"It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it." John Burroughs We've had many days of frosty/foggy mornings this past couple of weeks up here in NW Iowa and it's a gift for a photographer. Its imp...

"Life rarely presents fully finished photographs. An image evolves, often from a single strand of visual interest - a distant horizon, a moment of light, a held expression." Sam Abell Our eyes are one of the most magnificent parts of our body we've been blessed with. They are always working, e...

"Your only here for a short while. Don't hurry, don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way." Walter Hage Taking advantage of a nice Spring afternoon my good friend, Mike Houge and I took our annual trip to Orange City, Iowa to check out the tulips at the Tulip Festival with th...

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots". Marcus Garvey When I walked out of my college commencement I had accomplished majors in both biology and art. James Green, my art prof, was the one that woke up my interest in art from yea...

"What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time" John Berger My wife and I just came back from visiting relatives in Wisconsin and while there was autumn colors they were not as strong as usual since the area had had a lot of rain prior to our ...

"Little things seem nothing, but they give peace, like those meadow flowers which individually seem odorless but all together perfume the air." Georges Bernanos With a successful "art in the park" behind me I now look forward to my exhibition at the Pearson Lakes Art Center on August 15. The...

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." George Eliot Just back from a two week "bucket list" trip to Maine and other parts northeast. The autumn color was about perfect, especially considering that we'v...

"There's a quality of life in Maine which is this singular and unique. I think. It's absolutely a world onto itself." Jamie Wyeth This past autumn my wife and I decided to finally check off a item on our bucket list by traveling to the state of Maine....as well as New Hampshire and Vermont. ...

"Lost-yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever. Horace Mann When the sky is right in Arizona the colors are blazing finishes on a day of hiking and photography. On this particular ...

"There is a vast difference between taking a picture and making a photograph." Robert Heinecken The last time I had a critique session with Tony Sweet (tonysweet.com) was several years ago and the thing he pounded into my head was cropping images down to their heart and soul. I wasn't an avid c...

"Trees go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!" John Muir Trees have had my attention for many, many years. From my work with the U.S. Fore...

"Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art." Don Miguel Ruiz There is a state park near my home which I continually return to looking for subjects to photography. When my time is up I go home vowing never to come back as it seems like such a boring effort with l...

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." Albert Camus It's unbelievable that it is autumn already! It seems like just yesterday we were watching the new flowers bursting and having to mow the lawn. The fact is the this is the norm for people of retirement age. It just seems th...

"Autumn's the mellow time." William Allingham A rainy day, leaves are falling and the color is silently disappearing. While it was the prettiest autumn that I have seen since moving to Northwest Iowa in the 80's it feels like such a short visit this year. Last year at this time I was wearing ...

"The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege." Charles Kuralt This past week one of my best friends, Mike Houge, and I made a trip to Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota with all our camera gear and big expectations. we realized that aut...

Our life is an expression of our faith. Daniel Ruf There IS good news for me to write about this morning and it comes as a result of much faith. I will be signing a contract to exhibit in the Walkway space of the Pearson Lakes Art Center, in Okoboji, Iowa. Through the efforts of Danielle Cl...

"Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity." Lucius Annaeus Seneca A couple of weeks ago a really nice fog rolled in to our lakes community and I jumped out of bed and packed my gear into the truck with the idea that I would be doing a bit of photography around the lakes ...

"May your trails be crooked,winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading t the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." Edward Abbey A couple of weeks ago I went to Arizona to help my son move two vehicles to his new job in California. Despite the 700 mile in one day t...

"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature-trees,flowers,grass-grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...We need silence to be able to touch souls." Mother Teresa A quiet place lik...

"A drop of water, if it could write out its own history, would explain the universe to us." Lucy Larcom Winter has finally turned itself off and spring is following close behind, especially in Sabino Canyon near Tucson, Arizona. The fresh greens, in all hues, is giving life along the creek a...

My good friend Mike Houge (mikehouge.typepad.com) headed for Sioux Falls, SD a week ago to do some photography at the Falls Park near the downtown area with high expectations. The falls were mostly frozen, but we did have running water and geese to try our skills on as well as som...

"A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into." Ansel Adams Winter has finally made it to NW Iowa and it came with a bang. First was the super freeze with temps in the minus 20's....that coming after we wondered if the lakes would ever freeze. They did! But before that I was bles...

"To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them." Elliot Erwitt This old house and I have a friendship that started years ago ...

"Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression." Isaac Bashevis Singer Just returned from a trip to the Southwest including stops in Sabino Canyon near Tucson, Zion National Park and Bryce National Park. Along the way my wife and I took ev...