Those Amazing Maple Seed Pods
Can you believe it’s June already? As expected, my neighbor’s maple tree has begun dropping its seedpods, or “helicopters” as I like to call them. They’re all over my yard, on my bushes, on my roof…I‘m sure you know the drill. Not that I’m complaining. I’ve...
Lighting Equipment Review: ExpoImaging’s Rogue Grid
I purchased ExpoImaging’s Rogue Grid a while back to solve a need in my lighting equipment. I have many bounce cards and diffusers for my shoe-mounted flashes, but no grids to narrow my beam. The Rogue Grid looked like it would be a good solution, and I liked the...
Wind Box for Flower Photography
I do quite a bit of macro work outside, and a common problem when shooting flowers is getting them to stay still in the wind. It’s commonly a game of patience waiting for lulls in the wind. I am not what I would call a patient photographer though. Another option is...
Photo Book Review: The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally
The Moment It Clicks was published back in 2008, and I just got around to reading it. What can I say--I’m slow. I’ve got a pile of books sitting on my desk waiting to be read, and life gets in the way sometimes. However, this book was truly worth keeping on the...
Camera Bag Review: Lowepro Stealth Reporter D400 AW
After an extensive search for the perfect camera bag, if there is such a thing, I chose Lowepro’s Stealth Reporter D400 AW to house my DSLR equipment. I’ve been using this bag for 18 months now, and while it’s a really nice-looking and well-built camera bag, it’s not...
Small Bird Photography
I usually concentrate on photographing large birds just because I don’t see them every day and they fascinate me. But a lot can be said about photographing the little songbirds. In a lot of ways, they are easier to photograph. That is, as long as you are patient, use...
White Pelicans Galore
I returned to Nygren Wetland Preserve last Sunday in hopes of seeing the same 15 American White Pelicans that I saw on Saturday. I was in for a very big surprise. There were actually a few hundred pelicans present, broken into small groups of 50 or so throughout the...
American White Pelicans Migrate North
It’s been an amazing week photographically speaking. I’ve been wanting to photograph the American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) migration as it passed through northern Illinois. By the end of March though I was fairly disappointed and convinced that I had...
Always Have Your Camera With You!
I pass by the pond at Rock Valley College in Loves Park, Illinois many times a day. Usually, there’s just the usual population of Canadian Geese, some Mallard Ducks, and a pair of Mute Swans. Yesterday I caught sight of this Great Blue Heron wading along waters edge....
What do you see?
I was over at Lawrence Park in Rock Falls, Illinois several weeks ago photographing the Bald Eagles (CLICK HERE for that article). I found an old tree with some interesting scars in the bark from past limbs either cut off or broken off. I made some photos but didn’t...
Want to photograph something special? Introduce yourself and ask
Having an interest in the prairies of the American Midwest, I’ve wanted to photograph a prairie wildfire for many years. These fires are important to the health of the prairies, but as one can imagine, they are very dangerous to be around. So I opted to seek out some...
Bald Eagles of the Rock River
The winter of 2010/2011 hasn’t been the best for me as far as getting out and photographing the Bald Eagles on the Mississippi River. There were conflicts with my job, poor weather, or just a lazy photographer (me) who couldn’t motivate himself to get up early and...