January: Backyard Birds

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Once again, a new year calls me to bravely begin my #YearInReview, namely a pilgrimage through my past year’s photographs to pull out one image a month that helps me tell the story of my photographic year. It takes bravery because I don’t always like what I see and I don’t always have much to choose from! Nevertheless, it has been a valuable exercise, so hear goes. I begin by breaking a rule. For January 2024, I will post multiple photos because I love the diversity of birds I sometimes have in my backyard. January is prime time–especially if there’s…

Creature Encounters

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I can’t think of much that is more gratifying than an up-close and personal encounter with one of the scores of amazing creatures with which we share this planet. I use hashtags to identify themes in my photography, so go online and search for #CreatureEncounters. You’ll find more of my fave works. Recognize, of course, that when I say “up close,” I am speaking relatively. I never was very close to the osprey and its prey in Angel of Death. But our encounter extended for a 15 to 20 minute period as I followed the bird clutching its prey from…

“Blend” is almost here!

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Local friends, here’s your opportunity to get your “Bette Kauffman original” and help out a good cause in the process! Now, who can resist that? “Blend on the Bayou” is the Northeast Louisiana Arts Council’s annual fundraiser. This year I have put four pieces on the silent auction. Scouts Clean Up Black Bayou Lake is one of them. The scene is a scout troupe paddling out onto the lake to participate in one of Ouachita Green’s “water clean-up” days by picking trash out of our lakes, bayous and river. Thanks, scouts! This pigment print, framed 20×16 in a black wood…

Wild for Wildlife

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Most of the time, I submit 3 images to juried shows, hoping for one to be invited. Additional images, when allowed, are often expensive to submit. Thus it was fun to be able to submit 6 images to KBM Gallery’s “Wild for Wildlife” online exhibition, and even more fun to have 3 of them invited into the show! You have seen Angel of Death (Osprey) before. It has been in several shows and won a “Best Photograph” in a multi-media show in Denver a couple of years ago. So it was not a big surprise when it got selected for…

May: All God’s Children…

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…get to sing in my choir! But fair warning to you snake phobes: Don’t click on this one, unless you want to see a lovely butterfly bad enough to also see a beautiful snake! May 1, 2022 – Once again I am driving slowly through Tensas River NWR, probably scanning the roadsides for birds, deer, wild turkey, maybe a bobcat or a bear–any of the things one can see in Tensas. Suddenly it struck me that I had just driven over something on the road. I hit the brake and checked my rear view mirror. Is that a snake? On,…