cleverness

Life is a mosaic of pleasure and pain - grief is an interval between two moments of joy. Peace is the interlude between two wars. You have no rose without a thorn; the diligent picker will avoid the pricks and gather the flower. There is no bee without the sting; cleverness consists in gathering the honey nevertheless.
--Sri Sathya Sai Baba (1926-2011) Indian Spiritual leader.

rest

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.
--John Lubbock (1834-1913) English Biologist and Politician.

courtship

The green grass and the happy skies court the fluttering butterflies.
--Astrid Alauda

patience grasshopper

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

destiny

As long as we are persistent in our pursuit of our deepest destiny, we will continue to grow. We cannot choose the day or time when we will fully bloom. It happens in its own time.
--Denis Waitley (b.1933) author and motivational speaker

full of surprises

If photography is about anything it is the deep surprise of living in the ordinary world. By virtue of walking through the fields and streets of this planet, focusing on the small and the unexpected, conferring attention on the helter-skelter juxtapositions of time and space, the photographer reminds us that the actual world is full of surprise, which is precisely that most people, imprisoned in habit and devoted to the familiar, tend to forget.
--John Rosenthal, writer/photographer

busy bee

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
--John Lennon (1940-1980) English Singer, Songwriter.

beauty everywhere

To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature.
--Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) French sculptor

be who you are

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
--Dr. Seuss (1904-1991) American Writer and Cartoonist

Some Recommendations on Buying your First DSLR

Dragonfly, taken at Warrior's Path State Park, Kingsport, TN
Details: Nikon D90 w/ Tamron 90mm macro lens, f/5.0, 1/400, ISO 500

I often get asked by students and blog readers for camera recommendations - especially for those just starting out. But because cameras and the technology change so fast (and because I don't have the funds to try every newly-introduced piece of equipment first-hand), advice is hard to give.  Thankfully, there are lots of resources out there -- I always recommend two things: 1) do your homework (www.dpreview.com is my favorite source); and 2) buy from reputable dealers (www.bhphotovideo.com or www.adorama.com).  If a deal sounds too good to be true, it is.  Here are detailed reviews for the two most recent Nikon and Canon offerings that are intended for beginner/enthusiast DSLR camera owner:

• http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos600d/  
• http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond5100/

Both are about $850, and include the standard 18-55mm kit lens. Here are two helpful side-by-side comparisons of these very similar cameras...

• http://www.digitalreview.ca/content/Canon-Rebel-T3i-EOS-600D-Compared-to-Nikon-D5100.shtml
• http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon_EOS_Rebel_T3i_600D_vs_Nikon_D5100_comparison/  (includes videos)

I don't think you could go wrong with either camera - there are strengths and weaknesses to each. I tend to lean towards the Nikon, and the reviews seem to agree with that. But it's very close - both are excellent cameras for those buying their first DSLR camera.  For me, I'd really like to get the new Nikon d7000, but just can't justify spending the money right now!

Eventually, to have a full camera setup that will give you versatility to shoot landscapes, portraits, and macros, you'll probably want/need the following...
1. Either camera body
2. 18-200mm lens w/ circular polarizer
3. Macro lens
4. Portrait lens - 50mm f/1.8
4. Dedicated flash
5. Extra battery & SD card
6. Camera bag
7. Tripod

It gets pricey real quick. The good thing is that you don't have to get everything right away.  But know that you're really buying into a system of lenses.  Camera bodies don't last forever, they eventually wear out in 3 to 5 years and plus, the technology changes rapidly.  But the lenses can last for decades if you treat them well - so it makes sense to always buy the best quality lenses you can afford.

My final point is to not get hung up on megapixels. The megapixel war was begun as an easy marketing tool to win over consumers who thought (logically) that more megapixels always meant better images. But that's not the case. The 6MP Nikon D40 takes far superior images to any 16MP compact point and shoot camera on the market today.  That's because more important than the number of megapixels is the size of the sensor, the quality of the pixels, the quality of the processor, and the quality of the lens used. For the average consumer who wants to occasionally print out a high resolution 8x10 or 11x14 print, an 8-10 megapixel camera is all they'll ever need.

Hope this helps someone out there!

our task

Our task must be to...embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.
--Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-born American Physicist

no uninteresting things

There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people. 
—G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) English writer

Sorry if this one grosses you out (think of this as a pre-Halloween post), but when I saw it I had to run and get my macro lens. This has to be one of the strangest things in nature I've ever seen. This bizarre insect is simply known as a wheel bug - named for the round and spiny armor on its back. Fairly large (1.5 inches long) and slow moving, the wheel bug is capable of clumsy, noisy flight -- and is actually considered beneficial to have around, as they feed on nuisance pests.  When it encounters its prey, it uses its beak like a harpoon to attack and inject enzymes which paralyzes its victim. They shouldn't be carelessly handled, as a bite from one of these is said to be painful. Click photo to enlarge if you're interested.

simple pleasures

I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls off a string.
--author unknown

Above: Beads of water on a spider's web after the rain.

abundant living

You've gotta' dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.
(And speak from the heart to be heard.)

--William W. Purkey (b.1929) author and professor

Been workin' on the ole blog and once again changed the look of it. What prompted this was the discovery I could add tabs. After 3 1/2 years of blogging, and over 1,000 posts, it's started to get a bit cluttered around here. So hopefully the tabs will be a way for me to tidy things up and help you find what you're looking for.  I like that I can put my own photos in the background -- or use one of the dozens that Blogger provides (like what you see there now). This will probably be a work in progress for a while -- so bear with me.  Hope you like it!

I've got room for more tabs -- any suggestions? :)

the wonder of it all

I often think of that rare fulfilling joy when I am in the presence of some wonderful alignment of events. Where the light, the colour, the shapes and the balance all interlock so beautifully that I feel truly overwhelmed by the wonder of it.
--Charlie Waite (b.1949) landscape photographer

unimaginable wonder

That's the whole problem with science. You've got a bunch of empiricists trying to describe things of unimaginable wonder.
--Bill Watterson (b.1958) American Cartoonist and Author of the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes

vividly alive

For man, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive.
--David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1939) English author

luna moth

As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man.
--St. John Chrysostom (347-407) Archbishop of Constantinople

The spectacular luna moth is said to be fairly common, but seldom seen. These beautiful and distinctive moths fly only at night in late spring and early summer, with their huge, green wings (3-4.5 inch spread). Male and female luna moths are nearly identical, with the males having larger, bushier antennae. Once they reach adulthood, they never eat -- they have no mouths! They live only a week, with their sole purpose to find a mate.

lost and found

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
--Thomas Merton (1915-1968) Author and Monk

reverence

In every true searcher of nature there is a kind of religious reverence, for he finds it impossible to imagine that he is the first to have thought out the exceedingly delicate threads that connect his perceptions.
--Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-born American Physicist