Let it Snow

Woke up this morning to a winter wonderland! So I braved the horrible roads to get a couple of pictures of a covered bridge at Wildwood metro park.
Canon 30D, Canon 17-40mm lens, SanDisk digital film.

Lake Michigan

Monday I was up in Muskegon MI doing some work, and took some time to head over to the lake to see if I could get any sunset shots. Well it was very overcast and the sun did not come through, but I was able to get this shot of a fence that was up on the beach to block the sand from blowing over the handicap boardwalk.
Canon 30D, 17-40mm lens, SanDisk digital film.

Mohican State Park

The other weekend while I went back home to my parents I stopped by one of my favorite places to go canoeing. I have been going to Mohican State Park since I was a little kid. We would go canoeing and then visit some family that live in the near by town of Loudinville. I still love going down there to either canoe, camp, hike, or fish. Its a great place to just get away for a while.
Canon 30D, 17-40mm lens, SanDisk digital film.

Marblehead Lighthouse

Today I went for a drive over to East Harbor State Park and Marblehead Lighthouse. It was a beautiful day for taking pictures and I had a great time. I saw a bunch of Great Blue Herons and even found some deer. The sunset at the light house was really cool, it was a great way to end the day.
Canon 30D, 300mm + 1.4TC, 10-22mm, SanDisk digital film.

Photo Contest

Tonight was the opening reception and exhibition for the photo contest at the National Center for Nature Photography at Secor Metropark here in Toledo. I submitted a few photos and the photo above got honorable mention. There were a lot of very cool and very nice photos entered. So I am really happy that one of my photos got honerable mention!!

Polychrome Overlook

Here is a shot from my last trip to Alaska. I took the long bus ride back to Wonder Lake. While I did not get to see Denali because of low clouds I did get some very nice views of the lower mountains.

Horseshoe Bend

Well I have been busy working and not busy posting. I have been going back through the photos from all the wonderful places I have been over the past two years and trying to get them all organized. Here is one from the summer of 2006 when my dad and I went out to Arizona to hike down into the Grand Canyon. The photo is from just outside of Page, it was a very nice sun rise.

Friday Night Lights

Tonight I went to watch my cousins football game and snaped some photos. It was a close game and Beau did a great job as QB, but they could not pull of the upset and lost 7-0.
Good game Beau!!!
Canon 30D, canon 300 mm, SanDisk Digital film.

Star Trails

This last weekend I was back home for my brothers wedding, man was it a busy weekend. It was also a clear weekend, so I tried my hand at taking star trail photos. I have a little to learn yet, but I was happy with the results. I hope it is clear this weekend as well so I can give it another try.

Canon 30D, Canon 17-40mm lens, SanaDisk digital film.

Treefrog

Well I have been really busy as of late and have not been posting as many pictures as I would like. This is a photo from a couple of weeks ago down in IL. This guy was sitting next to one of the ponds that I check out because there is usually some kind of cool creature to take photos of. He was just sitting on a leaf and didn't mind having his picture taken.
Canon 30d, canon 60mm macro, SanDisk digital film.

Hocking Hills State Park

Well, Julia and I just got back from a very fun weekend camping at Hocking Hills State Park in southern Ohio. It was a great trip and we did a lot of hiking all over the park to see all the cool geologic features. The first photo is of a window at the rock house, which is one of the many caves at the park. We also did some rappelling over at the state forest. This was the first time Julia has been rappelling and by the look on her face you can see she was a little nervous about that first step back. She did a great job and I was proud of her for giving it a try! I can't wait to get back down there!

Grizzly Bears

Friday I spent the day on a Denali shuttle bus, which took me back to wonder lake. Along the beautiful bus ride I was lucky enough to have seen around 9 grizzlies, one of which was nice and close to the bus. The bears were busy munching on blueberries that were growing all over the place. It was a lot of fun getting to see these huge bears that close in the wild.
Canon 30D, canon 300mm, 1.4x TC, SanDisk digital film.

Touchdown

I was out driving around last night and happen to catch this guy landing on top of the Russian orthodox church.
Canon 30D, canon 300mm, 1.4x tc, SanDisk digital film.

Waterfall

Yesterday was a pretty cloudy and wet day, I didn't do much but catch up on some rest, which was much needed. This picture is from last Sunday on my hike to the other side of the island. This was a pretty cool waterfall, I had to climb down a pretty steep cliff to get to it.
Canon 30D, canon 17-40mm, SanDisk digital film.

The view from work.

Here is the view of the church that I see every day while I am working. I have driven by so many times saying "I need to get a shot of this" and so many times I have just driven on by saying tomorrow I'll get it. So I finally got it.

Canon 30D, canon 70-200mm, SanDisk digital film.

Lunch Time!

The other day I drove by the river to see if the kingfisher was there, and sure enough he was! He was sitting on his little branch having lunch. The look on the little fishes face pretty much sums up what happened next.
Canon 30D, Canon 300mm, 1.4X TC, SanDisk digital film.

Little Priest Rock

Didn't do much shooting last night, I ate way too much at the all you can eat king crab and seafood buffet, and didn't feel like hiking around after. So I stopped at this place which I drive by almost every night on my way out to summers bay.

Canon 30D. canon 17-40mm, SanDisk digital film.

Shipwrecked

I got these two pictures last night after my hike. I was on my way back to the hotel when I saw this boat laying on its side on the ground. I thought it looked pretty cool with the way the clouds were looking all gloomy in the background. The other photo is what is left of an old dock from back during WWII, there is a bunch of old WWII buildings around that area.
Canon 30D, canon 70-200mm, SanDisk digital film.

Globe of Dutch Harbor

So last night after work, I decided to go for a hike to get my blood flowing a little. I have been wanting to hike to the top of this mountain that over looks Dutch Harbor, to get some panoramas, for some time now, but the last time I was here it was still covered with snow. But yesterday was a beautiful day so I set off up this big hill trying to reach the top. When I reached the top I was greeting with a sweet view of Dutch Harbor. In one of my photo magazines there was an article on taking a 360 degree pano and then making a global view with it in Photoshop. So i took a 360 pano and gave it a try, and this is what I came up with. I think it is a cool and different view of the island.

Canon 30D, Canon 17-40mm, SanDisk digital film.

Morris Cove & Dutch Harbor

Here is a picture from Morris Cove from last night. I could not believe how bright the algae were on the rocks. The other picture is from the night before, as I was out watching the puffins the clouds broke and the sun shined down on Dutch Harbor.
Canon 30D, Canon 10-22mm, and 70-200mm, SanDisk digital film.

More Wildflowers

Yesterday I had the day off, my only day off, so I decided to go on a hike to the other side of the island. The weather was beautiful and there were a ton of wildflowers out along the way. Here are a few of the flowers that I saw.
Canon 30D, Canon 60mm macro, SandDisk digital film

Puffins and Kingfishers

Yesterday after work the weather was not the best, there were very low clouds and it was misting and raining on and off. I went back out to my favorite puffin spot and sure enough there were a dozen puffins floating right off shore. I just watched them float around and dive for fish for fifteen minutes or so until they started to take fight. It looked like they were taking off for open water but they circled back around and started landing on the cliff above me. It was funny watching them circle the cliff looking for a place to land. Some of them would land and take right back off. I don't know why but these birds really fascinate me, they are a lot of fun to watch. After a while they all took off to feed on some fish out on the harbor. On my way back to the hotel I stopped by the Iliuliuk River to a bush where I have seen a Belted Kingfisher hang out. I had only seen him there once before and have stopped by there many times since then to see if he was there, but with no luck. To my surprise there he was sitting on a branch of a bush, and I was able to pull up right beside him in the truck and get a few shots.

Canon 30D, canon 300mm + 1.4 TC, SanDisk digital film.

The Deadliest Catch

When I arrived the Maverick was sitting at the Delta Western dock in Dutch Harbor just down from the job site. It was at the dock for a couple of days before it went back out to sea.

Dutch Harbor

I saw this photo of Dutch Harbor on my way back to the hotel,the sun was getting low ready to set and it cast a nice yellow glow on the water. The hotel that I am staying in is located right above the boat on the other side of the island.
Canon 30D, canon 70-200mm, SanDisk digital film.

Salmon Berries

While I am out hiking around the island I never have to worry about getting hungry. There are so many of these salmon berry bushes, with huge salmon berries growing on them. I have gorged myself on them to the point that I could not even look at them for the rest of the day!

Canon 30D, 60mm, SanDisk digital film.

Sea Urchins

Here are some photos of sea urchins that I found while walking on the beach. Some of them are really colorful while some of them are a bit less than colorful.

Canon 30D, canon 60mm lens, SanDisk digital film.

Wildflowers

Wildflowers are growing all over the place up here, and there are so many different kinds and colors. Here are just a few of what I have found so far.
Canon 30D, canon 60mm macro, SanDisk digital film.

More Puffins

I went back to were the Puffins like to hang out last night to see if they were still there, sure enough they still were. Here are a few more shots that I got of them, they are really cool to watch!

Canon 30D, Canon 300mm lens 1.4TC, SanDisk digital film