nature photography, landscapes, wildlife and close-up (macro). One of the most ignored landscape destinations in the western portion of North America by photographers, is Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado. Words mean things and maybe it’s the less than sexy name of this park that keeps landscape shooters away. There are of course fossils to be found in part of this destination, but the canyon road is worth the trip. I would have loved to work this place at sunrise or sunset but you can’t be everywhere at once. One of the most versatile landscape destinations is the Badlands of South Dakota. I am fortunate to have been privileged to photograph the Badlands in soft even overcast light, with storm clouds, on clear blue sky days, and with blue skies mixed with some great cloud formations. White Sands New Mexico when the sand is not so white. This was made just before sunset. The color of light, is at the forefront of all photography. Lighthouse photography is popular among many photographers, but disdained as a cliché by many others. I always kept in mind what I might and might not sell, but I spent little time worrying about what other photographers thought about my choice of subjects. There is a place in life for straight up well composed pictures of a lighthouse. Especially a pretty red one on a blue sky day with a lot of gulls. The subject here was not really meant to be the rising sun. Sometimes simplicity, is the subject. Lake Michigan. One great local destination for finding a large supply of migrating Tundra swans, is Goose Pond in Columbia County, Wisconsin. You don’t get a lot of close looks, but you will find plenty of take offs and landings. I’ve shown a lot of images of Great-horned Owls sitting in the old tree cavity you see here. The tree and the owls are all long gone, so……..here is one more picture. If you want more nature subjects to photograph, if you want to learn the most that is possible about the natural world, start your journey in macro photography soon. It will also help on those days when you just can’t seem to find a subject to photograph. We just need to look down. If I could do only one form of photography, it would be macro. There are roads, and then there are roads. I never met a dirt/sand road through a forest, through the mountains, or through the desert that I did not feel the need to follow. It seems a storm awaits on the other end, but that just means the journey may not be easy. No worthwhile journey ever is. Visit a classic Earth Images post….Visual Melodies, Listening to The Music from 6/18/2010

Look for my next post when I will get back to showing the work from some great guest photographers.

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I have been the member of a work union on several occasions in my life. There were good aspects to those days and bad.  I have helped bring a union to a business.  You have a right in a free country, to organize a union to bargain for better wages, benefits, work conditions etc.  Unions have indeed helped to improve the plight of workers.

That being said!  A union has no right (in a free country) to tell me I have to join their organization, or put my money into their pocket.   That is not socialistic in nature, which is un-American enough, that is communism. It is un-American at its very roots. It is everything this nation was formed to avoid.

Those of you in Wisconsin, support freedom of choice, in our up coming Right to Work legislation.  This is your state and your nation.  Whether or not you join a union and pay union dues, is your decision not that of a handful of “union bosses”.  Below is a link that examines both the pros and the cons to this sort of law. http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/article/2015/feb/23/sorting-out-public-opinion-right-work-laws/

Freedom forever and God Bless,                                                                                                  Wayne