Images of the Week

Green Heron Stalking Prey

Wed, 15 May 2013 03:35 +0000

Concentrating so intently that it seemed either clueless or careless about my presence, this green heron awaited meals of minnows that wandered too close to its surprisingly long reach. Later spotting one, its head stabbed forward from a spring-like long neck, held compact and tight in this pose.

Adobe Walls of Bent's Fort

Sat, 11 May 2013 14:24 +0000

One of the seldom-visited treasures of the Great Plains is Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site is southeastern Colorado. The grounds are best when strolled slowly, absorbing the big sky and scents of riparian wetlands outside, and the rounded corners of Southwestern adobe architecture within.

Spiral Storm Sparking in the Twilight

Fri, 03 May 2013 11:40 +0000

Though done with its tornado production, this tilted spiral column of power and grandeur still wasn't finished flinging electricity into the evening sky.

Illuminating the Abandoned Within

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:55 +0000

Inside an abandoned farmhouse, shafts of sunshine arrive through holes in the roof, casting hard contrasts of light and dark inside places unintended for such viewing by the original homesteader. This place probably hasn't been inhabited since at least the mid-1900s, based on the age of the appliances and a 1920s-era children's reader found (and left) by the threshold.

Raindrops on Glass

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:51 +0000

Elegant in its simplicity, a pattern of rain on clean glass becomes more complex and fascinating with time spent in the scene. In our quest for originality, we overlook the "ordinary" as a means to that end. After all, have you seen this exact pattern before? I thought not. Sometimes the most common phenomena in the most ordinary places are the least noticed or appreciated. Besides, here in Oklahoma, every drop of rain should be appreciated!

On an Iowa Farm

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 22:06 +0000

On a moist, late-spring afternoon, an old barn resides among the rolling and corn-carpeted hills of southwestern Iowa.

Violent Wedge with Satellite Tornado

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:12 +0000

Atmospheric violence menaces the central Oklahoma landscape as a massive EF5-rated tornado churns along, its primal rumble both audible in air and felt underfoot. For good measure, a small, separate satellite tornado buzzes around the main vortex, torrents of rain wrapping around it all. It's that season again in these parts, a timely reminder to review your tornado safety plan.

Pacific Spotlight

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 14:24 +0000

From a soul-soothing as well as visual-appeal perspective, one of my favorite effects is spotlighting of the ocean through breaks in the cloud cover. Being a landlubber by residence, the opportunity to witness and photograph a beautiful example didn't come until one afternoon on the Olympic Peninsula coastline in 2011. One ideally should be elevated some tens of feet above the water to get a suitable depth perspective, as I was here on a short hike through the coastal forest.

Highlands of Green and Gold

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:52 +0000

Alternating bands of aspens and conifers share a solar spotlight in the San Juan Mountains.

Comet Pan-STARRS, Okie Smoke and a Crescent Moon

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 05:39 +0000

In late twilight sky, the faint Pan-STARRS comet lines up near a very newly waxing crescent moon, the shaded side nicely bathed in earthshine, all behind assorted layers of smoke from several fires burning across portions of Oklahoma. The comet was unusual enough--the combination of all these elements was downright strange.