I will begin today with some imagery, and then traverse to something dramatically different.

There’s an infinite number of ways to look at and to photograph flowers. They are a popular subject for image makers, and for a good reason.

Playing with depth of field, or near to far focus and sharpness, is a part of all close-up photography. A crisp blossom becomes the focal point as an out of focus blossom in the background helps to make the foreground image “command” our attention even more. Where the sharp flower and the fuzzy flower are placed, means a lot. By placed, I do not mean actually uprooting a flower to move it, but how the image maker moves in and out and back and forth for their composition, and what focal length of lens they use. Short lenses separate, and longer ones compress.

Without light there would be no photography. Finding creative ways to use natural light can bring life to an image. I always spent a lot of time moving my camera and tripod, to capture strong and interesting light from the direction that I felt best dramatized the photo.

There is no rule that says flower petals need to still be attached to the rest of the flower. Fallen petals make great subjects. This mossy background helps to distinguish the flower petals. Differing colors and textures within the photo make images pop!

A lot of critters make use of flowers. This pollen covered bee and Chicory flower made a nice combo for a picture. Above all here, that bee needed to be crisp and sharp.

Take note that electronic flash was used in this image. The surrounding area was probably dark enough that the shutter speed needed was so slow that motion blur even from the slightest breeze, could have ruined the image. Flash, stops movement.

Small and distant flowers can help make images of primary subjects better. I caught this Red Fox kit trotting across this scene with some flowers in the background and I managed a few shots to combine them. Remember to pan your camera and tripod if in use, with the moving subject. A somewhat fast shutter speed was necessary not only for the fox, but to keep the flowers at least discernable. Also just deep enough of an aperture to keep the fox and flowers somewhat close to the same focal plane.

Take note, while I love and would never trade my times photographing wild animals in the country and especially in the wilderness, this image was made in the downtown area of medium size city. I was only maybe fifty feet from the main street.

I often treated fall trees such as these Wyoming Aspens like I was photographing a hillside of flowers.

Anytime a new species entered my files I was happy. The quality of this image of a west Texas Javelina is borderline. A fun image to share but not in a magazine or such.

I love frogs and Green Frogs make great subjects. I managed this picture from an old wooden pier.

Of all the sorts of wildlife subjects we have, birds in general, lead the pack as far as clicks of the shutter goes.

Upward views do not always work, but when you get the entire bird in the image, and the subject has an all pure blue unobtrusive sky surrounding it, it does work.

This is a Rough-legged hawk.

Classic portraits have a place in our files as well. This male Northern Bobwhite Quail posed like he was a paid model.

Bird feeding stations make for lots of picture opportunities. This male Gray Catbird looked me right in the eyes as it prepared to swallow a bit of fruit.

Two for the price of one is always a nice bargain.

Geese and ducks together are admittedly a normal sort of occurrence. That of course means little unless we get the picture. Whenever I saw a scene like this, most of the time, I got the picture.

Sunrise/sunset can be special anywhere but I love having water in the scene. The water becomes as the sky is……..so to speak.

Sometimes the simple and obvious can still be an abstract. Large rocks on this base of a waterfall and dreamy soft water, make for a nice contradiction (contrast) for each other. I photographed the entire waterfall of course, but I love these abstractions that bring everything in close and clear. I say clear, but of course my purposefully used slow shutter caused that motion blurred water. That in my opinion, made for a beautiful contradiction to that hard rock.

Onward

There are many, many necessary things in life. I speak of things we need but are not food and water and such.

Education comes to mind. Every generation needs to be educated, but by who and in what fashion?

Bad education can be worse than no education. At least with none, your mind is still clear and clean. We are seeing the results of bias, misinformation, perversion and hate, and what it does to the minds and hearts of young recipients. .

There is not a teacher I had in my lifetime, whatever their political, religious and social beliefs were, and whatever pronoun they used to describe themselves, and whoever they voted for, that would not be burning with anger over the selfish attitudes currently being mashed into the minds of our youth in many schools. It’s bad enough to not teach them the Xs & Os properly (test scores keep dropping), but then to attempt to rearrange their views on life and who they are, is bordering on the Satanic.

Teachers who make decisions on what actual sex the children in their classes are to be declared as, are most often warped. Many circumvent parents, and take it to themselves as if they were a god of sorts, to make the decision that Jack is a girl, or Peggy is a boy.

It’s not really that complicated. As Kari Lake suggests, try to milk a bull and see what happens.

The loud, often obnoxious “ruling class” among educators, are not the only ones teaching. I know how frustrated and dismayed those good teachers who care first and foremost about an education for children are.

What an odd thing (sarcasm) for a school teacher to do. Teach children skills and knowledge they might need later in life. Certainly there is something they can do to interfere with, and alter the lives of their students rather than merely educating them.

Again, sarcasm.

I feel bad for children today, and for good school teachers as well.

I think it is time for me to state what I think in general about this gender reassignment mess.

If you are eighteen years old or older, and you want to surgically trade your genitals for that of the other sex, you have that right. You are misguided and possibly ill in my opinion, but grownups, as long as what they do is only to themselves, have that right.

I believe those that push this agenda on others are actually mentally ill.

Children are impressionable, and can be manipulated.

Nobody has the right, be they parent, teacher, or false advocate, to take a child and transform or transfix their life, because of something they believe or want to believe. In some cases, I think there are those that just feel it so cool and hip, that they just have to find somebody to do it to.

The lawyers of the world are lining up. Lawsuits from former boys or girls who have been conned at a young age to believe that because Johnny likes to bake cookies or Sue likes to throw a football around that they’re somehow transsexual.

Talk about stereotyping !!!!

Obviously my Christian persona says without a doubt this is sinful, but just the same, the American constitutionalist in me says that if you are of age, you have the right to do what affects only you. Your reckoning to God is a different matter, but it is still your decision. Grownups have a legal right to mutilate themselves and sin against the Creator. Those adults have no right to do the same to minor children.

Convincing children to do so, is sickening.

We need more advocates (how about parents?) to keep those scalpels away from children.

We need more teachers to fight for the rights of children to not be surgically molested because of some perverse wishes of another school teacher.

There are in fact, some good teachers who are fighting that battle.

As I write this, there are hospitals, including administrators and doctors, who are rolling in money from sexual transformation operations.

They care about their mansions and their trips around the world, not your children.

I ask forgiveness from one and all for my next comment but the old saying, don’t get into a peeing contest with a skunk, keeps running through my mind. Often though, we have no choice

If we find an actual child who came to this decision on their own, then legitimately council them, and if and when they are eighteen years old, and they are convinced of their cross gender predicament, it would be their decision to make.

I would say go to a church and indeed that could be the answer as there are many great churches, but alas, many other churches today are as bad or worse than “the world“, if you will.

May God Bless,
Wayne

Take notice:
If at times you see odd combinations of regular text, and super bold text, and differing text sizes on this blog, it is not me doing that. As long as the meanings are not changed, I will publish the post anyway.