Low-angle view of two rusted, torn steel columns from the World Trade Center standing against a blue sky with clouds, framed by bare and evergreen tree branches.

Steel That Remembers: The 9/11 Monument at the Texas State Cemetery

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“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th.”— President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001 Tucked into the rolling grounds of the Texas State Cemetery in Austin stands a monument … Read More

Black-and-white macro photograph of a shrimp plant flower cluster against a dark background, showing overlapping bracts with crinkled, paper-like texture, fine hairs along their edges, and a single curled filament extending from the tip.

A Heart with Two Valves — Shrimp Plant in Macro

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Whenever I photograph our Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeeana) in macro mode, I am surprised by what the lens reveals. Take the monochrome header image. Stripped of its color, the flower is all texture: the bracts turn paper-thin and crinkled, every … Read More

Wide concrete emergency spillway of Canyon Dam under a clear blue sky, with the turquoise water of Canyon Lake and wooded Hill Country ridges beyond, framed by live oak and juniper branches.

A Canyon Born In Three Days

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Lens-Artists Challenge #412: Places Shaped by Water What are the odds of hiking through a canyon that is younger than you are? I don’t know how often that chance comes along, but in the Texas Hill Country it does. Canyon … Read More

Close-up of a single Texas Indian Mallow (Abutilon fruticosum) flower with five veined, pale orange-yellow petals and a cluster of yellow stamens at the center, a tiny insect resting on the lower petal, against soft-focus green leaves along the Katy Crossing trail in San Gabriel Park, Georgetown, Texas.

A Small Sun Beside the Trail — Texas Indian Mallow at Katy Crossing

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Sometimes, while biking along the Katy Crossing trail in San Gabriel Park, I spot beauty that steals the moment away. I apply the brakes and stop to appreciate what Nature gives me. No special equipment is needed — a simple … Read More

A female or immature Black-chinned Hummingbird perched on one leg on a blue-gray wire, its other foot raised over its wing to scratch its neck, against a soft green background of blurred oak leaves.

Acrobat on a High Wire

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Happy National Hummingbird Day! It falls on the first Saturday of September every year, and this year I have the perfect little bird to celebrate it with. For a few mornings in a row, a Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) had … Read More

Three-panel collage of wildflowers — a magenta Panicled Ticktrefoil bloom with unopened buds on a hairy green stem, a cluster of lavender-purple Queen’s Wreath flowers with dark violet centers, and two yellow Rock Flax flowers on a thin curling stem.

PQRfectly Floral

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We now reach the PQR flowers in Terri’s Flower ABC challenge. Initially, I thought it would be hard to find flowers beginning with the letter Q. I found a few in my catalog. What surprised me even more is that … Read More

Thick white morning fog erases the horizon over a still lake, blending water and sky into one pale field. Small dark waterbirds rest scattered across the glassy surface, tall reeds rise at the lower right, and the faint silhouette of a boat hovers in the mist right where the horizon would otherwise be.

Vanishing Horizon

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“The sea was indistinguishable from the sky,except that the sea was slightly creased as if a cloth had wrinkles in it.” — Virginia Woolf, The Waves For more like this, enjoy these related stories: Lake Bastrop South Shore, Landscapes, Monochrome, … Read More

Archival black-and-white photograph of Texas Governor Ann Richards and singer Dolly Parton facing each other and laughing, both with voluminous curled hairstyles, at Threadgill's restaurant in Austin, Texas.

Big Laughs, Bigger Hair

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This photograph is a relic of a place that no longer exists. It used to hang inside Threadgill’s, the beloved Austin restaurant where a national credit card company once filmed a commercial. Threadgill’s closed its doors for good a few … Read More

Wide view of a Texas wildflower field densely packed with yellow Stiff Greenthread and red-and-yellow Firewheel blooms, photographed at 200mm with a shallow depth of field.

A Thread of Gold in a Field of Fire

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“Wildflowers don’t care where they grow.”Dolly Parton Sometimes it pays off to carry only one lens. It forces you to create more with less. When I met a friend for a walk through a field in Pflugerville, I deliberately left … Read More

A Cooper's Hawk perched on a tree branch with one leg raised and its beak open, panting to cool off in the summer heat.

Raptor’s Rest — Beating the Texas Heat

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With temperatures constantly being over 100ºF (37.8ºC) the entire month of August — except for one 99-degree (37.2-degree) day — I have noticed that the raptors in our area have been spending more time in the shade. Even some vultures … Read More

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