Summer Flowers

Continuing on a theme away from lightning pictures, here are some macro shots of some flowers taken on the same day as the dragonfly picture.

Dragonfly

I'm not sure what kind of dragonfly this is, but there are lots of them around here. I used them as an opportunity to try some macro shots with my new camera. This one turned out pretty good, but most did not. I think this is a good excuse to by a macro lens.

The Arch

Something a little different than what I have been posting. This is obviously a picture of the Arch in St. Louis. We were getting some food at the 4th of July festival there and I liked this perspective of the arch.

Fireworks

We went to St. Louis this 4th of July and we set out our spot for fireworks watching early so that I could take pictures of fireworks through the Arch. I think it would have turned out great had the wind not been blowing towards us, pushing smoke in front of our view.

Separate June Storm

This is another June storm that developed just to the east of my house. Better yet, no mosquitoes eating me alive this time..

More Lightning

This is the last picture from this particular storm. I really like the shadows and texture on the top part of this cloud that is illuminated by the lightning.

June Lightning

This is another picture from the same storm. Great stuff.

Lightning Pictures

Yep, more lightning pictures. What can I say, they are my favorite thing to photograph and this has been one hell of a good start to the season. These next few are from a storm that gave off one of the most impressive lightning displays I've ever seen. I think the pictures would have been better too, but I didn't bring my tripod (because I hadn't intended to shoot lightning originally) and I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes while trying to hold the camera steady.

Another Sunset Picture

Yeah, it's another sunset picture, but there's nothing else around here to take a picture of. Plus I really like how this one turned out with the new camera. Not sure if you can see it in this version (I think you can), but I really like the detail in the trees in the distance. They would never have been that sharp with my old camera. I also really like the colors in this picture.

New Camera

Haven't posted in a while, but have many reasons, the most important being that I left my camera at my in-laws in November. However, I recently bought a camera that I've been saving 2 years for. It's the Nikon D90 and so far I in love with it. Here is a picture I took of the sunset the other day. I love the rich colors and crisp images this camera produces and I have yet to figure out how to use it to it's full potential. I can't wait to learn..

Final Storm Picture

Ok, this is the final picture from the latest storm and my personal favorite. Like I said before, this has been a good year for photographing lightning and I have learned a lot. The most important thing I've learned is how critical aperture is when photographing lightning and the need to adjust it as the distance to the storm changes. A small aperture for a storm too far away produces a bolt that can barely be seen. Too large an aperture for a storm that is close produces a bright white spot with no discernible bolt. Interestingly, my favorite shots are from my first attempts when I didn't know what the hell I was doing. So I guess luck plays a large role as well.

More from the latest storm

This is another picture from the storm last night. I liked that there were multiple bolts in this picture, though I was upset at myself for not framing it correctly.

Last Storm of the Season?

Last night we had some pretty good lightning displays and I managed to catch a few that I'll be posting over the next few days. This may have been the last good storm of the season and I'm glad I decided to go out and get some pictures.

Rising Moon

Nothing too special about this picture, I just like taking pictures of the moon just after the sun goes down and some type of landscape can still be seen. I have a really cool one from when I was camping in Zion National Park, but that's on actual film, so I don't have it to post online.

More Lightning in the Sky

We've had a lot of night-time thunderstorms around here lately, unfortunately I haven't had much luck getting good pictures...until last night. Last night was especially good since the lightning lasted well after the main part of the storm had past.

Soft-Shelled Turtle

Another one of the cool creatures that lives around here and which I've never seen before is this soft-shelled turtle. I often see them sunning themselves on the gates to the ponds where I work and have always wanted to get a picture. However, they are extremely fast and dive into the water before I can get anywhere near them. This one came through the drain when we drained one of the ponds, so I took the opportunity to capture it and release it far enough away from water so that I could take this picture.

Bird-Voiced Treefrog

It's been a while, but I'm back for a few pictures. I have been trying my hand at photographing small reptiles and amphibians that I think are cool. This particular species of frog are neat in that they can be this color, but can also turn a bright lime-green too. They also make an interesting call as the name suggests.

Last Day

What cruise photo collection would be complete without a sunset picture? Certainly not mine. This was the sunset on the last day of the cruise looking out towards the Bahama Islands. I have about 20-30 pictures of it and have been made fun of by my family, but I was not the only one out there. It turned out to be a pretty good one, complete with sun dog (rainbow on left hand side of the sun).

St. Maarten Again

Here's another picture of St. Maarten (I spelled it wrong last time), this time looking the other direction along the beach. A very beautiful place.

St. Maartin

This is a beach in St. Maartin. I like this picture because I think it captures what I think of as a typical tropical tourist destination. For some useless St. Maartin trivia, there are two sides to the island, one Dutch and one French. The French side includes a nude beach. Unfortunately, this is not that beach.