Animals
I was traveling through the Midwest in the summer of 2021, and decided to do some exploring. A little bit of research led me to Clifty Falls State Park, on the banks of the Ohio River, roughly halfway between Louisville and Cincinnati, but on the Indiana side. The weather wasn't particularly great when I visited, so none of my landscapes turned out particularly interesting, but on my way out of the park, I saw this young cardinal, and spent a few minutes photographing him before he flew away. If you look closely, you'll notice he does not yet have his full adult coat of feathers. Available in the following sizes (Square): 10x10, 12x12, 16x16, 20x20, 24x24.
I was traveling through the Midwest in the summer of 2021, and decided to do some exploring. A little bit of research led me to Clifty Falls State Park, on the banks of the Ohio River, roughly halfway between Louisville and Cincinnati, but on the Indiana side. The weather wasn't particularly great when I visited, so none of my landscapes turned out particularly interesting, but on my way out of the park, I saw this young cardinal, and spent a few minutes photographing him before he flew away. If you look closely, you'll notice he does not yet have his full adult coat of feathers. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle A): 10x8, 14x11, 20x16, 24x20, 30x24.
Lakeland, Florida has some type of special connection to swans. There are swan logos on everything in and around town, and actual swans can be found in and around many of the lakes that form the namesake of the town. Here's one I was able to photograph from an art show I participated in during the spring of 2021. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle A): 10x8, 14x11, 20x16, 24x20, 30x24, 40x30, 50x40.
Great blue herons can be found throughout the United States, and can grow up to four and a half feet tall, with a wingspan of well over six feet. I was lucky enough to come across this guy (or girl - they're virtually indistinguishable) in Lakeland, Florida, where they live in close proximity to humans, and are therefore much better subjects for photography – they don't fly away as soon as you get a hundred yards away! Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 12x8, 18x12, 24x16, 30x20, 36x24, 45x30, 60x40, 72x48.
This is a wood duck that I photographed in the spring of 2021. Many years prior to my having taken this photo, I took a picture of a mandarin duck in South Korea. Both these species of duck are simply beautiful, but I think the mandarin edges out the wood duck. However, I've had numerous people come into my booth, see my mandarin duck photo, and ask if it is a wood duck. As soon as I learned of the existence of wood ducks, it became a minor goal of mine to find and photograph one. An opportunity to do just that presented itself at an art show in Lakeland, Florida, where there are tons of water-loving birds and ducks that have become conditioned to people being in close proximity, and are therefore much easier to photograph than similar birds one may find in a less populated area. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 12x8, 18x12, 24x16, 30x20, 36x24, 45x30, 60x40.
I'm a sucker for butterfly exhibits, so when I was driving through Gainesville, Florida, and saw a billboard for the University of Florida's “Butterfly Rainforest,” I made sure to stop by. As I've seen at other butterfly exhibits, the living creatures on display aren't strictly limited to butterflies. There were plenty of birds to be found, too, including this gold breasted waxbill (also called an orange breasted waxbill), which is a species typically found in the grassland and savannas south of the Sahara. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 12x8, 18x12, 24x16, 30x20, 36x24, 45x30.
Ospreys can be found all across North America, but I photographed this particular one on Big Pine Island, Florida. I was out for a stroll in a park on the island, and came across four or five nests in less than an hour. Thanks to the ban on DDT, osprey numbers have rebounded significantly, and they are now among the most easily spotted raptors across the US. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 12x8, 18x12, 24x16, 30x20, 36x24, 45x30.
Brown pelicans can be found along the coast of almost the entire US (as well as Mexico, central America, and northern South America). In the Florida Keys, they can be found all over the place, and they are fairly used to being near people, which makes them much easier to photograph. Even given their lack of fear of humans, I was surprised by how close I was able to get to this particular bird The detail in this photo is amazing! Available in the following sizes (Rectangle A): 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30, 24x36, 30x45, 40x60, 48x72, 54x80, 60x90.
It seems that something like half of the photographers I run into while in Florida tend to show photos of deserted beaches, and egrets with mating-season plumage. I'd wanted to photograph some of these beautiful birds for a few years, and I finally got around to it in the winter of 2021. The best place (for photography, anyway) that I was able to find to photograph these beautiful birds was at the Venice Rookery, in southwest Florida. Great egrets were aggressively hunted in the late nineteenth century to make adornments for ladies hats, but have since then staged a recovery. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 12x8, 18x12, 24x16, 30x20, 36x24, 45x30, 60x40.
It seems that something like half of the photographers I run into while in Florida tend to show photos of deserted beaches, and egrets with mating-season plumage. I'd wanted to photograph some of these beautiful birds for a few years, and I finally got around to it in the winter of 2021. The best place (for photography, anyway) that I was able to find to photograph these beautiful birds was at the Venice Rookery, in southwest Florida. Great egrets were aggressively hunted in the late nineteenth century to make adornments for ladies hats, but have since then staged a recovery. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30, 24x36, 30x45.
It seems that something like half of the photographers I run into while in Florida tend to show photos of deserted beaches, and egrets with mating-season plumage. I'd wanted to photograph some of these beautiful birds for a few years, and I finally got around to it in the winter of 2021. The best place (for photography, anyway) that I was able to find to photograph these beautiful birds was at the Venice Rookery, in southwest Florida. Great egrets were aggressively hunted in the late nineteenth century to make adornments for ladies hats, but have since then staged a recovery. Available in the following sizes (Square): 10x10, 12x12, 16x16, 20x20, 24x24, 30x30, 36x36.
It seems that something like half of the photographers I run into while in Florida tend to show photos of deserted beaches, and egrets with mating-season plumage. I'd wanted to photograph some of these beautiful birds for a few years, and I finally got around to it in the winter of 2021. The best place (for photography, anyway) that I was able to find to photograph these beautiful birds was at the Venice Rookery, in southwest Florida. Great egrets were aggressively hunted in the late nineteenth century to make adornments for ladies hats, but have since then staged a recovery. Available in the following sizes (Square): 10x10, 12x12, 16x16, 20x20, 24x24, 30x30, 36x36, 42x42.
It seems that something like half of the photographers I run into while in Florida tend to show photos of deserted beaches, and egrets with mating-season plumage. I'd wanted to photograph some of these beautiful birds for a few years, and I finally got around to it in the winter of 2021. The best place (for photography, anyway) that I was able to find to photograph these beautiful birds was at the Venice Rookery, in southwest Florida. Great egrets were aggressively hunted in the late nineteenth century to make adornments for ladies hats, but have since then staged a recovery. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle A): 8x10, 11x14, 16x20, 20x24, 24x30, 30x40, 40x50.
Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel
In the summer of 2020, I went on a cross-Colorado camping trip, visiting locations throughout the state that I'd never been to before. One such location was the Grand Mesa – the largest flat-topped mountain in the world, occupying approximately 500 square miles. It was pretty, and I'll have to return some day, and hope for better weather – there were many wildfires burning throughout the state when I visited which greatly reduced visibility. So I didn't get any good landscape photos, but I did stumble across the “Land's End Observatory,” a Works Progress Administration / Civilian Conservation Corps site from the 1930s that affords – in less smoky conditions, anyway – long-reaching views of western Colorado and eastern Utah. And because it gets fairly frequent human visitors, little rodents in the area have learned to act cute and beg for food. I didn't feed any of the cute little rodents (you shouldn't – they can become accustomed to human food and have a hard time making it through the winter), but did get some nice photos, since they weren't afraid of getting close to me. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 12x8, 18x12, 24x16, 30x20, 36x24, 45x30, 60x40, 72x48.
In the summer of 2020, I went on a cross-Colorado camping trip, visiting locations throughout the state that I'd never been to before. One such location was the Grand Mesa – the largest flat-topped mountain in the world, occupying approximately 500 square miles. It was pretty, and I'll have to return some day, and hope for better weather – there were many wildfires burning throughout the state when I visited which greatly reduced visibility. So I didn't get any good landscape photos, but I did stumble across the “Land's End Observatory,” a Works Progress Administration / Civilian Conservation Corps site from the 1930s that affords – in less smoky conditions, anyway – long-reaching views of western Colorado and eastern Utah. And because it gets fairly frequent human visitors, little rodents in the area have learned to act cute and beg for food. I didn't feed any of the cute little rodents (you shouldn't – they can become accustomed to human food and have a hard time making it through the winter), but did get some nice photos, since they weren't afraid of getting close to me. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle A): 10x8, 14x11, 20x16, 24x20, 30x24, 40x30.
In the late summer of 2020, I went on a cross-Colorado camping trip, exploring parts of the state I'd never visited before. I camped a few nights near Craig, in northwest Colorado, and one evening, while wandering around the campground, I came across a pond with a whole bunch of frogs on the surface. I ran back to my van, grabbed my telephoto lens, and returned to snap this photo. Small animals can be quite tough to photograph, since the best animal photos are always taken at eye-level. Well, it's impossible to get a camera to eye-level of a frog, because even if the camera is on the ground, the center of the lens will be higher than the animal's eyes. But a photo like this is about as close to eye-level of a frog as one can hope to get, and I think it turned out quite well. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle A): 10x8, 14x11, 20x16, 24x20, 30x24, 40x30.
Hummingbirds are incredibly difficult to photograph. They are tiny, they move quickly and erratically, and their wings beat in the neighborhood of 50 times per second, so getting a photo where the wings appear still is tough. In the summer of 2020, I found myself at a cafe in the Flat Tops Wilderness in northwest Colorado, and they had a bunch of hummingbird feeders out that were extraordinarily successful in bringing in dozens of these beautiful creatures. So I ordered an ice cream sundae, and spent close to an hour snapping photos. Out of the hundreds of photos I took, very few were in focus, but this one turned out especially well. I have so much respect for the small number of people who are able to make a living on wildlife (i.e. no landscape) photography. I can't begin to comprehend the patience required. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle A): 10x8, 14x11, 20x16, 24x20, 30x24.
Owls are among my favorite birds. They're tough to find and photograph, so I considered myself quite lucky when I spotted this guy perched above a creek near Craig, Colorado. I grabbed my telephoto lens, plus a 2x teleconverter (which turned my 200-600mm lens into a 400-1200), and set up my tripod. With such a long focal length, several things come into play that make getting a good photograph difficult, but years of knowledge and practice paid off, and I was able to get this nice photo of a great horned owl waiting patiently for his next meal to make an appearance. I hoped to see him again the next day with brighter light – this photo was taken at dusk – but I never saw him again. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 12x8, 18x12, 24x16, 30x20, 36x24, 45x30.
At the end of my Glacier National Park visit in the summer of 2020, I took a new route back towards Colorado, and somewhere south of Browning, Montana, I came across a bison farm. And while there, I came across something I'd never seen before – an albino bison! What a unique find! Available in the following sizes (Panorama A): 20x10, 24x12, 32x16, 40x20, 48x24, 60x30, 60x30 Triptych (3 x 20x30).
I spent some time watching a group of mountain goats from Glacier National Park's Highline Trail during a summer 2020 trip. The flowers were in bloom, but the goats were mostly avoiding these multicolored meadows. But eventually my patience paid off, when this young goat left its mother's side and went for a wander through the flowers. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 12x8, 18x12, 24x16, 30x20, 36x24, 45x30.
The Columbian ground squirrels in the area around Glacier National Park's Logan Pass Visitor Center are practically tame. Visitors are discouraged from feeding them, and I believe people are much better about this than when I was a kid - I remember people getting squirrels and chipmunks in National Parks to eat out of their hands. Nonetheless, these animals are used to there being so many people around that they'll scarcely pay you any attention. I saw a kid nearly (accidentally) step on one during this 2020 visit. And this particular squirrel stood on a rock with walking paths 3 feet from him in several directions and just chirped loudly for several minutes, all while people walked right by him. It made for a good picture! Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30, 24x36, 30x45, 40x60, 48x72.
The construction of the Logan Pass Visitor Center, at the summit of Glacier National Park's Going to the Sun Road, was completed in 1966, when a lot less visitors made it to this absolute gem of a National Park. These days, it is packed with tourists, and if you want to find a parking spot, you need to arrive early. Fortunately, being a nature photographer, I'm out and about hours before most park visitors are even awake, and was thus able to easily get a parking spot when I visited in the summer of 2020. I knew from previous visits that bighorn sheep frequently visit this parking lot, especially early in the morning. This big guy was one of five or six big males that came down to the parking lot to say hello to all their fans before moving off into the surrounding valleys to begin grazing. I followed them (from a safe distance, of course) and began shooting when the parking lot was safely out of sight. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle A): 10x8, 14x11, 20x16, 24x20, 30x24, 40x30, 50x40.
Marmots and pikas are among my favorite animals to photograph. I'm sure part of that comes from my having grown up an hour from Rocky Mountain National Park, in northern Colorado, so I have many fond memories of seeing them as a kid. When you encounter them in areas frequented by large numbers of tourists, they tend to be easy to photograph, since they are accustomed to people gawking at them. One of the best places I know of to photograph these animals, which inhabit high mountain tundras, is along Rocky Mountain National Park's Trail Ridge Road – a spectacular two-lane road that takes one over the continental divide and reaches a peak elevation of 12,183 feet. I'd gone up Trail Ridge Road shortly before sunset one evening in the summer of 2020 in order to take some landscape photos, but when I reached the location from which I intended to shoot, I heard a little squeak less than ten feet away. I glanced down and saw this adorable pika. He paid me no heed, but scampered about, collecting grasses and occasionally squeaking at god-knows-what. This photo makes it seem like he was there for the same reason as I was – to enjoy the sunset. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 12x8, 18x12, 24x16, 30x20, 36x24, 45x30.
Marmots and pikas are among my favorite animals to photograph. I'm sure part of that comes from my having grown up an hour from Rocky Mountain National Park, in northern Colorado, so I have many fond memories of seeing them as a kid. When you encounter them in areas frequented by large numbers of tourists, they tend to be easy to photograph, since they are accustomed to people gawking at them. One of the best places I know of to photograph these animals, which inhabit high mountain tundras, is along Rocky Mountain National Park's Trail Ridge Road – a spectacular two-lane road that takes one over the continental divide and reaches a peak elevation of 12,183 feet. I'd gone up Trail Ridge Road shortly before sunset one evening in the summer of 2020 in order to take some landscape photos, but when I reached the location from which I intended to shoot, I heard a little squeak less than ten feet away. I glanced down and saw this adorable pika. He paid me no heed, but scampered about, collecting grasses and occasionally squeaking at god-knows-what. This photo makes it seem like he was there for the same reason as I was – to enjoy the sunset. Available in the following sizes (Rectangle B): 12x8, 18x12, 24x16, 30x20, 36x24, 45x30.
