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
Trees
Winter Warm Spot
In a very cold world, the sun offers a ray of hope. This comforting spot was found the morning after a recent storm that coated everything with beautiful, fluffy snow.
I captured this image just after sunrise at a spot near our rural home in NE Wisconsin. Of course, I had to get off the beaten path and tromp through the snow to grab this view.
My favorite feature of this image is the sunlight (and subsequent shadows) on the ground.
If you have a large monitor, you can view a full-screen version with greater detail – 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.
Canopy of Color
This is the time to get out into the woods and view the vivid colors of the changing leaves. This is a upward view from the woodlands near our home in rural Kewaunee, Wisconsin. Yesterday was my first opportunity to get out and grab some fall color shots. I picked up a few.
You can view a larger version of this colorful 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.
Mushrooms On Wood
On a hike through the autumn woods, I thought it was odd to find these mushrooms growing out of a fallen tree. (Or are they toad stools?) In any case, they intrigued me.
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.
Inclined to Fall
This fall scene was spotted in the waning days of a Wisconsin autumn…the days when more leaves were on the ground than on the trees.
To view more of the detail in this image, click on the photo and a larger 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.
Sundown Hotspot
The intensity of this sunset reminded me of a furnace. It was a beauty to behold across the field from our home…and one I’m glad I could share.
You can see a larger version of this image by clicking on the photo.
Fire Painters In the Sky
This image is a combination of stunning, natural beauty and a generous helping of digital magic. Let me share some of the details.
This is one of my earliest photos taken with my first decent digital camera. The camera a Kodak EasyShare DX7590 that I purchased to document my first trip to Liberia, Africa in 1995 . The DX7590 was a minor step up from a typical point-and-shoot camera with a whopping 5-megapixels. (Pretty impressive, in those days, for a small, consumer grade camera. My current camera provides 24-megapixels.)
This photo was taken in march of 2007. At home in the early evening, I saw the wonderful colors in the sky out my living room window. Of course, I grabbed my camera and dashed out the door.
I crossed the road in front of my house to be able to frame up the sky without any interference from the power lines and poles between me and the beauty. I included the dormant tree to add contrast and interest to the scene. I snapped several frames of the incredible sky with the trees and field before me.
If you haven’t guessed by now, the water you see in the foreground wasn’t part of the original scene. I added the water, digitally, after the fact. The lovely, rippling reflection of the water in this image replaced a barren farm field, mostly covered with melting snow. You can see a couple of the original images I took – with out the water effect – in this earlier post: Fire In the Sky
The farm field was dark and dreary, compared to the sky, so I thought it needed an upgrade. I had been trying out a trial version of software developed to add a water effect and thought the reflective quality of water might add more interest and color to the bottom of the image. In fact, I extended the bottom area of the photo, to fit more ripples in the view.
You can view a larger version of this photo by clicking on it.
Sky Iris
It was a cold morning with 13-degrees Fahrenheit and patches of fog in our rural neighborhood. This was a scene that caught my eye that morning. I tried to sharpen the trees a bit but the fog in the air kept everything soft.
I titled it Sky Iris because the sun in the trees remind me of a pupil and the fog-induced aura, accentuated by the branches, remind me of an eye’s iris.
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Inferno In the Trees
The leafless trees of winter provide a minimal barrier to the blazing sun. This could be a sunset or sunrise; I’ll let you decide which one fits your mood.
We see a lot of sunrises and sunsets like this from our rural Wisconsin home. This tree line is across the field and a good distance from our house, so I used a long lens and tripod to capture it.
If you have a large monitor, you may be able to see a larger version of this image by clicking on it.
Winged Wonder
On a walk along the trails of Door County’s Potawatomi State Park (near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin) I encountered some of the strangest bugs I’ve ever seen. There were a number of these bugs on a tree. They were not easily spooked, so they were easy to photograph.
The large image is a shot looking up the tree – as the bug was facing down. It looks like a rather unique bug…but not so much different than a lot of flying bugs. The thing that makes this the strangest bug I’ve come across is how it lays it’s eggs.
The bug’s body was about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in length. Those strands that arch up over it’s abdomen (the back end), were inserted into the tree. (Better seen in the side view.) When I finally saw one move, it pulled those strands out and they were three to four times the over all length of the bug’s body. It was like watching some very small-scale version of an space alien movie monster.
It took quite a bit of Googling to figure out what this bug is. According to www.exploretheoutdoorsohio.com this is the giant ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus). Those long things are called an ovipositor. It inserts them into the dead wood of a tree, in search of one thing: the larva of another wasp, the pigeon tremex horntail (Tremex columba). It can detect the wasp larva’s movements in the wood, locate it, and then lay an egg next to the larva. Once the ichneumon wasp has done this, it will then sting the horntail larva, paralyzing it. Later, the ichneumon wasp larva will hatch and devour the horntail wasp, and continue to grow to adulthood.
I didn’t realize this was a wasp. Lucky for me, it is harmless to humans! The article I read said, “If you’re walking in the woods and come upon some dead trees in a sunny area, search around a bit and you might be lucky enough to find one.”
You can view a larger version of either photo by clicking on them.
Autumn Upshot
I enjoyed a walk through the woods just down the road from my house yesterday. After the long work week, the colors and the quiet were quite therapeutic. I took this among a stand of young birch trees.
Click the image to get a better view.