Canada goose at Woodward Park, Fresno, California, posing for the camera

Rick was out biking today and passed through part of Woodward Park, by the waterfowl refuge. There was a large flock of Canada geese seemingly expecting to be fed and it gave him an opportunity to get this close-up. The difficult part was capturing an image that only had one goose in it. Geese are something like the cattle of the bird world. Even if they'll take bread from park visitors, they mainly graze on grass. Rick runs to Woodward Park regularly and on one of those times that he was there, he watched several Canada geese swallowing whole acorns from under an oak tree.

The close-up was equivalent to a 1245 mm telephoto lens with 35mm film camera. The lens aperture was fully stopped down (which is f/8 for this paricular camera), ISO 100, and the shutter speed was 1/400.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Hinkey Summit Arch, Humboldt/Toiyabe National Forest, north of Winnemucca, Nevada

 This is a natural arch formed in granite.  It is located in the Santa Rose Range of the Humboldt/Toiyabe National Forest north of Winnemucca, Nevada.  According to the late Robert Vreeland, a geologist who cataloged many of the natural rock spans of the United States, this is a young, cave-type arch.  It has a span of 20 feet, a height of 15 feet, a thickness of 40 feet, and a width of 15 feet.  The top of the arch is over 8000 feet in elevation.

Natural rock spans are a particular interest of ours and we have traveled to many parks and wildlands looking for them.  Although this arch doesn't have an official name, we would like to call it the Hinkey Summit Arch, after the nearest named feature.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Cascade Creek Falls, lower end of Yosemite Valley, below the junction with Tamarack Creek

The waters of Cascade Creek and Tamarack Creek, in Yosemite, meet after flowing down the mountainside then falling over the brink at Cascade Creek Falls before ending up in the Merced River. You can drive into Yosemite Valley, from the Merced direction, and park near the base of these falls and hike over to them. This view, however, is from an area above the Tunnel View and involves hiking down a long slope of granite to a drop-off where you can see these falls from above. A little closer to the edge and you can see the road, as well, but we didn't want to include it in this image. Above the falls are 2 bridges that pass over Cascade Creek and Tamarack Creek. This road leads over to Highway 120, which is the most direct drive westward to San Francisco. Or, you can drive eastward on Highway 120 over the Sierra crest at Tioga Pass to Mono Lake.

This image was taken during the spring of 2004 when the water was running high.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Sticky Geranium with a wasp on the petal

A wasp in a Sticky Geranium (Geranium viscosissimum) blossom in Granite Canyon, Grand Teton National Park.  We photographed this flower with insect while on a 3-day backpacking trip from Teton Village in the southern end of the Teton Range and came out at Jenny Lake around the middle part of the range.

This shot was taken with the macro settings on the camera and fortunately there was no wind to cause blurring.

Remember, it's not just a photograph, it's a story.

Norris Geyser Basin panoramic image

The Norris Geyser Basin area, in Yellowstone National Park, as viewed from a hillside at the southeast side of the basin looking northwestly over geysers and fumaroles. Of the many geyser basins in Yellowstone, Norris is the hottest. This northern part of the Norris Geyser Basin is called Porcelain Basin and the feature below us is Porcelain Springs. The colors in the hot streams come from different species of bacteria that can survive in high temperatures. Living things that can live in high temperatures are called extremophiles, and have been of great interest to biologists.

This image is the result of combining 2 images together and is at a 3:1 ratio. If ordering prints, make sure to keep that ratio in mind.

While we were hiking the trails around the Norris Geyser Basin, a couple of people wanted to have their picture taken with us, just because we're twins. So we accommodated them. Made us feel like celebrities.

It's not just a picture, it's a story!