distant wall of sandstone in warm evening light (Utah wilderness)

I had not seen a Bald Eagle before and certainly did not expect to see one in Indiana. I was driving along a stretch of highway with forest on both sides and where hawks are a common site. I usually scan the sky to see what might be flying around and one day I see an absolutely huge silhouette swooping down. It was far bigger than any hawk I've seen, so I pulled off the road and began to explore. Not far away, I learn that it was a Bald Eagle and it was now calmly sitting in a tree. I reposition my car to make full use of a hill, then stood on top with my tripod and longest lens to grab this shot.

appearing to be a nice artsy mosaic of tiles, this is actually a closeup shot of a Rose of Sharon flower. this particular shrub had white blooms with dark-pink patterns down in the throat. when you zoom in (way in) to where the pink and white meet, you can see cell patterns like this. (photo captures 0.05 x 0.03 inches of the flower petal so the height of this photo is the thickness of a credit card)

I was traveling through a high mountain pass at about 14,000 feet and came across an area that was beginning to melt in preparation of spring. I started sizing up the scene and wandered about for the perfect perspective. The masses of melting snow had a beautiful ripple pattern and a large melted area ahead with mini-glaciers made a great foreground. In my usual excitement in preparing for a shot, I commonly overlook safety, and this was no exception. As I squatted down with my camera and pod ready to capture this lovely winter scene, I kept noticing a continuous sinking feeling which required camera adjustments to re-frame the picture properly. The melting snow was settling from my presence and I began to wonder if that melted area ahead was really part of a frozen lake. I looked around and noticed that I was in the middle of a large flat area surrounded by a distant wall of trees all around - I was standing in the center of a large lake. Just as I was debating on whether I would fall through the melting snow, I figured I was already set up for a good photo, so I might as well shoot some film. Thankfully, I made it back onto solid land without incident.

close-up shot of Niagara Falls (American side)

a pleasant combination of rocky cliffs and thick forest in southern Illinois. i was lucky to find a very large fallen boulder to climb up on to get above the brush and capture this view.

from the beautiful and tropical Wailea, Maui

close-up shot of the plentiful blooms on a Rainbow Shower tree in Hawaii