Hiking up the East Bluff Trail with a carpet of fallen leaves to greet you. I remember doing this hike when our kids were young. It was one of their first hiking adventures. Of course, it was also one of my first hiking adventures when I was a kid. I know the harsh winter season…
Alum Cave Creek flows down over dark gray phyllite, common of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a Precambrian metamorphic rock primarily composed of silicate minerals like mica, quartz, and chlorite – Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This stretch of the creek was unusually straight, and as such I like how the effect produced a relatively symmetric…
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469-mile scenic road winding though the Appalachian Highlands of Virginia and North Carolina. The southern terminus is located here in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. I was a little nervous trying to get a shot of this historic road with very little foliage on the trees. And yet, I…
Culver’s Root (Veronicastrum virginicum), a native North American perennial found in Wisconsin prairies, once used in traditional herbalism to support the liver and digestive system – Aldo Leopold Nature Center. The RF macro lens I often use for wildflower photography has a very sharp range of focus. I find myself often having to choose which…
A single bloom peeking out among a sea of lily pads. Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) is an aquatic perennial native to the Everglades. The park is located at the confluence of temperate North America and the tropical Caribbean and as such is home to representative flora from both climes – Everglades National Park. (Homestead, Florida) ≡Canon…
What will guide your path? Nauset Beach Light is a restored lighthouse within the Cape Cod National Seashore. It guides mariners who are traveling up and down the Eastern Seaboard. The color pattern of the structure, and at night the flashing light pattern, identifies one’s location (Eastham, Massachusetts). Wouldn’t it be nice to have a…
Sunshine Skyway Bridge from the Intercoastal Waterway off Anna Maria Island with the St. Petersburg skyline in the background. The entrance to Tampa Bay is guarded by this modern bridge, allowing interstate traffic easy passage over the water. On the other hand, the dynamics of this choke point in the coastline and the mixed semidiurnal…
We had raised anchor before sunrise to sail north up the Manitou Channel, when I was able to catch one of the last bursts of light before this sentinel would take a break for the day. After providing guidance all night, it had earned some time off. South Manitou Island Lighthouse – Sleeping Bear Dunes…
A maturing Wisconsin hardwood forest near Tennison Bay along Shore Road – Peninsula State Park. I like the peacefulness of these woods. The picture is a high-definition panoramic shot, created with multiple exposures merged together. It is a technique to create enough pixels to enlarge to poster size or bigger. Or in this case, it…
Surrounded by mixed deciduous and evergreen forest, Bigelow Pond offers a quiet and scenic resting spot – Bigelow Hollow State Park. I cringed a little as we were driving through Connecticut and I would see exits for “New York City” and other major cities. Don’t get me wrong, my only trip to Manhattan was wonderful…