Heron nabs frog - Weak stomachs BEWARE!

 I have been waiting for the day to photograph a heron that often visits our property.  They are so skittish and practically impossible to photograph!  It was windy, rainy and cloudy but it made for some rich Autumn background colors of the scene of the heron as it took its time to catch a frog for lunch! I took these images from inside the studio using a 100-400mm lens.  I was having a hay day photographing this heron that was stalking its prey!  You can imagine my excitement when I looked up from the camera and the heron had caught a frog and was washing it before finally swallowing it.  In the last image below, you can see the lump in the heron's neck as the frog goes down the heron's throat!

Cute Donkey and Horse Closeups

Using a 20mm wide angle lens, I photographed Sally, our donkey, and Reese and Ace, our horses, last Saturday during sunset.  They thought they were getting a treat so they came real close to the camera and allowing me to capture their expressions of curiosity.  The 20mm lens makes for some cute, distorted images and I use it when I want to have some photo fun!  I have included my favorite images from the outdoor session and hope you get a good laugh at their cute expressions!

Savannah House's gorgeous flower garden

When we go to Branson, Missouri, we like to stay at the Savannah House, and for many reasons, one of them being the gorgeous flowers that they have in their flower garden. And this year again they did not disappoint--the flowers were as beautiful as ever!  Here are my favorites from photographing Savannah House's gorgeous flowers!  Enjoy!!!

I love sunflowers!!!

It was so terribly hot last week when I decided to photograph the sunflowers in our pasture.  Before heading out to photograph the sunflowers, I soaked myself with the garden hose and drove the truck out to our shed where the best batch of sunflowers decided to grow this year on our property.  I knew I would be exhausted from the heat and would not want to carry the tripod back to the house afterwards. :)  The last sunflower below was taken in the studio before heading outside to get the rest of the sunflower images.  Hope you enjoy these lovely flowers of Kansas!

Spectacular Waterfall in Junction City, Kansas!!!

Last Wednesday, a photography friend and I trekked to Geary Lake Falls (located south of Junction City) hoping to find water flowing over the dam.  We were not disappointed!  The weather was perfect for photography!  I was glad that I wore my boots as I had to walk through water to take the first five images below.

The waterfall is only active in the spring or after a heavy rain and we were blessed to have a recent rain in the area.

The waterfall spans about 35 feet.

A panoramic of a smaller waterfall a short distance down from the main waterfall.

The image below shows the stream flowing down from the waterfall.

The image below shows the top of the waterfall taken after we climbed back up the hill to the top of the dam.  Talk about getting some exercise!  It was difficult trekking down the woods to the water below as the hill was very steep!

The below image was taken from the northeast area of the lake on top of the dam.  The sky was even more beautiful to the east side of this image.  The redbud trees were past their peak but still added some color to this beautiful scene.  You could hear the waterfall from this location.

We drove to the Geary County State Park and hurried to photograph these geese and ducklings before they swam too far away.  

Below are some cattails that survived the winter at the lake.

The sun was beginning to set as we left the Geary County State Park.

Beautiful tulips in Kansas

Here are my tulip images from my trip with Marjorie.  I have been wanting to go take tulip photos for the last several years but didn't want to go by myself.  I enjoyed sharing this experience with my good friend. We were in tulip heaven!!!  I didn't realize there were so many different colored tulips!  We were privileged to catch most of them at their peak. I've included my favorite tulip images for you to enjoy!