Sunbathing

Even the birds like catching some rays.  Maybe, especially the birds.  This one found himself perched on a cattail  and had the 9 am sun beating on him.

First one of the year

The other morning I saw my first two herons of the year.  Here's one of them:

It a-piers to be a beautiful day

Update:  After several emails asking me what my last post meant and where the building is, I will explain....a little.  Sunday morning I was driving some of the backroads in a very affluent area and I saw a gravel road that didn't really look like a road, but, there were no signs posted saying "Private drive" or "Keep out", etc.  So, I made the turn onto the road.  I went about 100 yards where the road opened a bit and I saw this "shack".  I decided to get closer to the building and look for a good vantage point to get a shot.  When I walked to the back side, I noticed this lovely little "garden" of "herbs".  It had some nice netting over the top.  At first, I thought it was Ginseng.  Then I realized, this wasn't Ginseng!!  A cash crop none the less. I took a peak inside the shack.  It looks like their was some fresh harvest inside drying out nicely,....like herbs should.  Needless, to say, I made my way back to the highway quickly.
Tonight, though, is a shot of a beautiful marina on the Fox River on a beautiful quite Sunday morning before all the boats and jet skis tear it up. 

Where is that place?

My hunt for interesting shots takes me to crazy places. Well, crazy places within a few miles of my house.  Some people might ask about this pic, "Where is that place?" Let me answer by saying, you're better off not knowing, and I wish I didn't know myself.  Let's just leave it as I found myself a little off the beaten path.

And Along Came a Spider and...

As I sat wide awake at 4:45 am this morning, I decided to get out early and see what "critters" I might be able to shoot before it gets too light.  Unfortunately, its been awhile since I did the early morning thing, and as usually happens when you don't do something regularly, I forgot some of my gear needed when its dark out so my early morning stuff isn't worth showing.  But, the day wasn't a total loss. I saw my first egrets of the season, several hawks, and what was either a big dog or a wiley coyote making his way to his den.  The critter that mesmerized me most, though, was this spider.  I ended up at a marina along the Fox River and the guard rails in front of each dock were positioned so that the morning light would hit the spider webs and their owners with the bright warm sunshine we are experiencing this March.  Unbelievable number of spiders catching some rays.  Here's some shots of one of them.

Beach Pictures in March

They say a great headline is all you need these days to draw people in.  Well, I can't think of a better headline than the above.  Unfortunately, it's not a  true statement. The beach pics will come soon enough, probably June, even though the kids are in summer mode already with this weather.  But, tonight is a shot of an old red barn taken during the last snowfall we got.

Caught before it all turns green

As I was writing the title of this post, I realized I was creating a pun without even thinking about it.  Saturday is, of course, St. Patrick's Day.  A big, big, big day in Chicagoland.  I've been known to become Irish myself that day in the past. But, that's not what I was insinuating in the title.  It was more of the fact, that with the weather we've had here recently(80 degrees plus) over the last few days, it won't be long till the branches of trees sprout green buds/leaves and then at some point during summer all the beautiful "ponds" cover themselves with green algae/slime.  Hasn't happened yet, though, and that's why I'm feel fortunate to have caught this pic in time.

Show offs

The last couple weeks the kids have had some events happen that they were very proud of.  Derek's school has a display case where a kid is selected each week to display for one week a collection they have . Finally, Derek got his to shot display his evergrowing Spongebob collection.  He was a proud collector that week.

That same week Ashley performed in the season finale for the pom squad she belongs to, as well as her final jump rope performance club appearance of the year(they didn't have fun clubs like that when I was in school.  We had fun clubs like, "Disassemble and reassemble your tractor" club.  Just doesn't work as a basketball halftime enterainment show.)
I tell ya, if you want to try and expand your skills in photography and be frustrated beyond all belief, try to photograph 75 girls doing routines with poms or a bunch of girls jumping up and down over a rope.  Yikes. Gives me a much greater appreciation for sports photographers.

One final "horseplay" for the year...I hope

Since this last weekend was, hopefully, the last major snowfall of this season, everyone was out enjoying it.  Even this guy.

Do Not Enter

As much as I would have liked to leave fresh footprints in the snow on the other side of the gate, I didn't.  Alot of people here have guns.

Surviving Winter

After looking at this picture for 20 minutes, I realized this could be the only title for it.

Mother Nature thinks she's funny

In the Chicago area, there seems to be a misconception amongst many, not all, of the people in the area.  Once March 1st hits, we are home free.  No more winter.  Break out the swimsuits.  Yeah, right.  On the radio on Thursday, Chicago's most respected weatherman was rattling off the statistics of how seldom we get any snowfalls of any accumulation after March 1st.  I know everyone of us who have lived here through a few winters can remember a storm or two, but he was saying how rare these occur and we shouldn't expect anything happening this year, especially after the warm winter we've had.  Well, mark Friday March 2nd down in the "rare" column.  We got hit once again, on a Friday, during rush hour home.(Seems that all winter storms this year have come on Friday afternoon, during rush hour.)  About 5-6 inches of the heavy wet stuff.  I must say, if you were behind the walls of your home, it was really quite beautiful.  And, thankfully, I was actually able to get out early this morning and get some shots of picturesque scenes outside.

It ain't the wildlife of Alaska

Many of my customers know of my fondness for photography.  So, when I do my regular visits they are prepared with an album of pics from their last trip/vacation.  This happened the other day with a customer who just got back from roaming Alaska for 3 weeks. And this is trip after doing the same thing last year spending almost 3 weeks doing the same thing in Yosemite National Park.  Just him, his camera and gear, and camping supplies.  Yeah, I said 3 weeks doing nothing but photographing wherever we went and whatever he saw.  It was incredible what he was able to capture. Unfortunately, a trip like the above two aren't in my plans for the future.  So, here we settle for the breathtaking shot of our local wildlife.