I have used the title hodge, podge before with those a little bit of everything posts, so here we are again.

Let us begin with a few close-ups of insects. One of my favorite subjects.

One beautiful way to present butterflies and some of the other little critters, is with dark if not black backgrounds.

Most people would guess that electronic flash was used in the first two images below. It was not.

With this first image there was some reflected sunlight illuminating the Little Yellow butterfly. The subject was a ways away from the forest background. My exposure for the butterfly left the dark background dark, and distant.

This next one was similar but I admittedly cloned out some “hot spots” that showed too brightly in the finished file.

I loved getting everything finished and complete at the click of the shutter when shooting digital just as I did with film. With that said, it is normal in the digital world to clean up some images after we get home.

Of course the natural light of a calm overcast day can work pretty good too. As was the case with this Buckeye Butterfly. It was also a new species for my files.

I loved photographing dragonflies even more than butterflies. This profile shot was intentionally made to be tight, and to not show the entire butterfly. I wanted the image to be a personal look at this critter.

Up this close and tight means your depth of field is not likely to stretch over the entire subject with focus. That’s okay, just make sure you get the face and a few other areas crisp enough, and the image will succeed.

Photographers have been avoiding shadows for as long as there has been photography. I have been embracing them, with some exceptions, for as long as I made photos. I enjoy the contrasts in many but not all circumstances, and embracing the more dramatic view they provide.

The shadows on this sand, add texture and dimension.

Autumn is the season for both grand and intimate landscapes. What about macros?

Macros of flowers are common. Sometimes it is nice to celebrate a flower by almost walking inside of it. Edge to edge flower. All shape and curvy lines.

Then there are up tight close-ups of birds.

Female Starling and Ring Billed Gull, close and personal.

Of course, habitat shots with a minimalist view of a Snowy Owl, have their place. That owl was along way from me. I used 720mm and cropped extensively at home.

Sunrise and sunsets go perfectly with some birds. Particularly waterfowl. A dreamy sunrise, and the outline of geese, helps to bring the shape of things into perspective.

Of course sunrise along the water does not have to contain animals. A curved shoreline that acts as a leading line, some rocks and some powerful colors make for a nice image.

Then there is winter, and still waters. There are images to be made everywhere. That still water helped make this photo worth viewing by the way of reflection. I actually enjoy the fact that the reflection is not a full mirror image. The separated bits of ice within the reflected area, seem to add some dimension to the scene.

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I was in a store the other day, and needed the assistance of an employee due to an issue with a self checkout register. Like most such places, the bulk of the staff is quite young. She helped with the register and did so politely and I went back to checking myself out.

I have noticed something amiss with a lot of the younger employees at stores and such. They know their business and are polite, but something is missing.

It is joy. The joy of being young. No cutting up and laughing. They have been raised in our homes, in the word at large, with the media, but especially in our schools, without optimism and happiness.

How sad. I suppose I should be happy they don’t spit on me as I am an old white male. You know, like the past two presidents. Well, younger than those two but getting older every day.

When I was young and working my first major job, while we worked hard, and sometimes groused about that fact, we joked and laughed in the middle of the work. It was much harder work than those in that store.

The future can seem bleak when so many in a couple of generations seem to hate life. Still, there is a God in Heaven and who knows what might happen in the near future?

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Russia announced, it is now backing the murderers, butchers, disembowelers pedophiles, and rapists who are attacking Israel. Hopefully this will not be forgotten by the rest of the world.

Please support Israel. If this ends and it is not the beginning’s of the Ezekiel War, support Israel’s perilous grasp on existence, in that area anyway. Especially, if you own a bible and/or go to a church. Of course also if you attend a Synagogue. If you have never been educated on these matters (The Ezekiel War) by a church or otherwise, look into it, pray, and eventually you will understand.

God Bless,
Wayne