Crash

As I was working outside today, this dragonfly came out of a tree and crashed into me. In fact, earlier I had been hit by a wasp as well, so I must have been blending in somehow. This guy fell to the ground for a second and then flew up and over into the garden and I followed him with the camera. He did some fancy wing maneuvering and then flew off. It's one of my favorite dragonfly pictures.

Coming out of the woodwork

When it rains, all kinds of things "come out of the woodwork" as the saying goes. We had a big storm this afternoon and the woodwork here is my fence, which happens to be laying on the ground. There were snails all over it and I snapped this shot of one of them crossing. The textures are interesting here with the wood, the snail and his shell.

Just For Fun

I finally got a little creative in a shot today. I was driving by this playground and the sky was beautiful and I started thinking how great the bright playground colors against the blue sky would look. I stopped and got out and played around and I liked this perspective with the spinning into infinity.

Imagination

This photo isn't so much about the butterfly, although I do love butterflies, but it's the scene I thought would be interesting. Everyday things, from a different perspective.

Beautiful

Now that Rhoda has had the stitches removed from her head, I had to get a new picture of her. I prefer outside pictures in general but specifically of her because her blue eye nearly glows in the sunlight and even more now that she's had an "eye lift" done. I couldn't get her to sit still for terribly long so I didn't get to work much with poses and angles but she still is so beautiful.

Happy Boy

Rolf loves playing with his soccer ball but due to the hot weather, we haven't played outside much lately. I took this picture tonight at just the right time, not completely dark and not too hot. He posed for me and I used flash to light him. It was a nice evening outside except for the dozen bug bites I got in a matter of minutes.

Cannonball!

The cry heard across the ... backyard! Today was cannonball day at the pool. William definitely mastered the skill, as you can see. Missy and Wil both joined in but William had to have done dozens of them himself. We had a cookout and pool party today and between the headless duck, beach balls and cannonballs, it was quite the fun afternoon in Michigan, a great way to end our vacation.