Ozark Mountains

I finally have some new pictures to publish! We went on a trip to the Ozark Mountains this past weekend, in part to see the fall colors. We were too early for that, but I was impressed with the views offered by this area that I never really thought too much about in terms of areas in the US with mountains. While not extremely tall, the formations reminded me a lot of some of the areas I've been in southern Utah, but with trees. I'll be publishing more from this trip in the next few weeks. If you're ever thinking about visiting this area of the country, I'd recommend that you do.

Lit up like the fourth of JULY!

My lack of posting shows quite clearly that I was only using my camera being broken as an excuse, the truth is that I am a slacker. I just keep forgetting my camera when I go out, and it has lead to a couple of missed opportunities. But tonight, I actually did remember and decided to try my hand at taking pictures of fireworks. I was pleasantly surprised with the results, so much so that I am breaking with tradition and posting two pictures. Happy 4th of July!

Cool Flower

We went to my in-laws this Memorial Day weekend and my youngest daughter picked a flower for my wife. I hadn't really ever seen anything like it and thought it would make a good picture. So here is a flower from that plant. Not sure what it is, but it has some very vibrant colors.

Toad

I got my camera back finally on Monday, but have been too busy to really go out an use it until today. So out I headed today to find something to take a picture of, but there was pretty much nothing. No flowers, no interesting sunsets or scenery. The best I could come up with was this picture of a toad that I almost stepped on while I was looking for something to take a picture of. Anyway, I did like the detail my camera was able to get, and the pixel that had been burned out didn't show up either, so I'm happy.

Thank You Nikon!

I finally sent my camera in for repair last week. I had been dragging my feet mainly because I am lazy, but also because I knew it was going to be more money than I wanted to spend. However, I got a letter back from Nikon today telling me that they fixed it for FREE, some kind of "good will repair" or something like that. It's on it's way back to me now and I am very appreciative of Nikon.

Water

Not a day goes by that I don't think to myself that I have to send my camera in for repair and not a day goes by where I'm too lazy to do it. Oh well, guess I have to keep rummaging through my older pictures to find something to put on here. This one was taken in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, it was one of my first attempts at a longer exposure to create that blurred water effect.

Washington Monument

Camera's still broken, so I'm still reduced to posting old pictures. This is a picture I took on a family outing in Washington D.C. a few years back. I've always liked this picture, though I'm not entirely sure why.

Penguins

Ok, I'm continuing my bird theme, plus it's cold out and penguins symbolize cold pretty good. Of course it was much colder when I took this picture off the coast of Antarctica, during my expedition to catalogue species of the southern hemisphere. Well, maybe that didn't exactly happen and these penguins are actually from the St. Louis zoo, but I'm a little drunk so I don't really care.

Bird Reflection

It's been awhile. Unfortuantely for me, my camera broke and I have yet to get it fixed. I was tired of looking at the ice picture though and decided to put up an older picture. This is a picture from Christmas vacation in 2003. It always seems hard to get good wildlife pictures without a telephoto lens, but I was lucky enough to get close enough to this seagull to snap this one.

Ice Formations

Yesterday the High never got above 19 degrees and then got down to 4 at night. The water around here was unfrozen prior to that. These interesting little ice formations formed on top of the ice and I thought they looked pretty cool so I took the picture. It's been a while since I've been out taking pictures because things have been so busy at work. It was nice to get out and I wish I could do it more often.

Fall Part 3

Continuing on my autumn theme, here is a fall photo I took back when we lived in Utah. Definitely one of my favorites. I think this was the first time I went up into the mountains to take pictures with my very first digital camera, a Toshiba PDR-60. It was a good first camera but crappy by today's standards. But with scenes like this you don't need to do much but point and click.

Fall Part 2

Here's another picture from the other day at the lake near our house. I really like the way this is "framed" by the shadowed vegetation closer to me. I had to hike through some forest, dodging snakes, spiders and scorpions to get here (ok, not really, but it sounded cool). The relatively clear water with the reflection is a plus too.

Fall is Here

We are getting near peak colors for this fall here in Illinois and so I've been going out the past couple of days. This is probably the best one I've taken (in my opinion), but I will be posting several over the next couple of days. So if you disagree let me know.

More Lightning

This thunderstorm season had pretty much been a bust for me as there was a serious lack of good night-time thunderstorms. This past weekend we had a bunch of severe weather break out, which produced some pretty good storms. This picture was taken during the tail end of the storms and I LOVE it. Lightning is probably my favorite photographing subject, it's easy enough to get (by leaving the shutter open), but it is difficult to capture well. I probably take 50 pictures for every one that turns out good, but when it turns out there is definitely a sense of satisfaction.

Fire

I was out burning our trash the other night and thought it would make a cool picture. So I went in and got my equipment and started taking pictures. Unfortunately most did not turn out too good. There is a fine line between the shutter speed needed to make the flames appear sharp and having enough light (even with the aperture as open as it will go) to show the flames well. A few turned out good and I've posted the best one here.

Cat in the Box

This is our cat Cali after a night of hunting. She and her mother are always sleeping in the flower boxes outside of our front windows, as she is here. I have never been that good at portrait pictures, but I think this one is pretty good.

Cool Sunrise

This was the sunrise on August 21 in front of our house. I have a lot of sunset pictures, but not too many sunrise ones. That's because I hate mornings, but now that school has started again, I am forced to get up to get the kids ready. On this morning I am happy that I was up. I did not use any filters nor did I alter this photo in photoshop. This is what it looked like and I don't think I have ever seen a orangish red fog before.

Mothra Lives!

This was a large moth that my wife found sitting on the side of our house. I don't know what kind it is but I had to take a picture as I don't see giant moths every day. I don't necessarily like the background of the house, but like the way the moth turned out. It was a little bigger than the size of my palm.

Rainbow

This picture was an attempt by me to produce a cool picture. I figured the rainbow would be framed well between the fork in the tree. Only problem is that it is difficult to see the rainbow well (at least for me, though I do have trouble seeing light reds). I tried playing with the picture in photostudio and decided after all my tricks the original was the best one.

Off the Coast of Belize

This picture was taken off the coast of Belize. Nothing spectacular in it, but I think it's a good picture. I have read a lot of photography books/magazines and they all talk about the "1/3" rule. I usually forget about that rule but sometimes remember like I did in this one and in this case I really think it makes this picture work. Just enough ocean and the bigger sky space allows for a good look at some nice cloud formations and gives the picture a lot of depth.