Archives
A Sample of Pop’s “Bee” Images

Another Day at Work

Apis Workers' Party

Predator

Some of Your Beeswax

Sedum Bumbler

Look of Defiance

Chicory Bee

Bumbling Bees

Garden Cafe

Buzz By Here - To Infinity and Beyond

Pick Your Poison

Blind Side Attack

On a Mission

Honey Bee on Sedum

Covering the Cosmos

Center of the Cosmos

Three's a Crowd

Popular Spot

On A Pedestal

A Sample of Pop’s “People” Photo Collection

Big Harry Fireworks Display

To Impress the Girl

Different Perspective

Sweet Ride

Perfect Little Piggies B&W

Flipping the Light Fantastic

Festival of Flights

To the Crowd's Delight

Amish Go Round

Wondersome One

The Stars In Her Eyes

Tuesday's Child

Sleeper Hold

Considering the Next Move

Sugar and Spice

Front Porch Portrait

Caged Competitor

Early Adoration

Child In the Ligtht

Stroll Through the Weeds

Attention Grabbing

Eye Contact

On the Line

Eyes of Wonder

Rounding the Curve

Troubadours of Basin Spring Park

Down by the Creek

Sun Day

Catching Some Light

EAA Fireworks

Hear Me Roar

Sony SLT-A77V

Crooked Spine Pine – 2013

Crooked, Curve, Curvy, Pine, Tree, Forest
FINALLY – We found it!!  As you can see, this is a very unique tree.  This tree has eluded me for years. Let me explain…

In 2006, while hiking on a trail through the woods, we came across this tree. It was in the middle of the trail, so we weren’t the only ones who’ve seen it. But I’m guessing most people didn’t look at it from the angle I photographed it, so they wouldn’t realize the cool curve of its growth.

I took a few photos of it.  Sometime after that, I posted my best photo of the “Crooked Spine Pine” on Flickr. (That was before I had this blog.) It turned out to be one of the most popular photos I’ve ever posted. A number of people questioned its authenticity – accusing me of “photoshopping” it.

Back when I took the original photo, in 2006, I had a simple 5-megapixel camera. The photo of this tree was unique, but it really wasn’t a great image, technically speaking. Since then I’ve upgraded considerably.

For the last several years, I’ve been trying to find this tree again – to get better photos. However, I wasn’t sure exactly where it was. I thought it was at Potawatomi State Park, near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. We spent a number of visits, hiking the trails looking for the tree. After having no success, I began to think maybe it was on a trail at Peninsula State Park, farther up Door County, near Sister Bay, WI. We had hiked trails and took photos at both parks.  We also had to consider the possibility that the tree was no longer there – blown over in a storm or claimed by disease or insects.

Pine, Tree, Forest, Woods, Trail, CrookedWe began to keep better track of what trails we had hiked on and in the process, we’ve hiked a lot of trails and even enlisted the help of friends, in search of this one tree. Recently, my wife and I spent a day hiking the trails at Peninsula State Park totaling about seven-and-a-half hours. No luck. So, maybe it wasn’t at Peninsula, but at Potawatomi.

Last Friday, Sara (my wife) and I decided to spend the day together.  It was a nice day so we decided to hike the trails at Potawatomi State Park. We hiked the Hemlock Trail – about a two mile loop. While hiking, I noticed a spur off the trail and thought we should check that out some time.  Hemlock turned back and we came along another spur that I thought might be the other end of the spur we passed earlier.  We decided to head up that little stretch to see what was there and, low and behold, there was the tree.

In our search over the years, no doubt we had hiked the Hemlock Trail before, but never took that little detour. We were joyful to have finally located it, took photos, marked it on a trail map, took GPS coordinates. We will not have any problems finding it in the future.  If you’d like to see it for yourself, hike the Hemlock Trail and take the bike trail in the northern part of the loop.

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Fini

“Fini” means “The End” in the French language. It’s the perfect title for this breathtaking view last Friday evening. The brightest point at the bottom of the frame is the last bit of sun slipping behind the clouds.

My wife, Sara and I were driving home from a very enjoyable day of just spending time together. As we talked, we both noticed the stunning sunset. I held off as long as I could before I had to pull over, grab the camera out of it’s case in the back seat and snap a few frames.

I typically try to include something of interest in the foreground of sunset photos (an old tree, the silhouette of a building, etc.), but the clouds and the color were amazing enough on their own. (At least, I thought so.)

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Me and My Shadow

Kite, Blue Sky, Kites, Kite Festival

Today, it’s all about color and form…and fun! This pair of colorful kites was part of the Kites Over Lake Michigan – an annual kite festival held in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

There were many larger and more elaborate kites flying this day, but these two were standouts for me. I’m sure I’ll be posting more from this year’s kite festival in the coming days or weeks.

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Bumbling Bees

Bees, Bee, Flowers, Purple, Cone Flowers

This is summertime scene that can be found everywhere in the world where flowers bloom. These bees are busy collecting pollen needed for producing honey. This small clump of flowers in the flowerbed on the side of our house seemed to be a popular spot.

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Wild and Woolly

Milkweed Tussock Caterpillar, Caterpillar, Orange, Black, Milkweed

This is one hungry, little dust-mop! Look at how much of that leaf it’s already consumed. It is a Milkweed Tussock Caterpillar.

When I took this picture, I didn’t notice the interesting, synchronized curl to those orange and white tufts of hair. It just looked like your run-of-the-mill fuzzy caterpillar. Enlarging the image, often reveals surprising aspects of the insect world.

By the way, the head is that shiny black part on the edge of the leaf, mostly covered by hair.  (He needs to trim his bangs.)

This was actually in a very difficult spot to photograph due to other vegetation being in the way. To try and get a better shot, I slowly, gently bent the leaf he was on. They must not have sticky feet because, at the slightest angel, it immediately slid off the leaf and into the dense weeds below…never to be seen again.

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Sun and Stars

Wildflower, Flower, Orange, Red, Petals

These are wildflowers found on our property.  They are in an area where I scattered a bunch of wildflower seeds last year.  We never saw any of these last year, so it was a pleasant surprise to see these big, bright blooms among the weeds this year. The white dandelion-like seeds in the center of the flower blew over from some nearby weeds.

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