Lens-Artists Challenge #398: Choose a Color “Nature in her green, tranquil woods heals and soothes all afflictions.”  — John Muir Ritva sets this week’s challenge: Choose a Color. In her post, she gives us plenty of beautiful examples and ample … Read More

Lens-Artists Challenge #392: Framing Your Shots: Exploring the Foreground, Middle Ground, and Background When Patti set the theme for this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge, I wanted to capture new photos that put her excellent guidance to the test. She wrote, “This … Read More

“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.”Henry David Thoreau Spring seems to be in full force in Austin, Texas. Not only are the city and surrounding areas getting covered with wildflowers, but pollinators have also started to … Read More

As winter loosens its grip and the first trees break into bloom, one of nature’s quietest spectacles begins — the return of the pollinators. This featured image was captured at Balcones District Park in Austin, TX, where an Eastern Redbud … Read More

February 2022 brought our second freeze of the season: three quiet, cold days of ice and snow blanketing everything in stillness. After the trauma of 2021’s catastrophic storm — when millions of us lost power and water for days — … Read More

The spring equinox arrives quietly — not with fanfare, but with wings. On a visit to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, I was surprised that my late arrival would give the gardens almost all to myself, the beautiful blooms, … Read More

MotoGP 2026 comes back to the Circuit of the Americas March 27-29. COTA doesn’t just test riders — it tests photographers. The elevation changes, the sweeping corners, the sheer unpredictability of a MotoGP weekend mean you’re constantly making split-second decisions: … Read More

Suspended in a split second between flower and flight, a Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) hovers above a rose bed in search of a winter meal. Cold-season pollination is an opportunistic affair — honey bee colonies remain semi-active through winter, and … Read More

There is a specific kind of magic that only exists before the rest of the world hits the “snooze” button. I call it the Morning Glory—not just because of the flowers that bloom with the sun, but because of that … Read More

The saying may not come from this perennial shrub, but I can certainly see that it would apply to a Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) shrub. Even though this shrub may look a bit like a weed for some people, the round … Read More