Best Ever: Nineteen Years Behind the Lens

Lens-Artists Challenge #409: Best Ever Images

This week, our guest host for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is Steve Hyde, of Steve Hyde Photography Blog. Celebrating World Photography Day on August 19th, Steve thought this would be a perfect opportunity for everyone to share their “best ever” images with the Lens-Artists community. Some of the images I chose may not be my objective best, but each one is meaningful to my journey as a hobby photographer. Together, they span nearly nineteen years. Picking this handful of images mattered to me because looking back shows how much I’ve grown behind the camera. As I like to say, it isn’t about whether someone else’s photo is better than mine — it’s about how far I’ve come when I compare where I started to where I am now.

We jump twelve years for this next one, to a dramatic sunset at Davis Mountains State Park. Skyline Drive offers sweeping mountain views, and on most evenings the sunset there is something to behold. This is just one of many I’ve photographed over the years, and I’m already thinking about going back this fall to take in the beauty of that island in the sky again. Like the first image, this one was re-edited for this post.

Also from 2019, but in the Texas Hill Country just outside Austin, I visited Westcave Preserve. The 45-acre (18-hectare) preserve offers public tours that take visitors down into two very different ecosystems. At the end of the tour, when we reached the grotto, we were allowed inside the cave, where I captured this view looking back out. Nature Photographers Network later selected it as an Editor’s Pick.

While spending a couple of days at Inks Lake State Park, I got a front-row seat to nature’s balance in a way I’d never witnessed before. I had set out to photograph the sunset over the lake and the pink granite scattered throughout the park. Nature had other plans. Stepping onto a short footbridge, I was startled to find a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) with its supper in its talons. I stopped and started shooting photos and video right away. The hawk moved off in a few short hops, finally settling on a boulder beside the trail, which let me step off-trail and work my way around the scene. It wasn’t until I got home that I noticed the details I’d missed in the moment: the squirrel’s last breath, its mouth open, and a trace of blood on the hawk’s beak. I could not have staged a scene like this if I’d tried. I was simply lucky to be there at the right time and place.

Finally, an image I captured recently and already featured here on the blog. I’ve lived in Teravista for two years now, blessed with a pond behind our house, and I spend a lot of time on the deck watching and learning from the wildlife that visits it. The morning I photographed this green heron (Butorides virescens) was the first time I’d seen one stretch and preen instead of crouch and hunt, which is how I usually find them at the pond. The light caught its wings just right, revealing a teal I rarely get to see so clearly.

This post is a reminder that nature is my favorite photography genre, whether I’m working a wide landscape, a wildlife moment, or a single wildflower. Vast or intimate, I feel lucky every time I get to capture it. The journey continues.

Thanks to everyone who joined my “Over the Top” challenge last week — I loved seeing your wonderfully over-the-top images and your interpretations. Your creativity excelled, as always. I hope you’ll join Steve’s challenge too, and share some of your own best-ever images. Be sure to check out Steve’s post for more inspiration, and don’t forget to use the “lens-artists” hashtag to help us find your responses in the Reader.

Next week, Sofia returns with our last challenge of the month. It goes live Saturday at noon Eastern. I hope to see you there. Please see this page for more information about the Lens-Artists Challenge and its history. If you don’t want to miss any future challenges, please consider subscribing to the team members’ websites. Here they are:

• Tina of Travels and Trifles.
• Patti of P.A. Moed.
• Ann-Christine of Leya.
• John of Journeys with Johnbo.
• Anne of Slow Shutter Speed.
• Sofia of Photographias.
• Egídio of Through Brazilian Eyes.
• Ritva of Ritva Sillanmäki Photography.
• Beth of Wandering Dawgs.

That is the story behind the shots. For more like this, enjoy these related stories: Davis Mountains SP, Frio River, Garner SP, Green Heron, Inks Lake SP, Landscapes, Lens-Artists, Parks, Red-tailed hawk, Skyline Drive, Sunset, Teravista, Texas, Westcave Preserve, and Wildlife. Until the next shoot, keep chasing the light and the wonders it reveals.

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Sources:

• Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation — Our Story — https://www.tpwf.org/our-story/
• Texas Parks & Wildlife Department — Garner State Park — https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/garner
• Texas Parks & Wildlife Department — Davis Mountains State Park — https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/davis-mountains
• Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center — https://www.westcave.org/
• Nature Photographers Network — https://www.naturephotographers.network/
• Texas Parks & Wildlife Department — Inks Lake State Park — https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/inks-lake
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds — Red-tailed Hawk — https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/overview
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds — Green Heron — https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Green_Heron/overview