Skip nav to main content.

Gallery

Be a part of the daily gallery too. Begin each day with a little joy. Receive a beautiful, inspiring photograph delivered right to your email once a day. It’s absolutely FREE.
Signup For Free Daily Pix
Soft sunrise
Click To View This Months Daily PIX
Full Screen

Since 1899

Downtown Chicago fixture
Full Screen

Great Hornet Owlets

These were on a ledge about 40 feet off the ground and the mother owl was close by. These owlets owls are 'born ready' and develop quickly, developing flying and hunting skills by instinct rather than by watching their parents. When they are 42 days old they will give their first attempt to fly. But they will fully learn to fly at the age of 70 to 84 days. In the meantime, they can just afford to move into the branches while keeping away from the predators. I found them a couple days later high on a tree branch so when I took this photo (in Utah) they were 42-84 days old.
Full Screen

Early Morning Duval

Duval Street cuts through Old Town Key West. The Atlantic Ocean is at one end while the Gulf of Mexico is at the other. This rare scene without people can only be experienced about an hour before sunrise..
Full Screen

South Beach Miami

It is beautiful during the day but a whole new color wheel at night.
Full Screen

Neglect in Old Town

Unfortunately Havana is crumbling due to neglect by a poor government which owns all buildings. Outside of Havana the towns are similar or better than most Carribean counties but Havana is truly in tough shape.
Full Screen

Light Painting

Pewaukee Lake WI
Full Screen

FW4

Full Screen

Red White & Blue

Woke early and things looked unusually bright. Walking outside I realized it had snowed, a very rare event where we live. Grabbed the camera and began taking photos knowing it would melt fast. There was 6-10" on the ground but by 11am it had completely disappeared. The white/red/blue was a wonderful combination while it lasted. Here's the park's description per Utah.com: SNOW CANYON STATE PARK - This place would be a national park in any other state. Located in the red-rock country near St George, in southwestern Utah, this park enjoys mild winter weather and seldom receives snow. The park was named after early Utah leaders Lorenzo and Erastus Snow. It offers some 16 miles of hiking trails, technical rock climbing, biking and horseback riding. It features a very nice campground open year-round. People also enjoy nature studies, wildlife viewing and photographic opportunities galore. All of this is set against a stunning backdrop of towering sandstone cliffs colored red and white. A jumbled of black lava rock caps some ridges and tumbles down hillsides.
Full Screen

Ready to rumble

American alligators inhabit most of the southeastern United States. They live in freshwater rivers, lakes, swamps, and marshes. There are an estimated 1.25 million in Florida alone. Alligators can grow up to 800 pounds and 13 feet long on average.
Full Screen

A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words

Full Screen

Thrilling

Color, sound, lines and speed.....
Full Screen

Amusement ride

One of those night amusement ride photos where I leave the shutter open for a moment then wiggle the camera a little and...surprise.
Full Screen

Architectural kaleidoscope

Walking down the strip in Las Vegas parts of 3 buildings converged into an architectural kaleidoscope.
Full Screen

Porches tell stories

While walking around I sometimes find porches that tell a story.
Full Screen

Miss Key West

Built in the 70s this shrimp boat just returned to Key West after being gone for over 50 years. High winds the last few days brought all shrimpers back in to anchor till the seas calmed down. This was parked close by so I took this photo then had to research what I was looking at. Turns out the owners found it in N Carolina and spent the last 3 tears making it seaworthy. Now the crew takes the vessel out for 10-12 days at a time. On average, they’ll catch shrimp for about 20 days out of the month. Over time, Key West lost the infrastructure needed to support shrimping so they manage the process from start to finish. He catches the shrimp then distributes it up and down the Keys with a freezer truck.
Full Screen

Wisconsin 1870

Old World Wisconsin historical buildings are wonderful to photograph with wildflowers and partial cloudy skies.
Full Screen

Las Vegas Neon

Near downtown Las Vegas there is a non-profit organization that has been saving old outdoor signs from destruction. For a donation you can enter their yard and view the signs. Once a month you can make a larger donation and enter after dark for the purpose of taking photographs. About 2/3rds of the signs are lit in some fashion so against a dusky sky they make for some interesting photos.
Full Screen

Memorial Day

The "world's tallest tribute to freedom," is a 400-foot tall flagpole waving an American flag that's 7,200 square feet. The pole is about 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty, its flag is four stories tall and it stands at Acuity insurance company in Sheboygan WI. "The purpose No. 1 was to sincerely thank veterans." The stars measure 3.5 feet. Each stripe is more than 4 feet wide. The pole itself, weighing in at 420,000 pounds, required 500 gallons of paint. The foundation holds about 55 tons of rebar. Three pendulums ensure it can take vibrations while working as dampeners, and it can withstand the severe northern temperatures — prepared to deal with cold as low as -42 degrees. A 220-pound flag flies during normal weather; a 350-pound one for harsh conditions. Old Glory even has her own seamstress. The flag takes "at least a half dozen" people to raise and lower it.
Full Screen

Old Farm Truck

Found this behind some buildings on an old settlers farm. When a 3 legged very ugly mean dog showed up it was time to quickly get back to the car.
Full Screen

Look Up

Standing at the bottom of a slot canyon in AZ about noon. The sun lights up the sandstone but blocks the bright sun making for interesting photos. ISO50 Leica 35mm f/16 8 seconds.
Full Screen

Key West

This shot comprises the Western side of the city including the harbor (owned by the US Navy), old Ft Zachary Taylor in the foreground, and Sunset Key to the top left. Half of the rest of what you see is owned by some branch of the military.
Full Screen

Sandhill Cranes

Parents on the left and offspring on the right. I'd seen them sleeping, eating and preening on this mulch bed for a few days. With the sun brightly reflecting behind them I couldn't get a picture with any detail or color so I tried B&W.
Full Screen

Architecture Row

Chicago architecture is wonderful.
Full Screen

Fly Fishing

Casting in Key West
Full Screen

Smiling for the camera

Walking along the harbor in Key West he must have seen my camera so it surfaced for a photo, not really but it appeared that way. Manatees never leave the water but typically come up for air every 5 minutes. When it is resting, the aquatic mammal can hold its breath for up to 20 minutes. When it is exerting great amounts of energy, it may surface as often as every 30 seconds.
Full Screen

Simple Sea Grass

Walking on the Florida Keys reef at low tide in 4-10 inches of water one...
Full Screen

Air Show Stunt Pilot

Performing at Boca Chica Naval Air Station
Full Screen

Vintage cars visit Tuacahn

At the Tuacahn amphitheater in Ivins UT about 100 antique car showed up on one of the stops during a 500+ mile round trip drive from California. The cars were 80 to 120 years old and some had their original paint and interiors.
Full Screen

Art District

Between the Strip and Fremont Street areas in Las Vegas there is what's called the Art District. Formerly (and currently) a run down area of old buildings the city has been improving infrastructure and trying to renew the 30 some block area. It now has a scattering of restaurants, galleries, auto repair shops, vacant stores etc. I assume it will someday thrive as the Strip & Fremont Street areas converge but now it's an area that to my eye is struggling. Some old walls, alleys and vacant store fronts are covered in beautiful graffiti which is fun to photograph.
Full Screen

Water Lily

Boerner Botanical Gardens in Milwaukee. This lily is a Nymphaea.
Full Screen

1902 wood burning steam tractor

Full Screen

Chicago

A must do in Chicago is the architecture tour by boat where you hear the stories about 50 buildings along the Chicago River. Hear how Chicago grew from a small settlement into one of the world's largest cities in less than 100 years.
Full Screen

Busy Bee

My mother in Wisconsin has quite the elaborate perennial garden. Every summer I really enjoy taking photos of the color, structure and sometimes the wildlife.
Full Screen

Modena Nevada

J.B. Lund hotel. Founded in 1898 when the railroad first came through the area, water at the nearby Desert Springs made the site an obvious choice for a railroad depot where steam engines could refill their water tanks. In the early 1900s merchants from as far away a Mesquite and St. George would head to Modena to pick up goods shipped by rail. With the invention of diesel engines that no longer needed to stop for water, however, the depot in Modena was rendered obsolete. The railroad company began to allow workers to live in nearby Enterprise, and slowly the town's population dwindled.
Full Screen

School Bus

Found on an old farm in Utah.
Full Screen

I Wonder

Had a camera in hand when I came upon this local gentleman that I've seen many times before. Normally he elicits a quick glance and I move on. Though I felt I was somehow violating his space, I paused, took this photo and moved on. Now, frozen in time I'm able to actually look at him and I wonder.
Full Screen

Just in case

Just in case the wall was not an adequate suggestion.
Full Screen

They were very very good.

Playing in from of the Chicago Art Museum.
Full Screen

1929 Travel Air over Oshkosh WI

Taking off from Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh WI we flew around the countryside in this old biplane enjoying the scenery. I was using a small camera that to take a photo and I had to hold it up above the windshield, point into the wind a push the shutter button without knowing what would be in the photo. Got lucky on a few but most were just blurs as the camera and I just bounced around amongst the clouds.
Full Screen

Night Air Show

The EAA show runs 10 days each summer in WI. On two evenings they have a special show after dark. It is hard see the planes but the engine heat, LED lighting and firework launchers you can see where they've been. Here the plane entered from the right then performed a loop and exited back to the right launching fireworks. For this photo I left the camera shutter open for 46 seconds.
Full Screen

L1001434_Optimizer

The Daniel Hoan Bridge is a tied-arch bridge that connects Interstate 794 in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to the Lake Freeway across the Milwaukee River inlet. Originally called the Harbor Bridge, it was renamed after Daniel Hoan (Socialist Party), one of the longest serving mayors of Milwaukee.
Full Screen

Just fishing with dad

Mallory Square dock in Key West
Full Screen

Refueling

Full Screen

Saturday Fireworks

Some of my favorite photography. I am always very surprised with what the camera sees. In this case I left the shutter open for 2 seconds.
Full Screen

Nothing Special

Just a picture
Full Screen

Pioche Nevada

The Mountain View Hotel in Pioche NV had three stories and 18 rooms. Three hot meals were provided daily. It also housed many juries who had come from many miles around the county to attend trials at the courthouse. This hotel was built in 1895 by the Ely Valley Mines to house their guests, including (U.S. president) Herbert Hoover, a former mining engineer before his days in politics, had mine holdings in Pioche. Many U.S. Senators and Nevada governors, and many other notables. The food, the wines, the accommodations and unmatched service was renowned throughout the old west.”
Full Screen

The Long and winding road

Gold Butte National Monument is a wild geological wonder to explore. Numerous mining sites, rock art panels and outstanding colors, plants and quiet. A capable vehicle is highly recommended due to very rough roads. I carry a tire inflator when I'm in places like this so I can deflate my tires to about 1/2 normal pressure then re-inflate them when I get back on hard surface roads.
Full Screen

Grafton, Utah

Grafton is a ghost town, just south of Zion National Park in Utah. Said to be the most photographed ghost town in the West, it has been featured as a location in several films, including 1929's In Old Arizona—the first talkie filmed outdoors—and the classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The site was first settled in December 1859 as part of a southern Utah cotton-growing project ordered by Brigham Young. The town grew quickly in its first few years. There were some 28 families by 1864. In 1866, when the outbreak of the Black Hawk War caused widespread fear of Indian attacks, the town was completely evacuated. (you can see stars because the photo was taken around midnight under a full moon which required a very long shutter speed making the stars visible)
Full Screen

North Rim

Grand Canyon National Park Utah
Full Screen

Snow Canyon Utah

Snow Canyon State Park is a state park in Utah, located in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. The park features a canyon carved from the red and white Navajo sandstone of the Red Mountains, as well as the extinct Santa Clara Volcano, lava tubes, lava flows, and sand dunes. Snow Canyon is located near the cities of Ivins and St. George in Washington County.Wikipedia I took this photo after a very rare snowfall. This part of Utah may never see snow all winter but this morning saw a 10" depth in the park which was completely gone by noon that day.
Full Screen

Warm Sunday

One of many wonderful Chicago features
Full Screen

Nicely aged

I think repainting this wall would make it less attractive but that's the opinion of a guy with a camera that looks for images like this.
Full Screen

FW7

Full Screen

Have a seat

These stacked chairs, for some reason, looked photo worthy.
Full Screen

Leading Lines

Called South Street Pier, I noticed the different lines projecting into the soft seas and unruly sky.
Full Screen

Barn Stuff

All I can say about this on is that it would make an interesting jigsaw puzzle.
Full Screen

Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border. It has a diverse environment of salt-flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons and mountains. Death Valley is the largest national park in the contiguous United States, as well as the hottest, driest and lowest of all the national parks in the United States. It contains Badwater Basin, the second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level.
Full Screen

The Bean

The structure is made up of 168 stainless steel plates that are welded together. The polished exterior has no visible seams, making it completely smooth. The inside is largely made up of a solid wooden structure. It measures 33 x 66 x 42 feet, weighing in at 110 short tons. So, it’s pretty big. When in Chicago I have no problem taking lots of photos.
Full Screen

Festive Face Painting

Fantasy Fest primed
Full Screen

Enterprise

One very cold morning we drove over the mountains you see in the distance. Here in Enterprise NV it's flat endless hay fields. This sunrise was beautiful, lighting up ground fog/haze and the vegetation picked up the sky color as it was frost white. My fingers froze working the camera quickly to capture this.
Full Screen

Last Supper

Outside the abandoned mining town of Rhyolite Nevada someone erected this sculpture and one other strange "artwork". Nothing much else there except bad buildings, car shell and a bad totem pole.
Full Screen

More Faces

Popped into a Fantasy Fest painting shop and found a couple getting ready for a Key West Duval stroll. They were more than happy to let me take their picture.
Full Screen

Scenic Highway 89

On the road up to Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon from Cedar City UT
Full Screen

Bean II

The structure is made up of 168 stainless steel plates that are welded together. The polished exterior has no visible seams, making it completely smooth. The inside is largely made up of a solid wooden structure. It measures 33 x 66 x 42 feet, weighing in at 110 short tons. So, it’s pretty big. When in Chicago I have no problem taking lots of photos. If you see a little guy way off to the right with a camera & tripod, it bean me.
Full Screen

Chicago River Sunday

Quiet Sunday
Full Screen

B-25 Mitchell

EAA Oshkosh
Full Screen

Long Forgotten

Resting in a forest in Georgia
Full Screen

Rudbeckia

If this is correct it's also called a Black-eyed Susan. I took the photo in Wisconsin.
Full Screen

Havana Harbor

Havana has a well protected harbor. To the right is an old fort and I’m...
Full Screen

More Bean

The structure is made up of 168 stainless steel plates that are welded together. The polished exterior has no visible seams, making it completely smooth. The inside is largely made up of a solid wooden structure. It measures 33 x 66 x 42 feet, weighing in at 110 short tons. So, it’s pretty big. When in Chicago I have no problem taking lots of photos. If you see a little guy in the middle with a camera & tripod, it bean me.
Full Screen

Forest Light

Full Screen

Chicago Skyline

Full Screen

Bryce Canyon Panorama

Using an extremely wide lens (11mm) I still can't get it all in a photo.
Full Screen

Conch Republic

When you deplane in Key West this is what you see when you walk towards the terminal.
Full Screen

Kaboom Boom

I really enjoy taking photos of fireworks. The camera often sees what the eye cannot.
Full Screen

Angry Skies

My usual serene sunrise setting is upset about something.
Full Screen

Alley Walking

Between the Las Vegas Strip and the downtown area (Fremont Street) there's an area that is....neither of those. Graffiti artists have taken over the alleys so it is fun to walk around with a camera.
Full Screen

Key West

Land of wonderful sunsets.
Full Screen

Chicago Skyline

Full Screen

Death Valley National Park Crater

Ubehebe Crater is a large volcanic crater 600 feet deep and half a mile across.
Full Screen

Melting Sun

Full Screen

Wing Walker

This show was at the Naval Air Station in Key West. Here the wing walker was flying over a parked Blue Angel F-18 Super Hornet
Full Screen

Rolling Lake Fog

Wisconsin
Full Screen

Chicago Skyline

Full Screen

The Scrambler

The Scrambler is an amusement ride in which suspended riders spinning in cars experience centrifugal force, while spinning along two separate axes. Riders are seated in small carriages clustered together and connected by beams at the top to a central point. The clustered vehicles are spun in one direction, while the ride as a whole spins in the opposite direction. Wikipedia I took this at the Wisconsin State Fair by leaving the shutter open for a few seconds.
Full Screen

Ride Art

Wisconsin State Fair Midway ride. I left the shutter open for 2 seconds while it spun.
Full Screen

Death Valley California

Nations largest National Park. Well worth the visit except in mid summer.
Full Screen

Basic Kitchen

She was feeding the Cuban workers at a sugar cane factory that was closed.
Full Screen

Road to Canyonlands

Outside of Moab UT is Canyonlands National Park. This 340,000 acre park preserves a colorful landscape eroded into numerous canyons, mesas, and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green River, and their respective tributaries. (Wikipedia) While driving through wide vistas I will sometimes shoot with a camera close to the pavement which can make for an interesting photo.
Full Screen

Bubble Art

A guy in the park in Key West was making huge 5' bubbles with a rope dipped in dishwashing soap. Had my camera so I was fortunate to get about 7-8 beautiful photos with the sun off to my left lighting up all the colors in from of me.
Full Screen

Chicago Skyline

Full Screen

Extreme face art

Went streetwalking yesterday looking for more creative Fantasy Fest face painting and came upon this guy. It is a combination of paint, hair, contacts and skin prosthetics all combined in a great mix of colors.
Full Screen

Zabriskie Point

Zabriskie Point is an elevated overlook of a colorful, undulating landscape of gullies and mud hills at the edge of the Black Mountains, just a few miles east of Death Valley - from the viewpoint, the flat salt plains on the valley floor are visible in the distance.
Full Screen

White Pocket National Monument

Very remote Utah location
Full Screen

The Blues

In April 2016 the Blue Angels performed in Key West at the Boca Chica Naval Air Station for Armed Forces Day. They are one of the best things to photograph because they fly with such precision, so fast and so very close to the ground.
Full Screen

Las Vegas Signs

Near downtown Las Vegas there is a non-profit organization that has been saving old outdoor signs from destruction. For a donation you can enter their yard and view the signs. Once a month you can make a larger donation and enter after dark for the purpose of taking photographs. About 2/3rds of the signs are lit in some fashion so against a dusky sky they make for some interesting photos.
Full Screen

Union Pacific

In Nevada with no sign of any railroad tracks.
Full Screen

Chicago Skyline

Full Screen

Fort Ord California

The base was named in honor of Union Army Maj. Gen. Edward Otho Cresap Ord. Initially, horse cavalry units trained at the camp, though eventually, mobile combat units such as tanks, armored personnel carriers, and movable artillery joined the base. Before its closure in 1994, it stood as a fascinating army base. It is located on the Monterey Bay of California’s Pacific coast, and after its abandonment, some of the land was converted into the Fort Ord National Monument. This monument is handled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Landscape Conservation System. Although it is beautifully situated, the base has a dark history of environmental destruction. It is now one of the most toxic places in America. Its grounds were the site of 100 square kilometers of petroleum leakages, dump sites, landfills, and a large number of unexploded mines. During its peak, the base held some 50,000 soldiers, some serving in the Korean War and some in the Vietnam war.
Full Screen

Abandoned school/hospital

St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children (formerly known as "St. Coletta Institute for Backward Youth"). Pretty interesting history if you want to look it up.