One More for 2023

Categories: Year in Review2 Comments

My #YearInReview blog posts don’t necessarily feature my “best” photographs. Rather they feature photographs that help me track and tell the story of the year, month by month. I also like to make a PowerPoint of the photographs that went to juried art exhibits a given year. I call it “Invited _(year_” because that’s the language artshows use: You work is “invited” into a show. Does that make these my “best” photos? Well, not necessarily. It just makes them photos that drew the eye of an art-world juror–a person who selects artworks for exhibits as a profession. Interestingly, none of…

December: Birds & Blooms

Categories: Year in ReviewTags: · · · · · 2 Comments

I shoot lots of both! It’s a fitting way to end this special edition of #YearInReview, giving you a glimpse of my world for the past two years. December 9, 2022 – The older I get the more I prefer the dead and dying flowers. That’s not at all a morbid thought. Truly, it’s not. I love so much the shapes they take as the petals dry: twisted, crinkled, yet graceful. Their colors reach a peak of intensity. Their age spots dignify them. May I age so beautifully, eloquently. December 26, 2023 – Goal achieved: An American Kestrel (Falco sparvarius)…

November: Chicago

Categories: Uncategorized · Year in ReviewTags: · · · · · · Leave a comment

It’s a good month to go to Chicago: not yet so dreadfully cold as to keep me indoors, and hotel prices have gone down! November 26, 2022 – Downtown Chicago decks out for Christmas. One thing you can always count on is a huge Christmas tree in Water Tower Square. Adam, one of the photog friends I hang out with in Chicago, polished this big silver ball with his sleeve before we took our selfies. Sadly, I didn’t quite manage to get our reflections in focus, but I really like the photo anyway. That’s the Water Tower behind us, a…

October: Foraging

Categories: Uncategorized · Year in ReviewLeave a comment

Everything’s gotta eat! When I am out with my camera, I especially appreciate catching critters in the act of foraging. These are not always the “prettiest” pictures. Critters in the act of capturing and consuming each other can be a bit disturbing. But they are real and beautiful in their own way, and they tell an essential part of the story. October 22, 2022 – Banana spiders (Trichonephila clavipes) rule in the autumn woods in Louisiana! This web at Black Bayou Lake NWR spanned a 5-foot opening between shrubs next to the boardwalk trail. It is constructed of golden thread,…

September: Sense of Place

Categories: Year in ReviewTags: · · · · · Leave a comment

Born and raised in Iowa. It will always be Home, with a capital H. Living the good life in Louisiana. Loving my adopted home. Two places so different, so beautiful. I am enriched by both. September 1, 2022 – “Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and a filé gumbo, ‘Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio. Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o, Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on da bayou.” If you’re hearing Hank Williams’ voice right now, please be aware that when he sings “bayou” and pronounces it “bayoooo” with a drawn out…