Tuliptree Blossom with Guest
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
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
Bright Life
The sunflower is such a bright, cheery bloomer. It really does a great job of reminding us of the summer sun.
This was a bloom I found in the field behind my house a few weeks ago. This was actually a late bloomer. All the other sunflowers surrounding this one were taller and larger in size.
You can view a larger, full-screen version of this image by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Awaking the Calm
On a calm Lake Michigan, the sun prepares to rise behind the pier and lighthouse at Kewaunee, Wisconsin. It was a glorious, eye-opening morning!
If you look closely you will see a fishing boat or two and people fishing off the pier.
This is one of the very few sunrises I was able to photograph through the summer…and, thankfully, it was a good one. I posted the first photo from this same morning a few days ago and will have a number of others that I will share in the coming weeks. Good stuff!
Nothing tricky about this shot – other than having to be there early in the morning. No HDR on this one, just a simple, single exposure and Lightroom processing.
To view a larger, more detailed version of this image, click on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Sunflower Superstar
I purposely lined up this shot so the afternoon sun would be hidden behind the sunflower. That sneaky summer sun still found a way to crash the party.
These are sunflowers growing in the farm field behind my rural Wisconsin home. They are very tall; over my head in most places. The fields around our house are usually planted in wheat, oats or corn. It’s always cool when sunflowers make it into the rotation.
If you have a large monitor, you can view a larger, more detailed, version of this image by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Strange Life Form
Butterflies are such beautiful creatures with the colors and patterns of their wings. However, up close, they have the face only an alien mother could love. This photo is a stark reminder – though whimsical in flight and beautiful from a distance, they are still flying insects.
I believe this is a Blue Morpho butterfly. If you could see it with its wings open, you would see a spectacular, iridescent blue color. The Blue Morpho is among the largest butterflies in the world with wing spans from five to eight inches. Blue morphos live in the tropical forests of Latin America from Mexico to Colombia.
On this photographic trip to the Butterfly Palace in Branson, Missouri I tried, unsuccessfully, to capture one of them with their wings open. You can view their beautiful blue in a photo I captured on a previous trip here: Common Blue Morpho
This is one you may want to view in larger size to see more of the detail. (Or not…if bugs aren’t your thing.) To do so, simply click on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Tucker the Pup
Meet Tucker, the Brittany pup. He’s a recent addition to my in-laws family. They are rather partial to the breed. This photo was taken when Tucker was about 8-weeks old. He lives in northwest Missouri.
According to Wikipedia… “The Brittany is a breed of gun dog bred primarily for bird hunting. Although it is often referred to as a spaniel, the breed’s working characteristics are more akin to those of a pointer or setter.”
This image is not any great photographic achievement, but every now and then I feel the urge to post something that ranks high on the “adorable” scale. That’s Tucker.
If you have a large monitor, you can view a larger version of this image by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Descent to Vertigo
Going down! These steps are part of the arduous 303 step stairway to a scenic view at Roche-A-Cri State Park near Friendship, Wisconsin. It’s quite a climb to the top but worth the view and a welcome place to rest before beginning the descent.
I took a few photos of the stairway and thought this one was most interesting because of the turns and the angle of the shot. This was shot with a wide-angle lens (12mm). I processed this photo in both color and monochrome and asked my wife to pick the one she preferred. She liked the B&W best. So here it is.
You can view a larger, more detailed version of this image by clicking on the photo. When you do, a full-screen version will open in a new browser tab.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
A Clear Calling
The vibrant color of a summer sunrise along with the wooden pathway to calm waters provide an irresistible invitation to the Lake Michigan shoreline at Selner Park Beach in Kewaunee, Wisconsin.
When I glanced out my window and saw the early morning sky – long before the sunrise – I thought it looked promising for a cool sunrise. I dropped everything to get to the lake shore and was able to capture a great batch of lighthouse sunrise photos. (Watch for future posts.) Just as I was packing up my camera (I was running late for an early morning appointment elsewhere) I decided to throw my wide-angle lens on and see what I could capture. At this distance, the wide-angle makes the lighthouse just a dot on the horizon but it captures a whole lot more of the sky, which was the goal. Framing up the wooden path in the foreground makes it all the more interesting.
This is the last shot I snapped that morning. This is actually an HDR image. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. To try to capture the full dynamic range of this scene I blended four separate shots at different levels of exposures (from light to dark). Without blending the images/exposures you would end up with either a normal looking sky and everything else in darkness or a normal looking lake and land in the foreground with a colorless, completely white sky. The camera is not able to adequately handle such a wide dynamic range on its on so a little processing magic is needed to get these results.
This is one you will want to view the larger, full-screen size. To do so, simply click on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Youthful Vigor
Summertime is sunflower time in our area. We live near a seed farm that always has a few fields of sunflowers planted in our rural neighborhood. This year, they’ve planted sunflowers in the field that adjoins our home.
I finally got out to grab a few photos of the sunflowers. The variety they plant to produce seeds (as opposed to just bright, cheerful flowers) don’t last long in bloom. It seems like just a couple of weeks from first bloom to droop.
In this photo, you will notice, the main subject is in peak bloom while the others that surround it are already beginning to droop. This flower is a “late bloomer.” It also is not as tall or as big as its nearby rivals but, it is pretty.
You can view a larger version of this image by clicking on the photo. When you do, a near full-screen version will open in another browser tab.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Flipping the Light Fantastic
Talk about a wild ride! This spectacular light painting was created by a pair of acrobatic airplanes flying huge loop-the-loops in the night sky while shooting fireworks off their wings. Though this long exposure image gives the impression of a colorful chaos, it is actually very graceful and beautiful to watch. This was part of the night airshow at the EAA’s AirVenture 2019.
Because this is a long exposure shot, the people on the ground have a ghostly/blurry quality to them caused by them moving during the 26-seconds the shutter was open. The airplane on the ground didn’t move, so it remains sharp.
The night, fireworks-enhanced air show has improved over the years. You can view some long exposure shots I took at AirVenture 2013 by visiting this earlier post – Pathway to Glory.
You can view a larger, more detailed version of this image by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
The Flight Brothers
A beautiful historical display – these two venerated ,war birds flew together through the blue skies over Oshkosh, Wisconsin during an airshow at the EAA AirVenture 2019. The upper plane is “Quick Silver, a P-51D, Mustang. The lower plane is a Chance-Vought F4U-4 Corsair.
One of the aspects of AirVenture I appreciate most is their emphasis on honoring our veterans and the hardware our true heroes used to protect and serve. Both of these were used to protect and secure the freedom of others. You can learn more about these vintage war planes through their respective websites – Quick Silver P-51D MUstang and Chance-Vought F4U-4 Corsair.
You can view a larger, more detailed version of this image by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.