I neglected my blog for a few days, and I figured everyone was tired of looking at my mug on the opening page of the site. So, in an effort to rectify any visual damage I’ve caused you, I thought I would throw Earl up on display!

In fact, Earl was one of my first entrances into the state magazine market. My first publication in Texas Highways magazine was of Wyman Meinzer scratching Earl after we were done photographing him for the morning. We actually photographed this particular Mexican Ground Squirrel for quite some time, each morning watching him gather food in his cheeks and make a dart back to his hole in the dry, late-winter ground in the Texas Rolling Plains. We spent so much time with him (Wyman much more), that we came to see those mannerisms in him that some humans have, such as the one above, standing at attention, inquisitive of the situation before him (two long-haired, mustached and bearded men pointing lenses at him). I’m sure by the time we were done with him, Earl’s head was so big, it could barely contain his ego, eh?!

I thought about this encounter with Earl today and what it led to as I watched a feature on a morning show in Houston, Great Day, regarding the Fall 2010 issue of Texas Highways. One of my images of Palo Duro Canyon is the first image featured on the broadcast. I don’t regularly publish with them, but it’s nice to see how well put together that publication is, and along with Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine and Texas Monthly, the state is well-served as a travel destination for those within and outside its borders.

I mentioned in a post last week, that when hiking, you shouldn’t pass up the little things that often get passed by on your way to “the shot.” I’m not sure what it was about this group of leaves that stuck out to me, probably the blue sky reflection in the water and the multiple variations in color of the leaves themselves, but I couldn’t walk away from it. If you find yourself in that situation, just take the shot. Don’t fight worrying about it, whether you should take it or not. If anything, you come up with a nice study shot, like this one. There’s something pleasing about the above image, and it’s certainly not the composition. But it’s there. Somewhere.

For all of you that feel that staring at your computer feels like you are staring at a wall of tools, and you don’t know what you need to fix the problem, here you go! This is my first free desktop wallpaper, and all you have to do is drag the image on to your computer or right click to save it. The dimensions are 1440X960, so it should fit a good deal of the 15″ laptops out there!

Often times, photographers get wound up in all of the gear that’s available to them (I’ll admin, I’m one of them, and if you say you’re not, you’re partly not telling the truth), that they forget exactly what they do. Sure, some lenses are made quite a bit better than others, such as the screwdrivers on the bottom shelf, but remember, what’s more important is what the different types of lenses do, not necessarily which one’s better!

More to come…

The Llano River approximately 15 miles east of Junction, Texas. This is one of the finest spots on the river, and each Spring, Wyman Meinzer and I take a class of student photographers to visit and shoot the location! It’s always nice when it fogs up! (Canon 5D MkII, 24-105mm f/4 L)