Fall is the perfect time to visit the Tule Elk herds at Point Reyes. This small, protected Elk herd lives in one of the most scenic places on Earth. This herd engages in its rutting season hijinks on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and coastal mountains of Marin County, California to the South.

An ususual violet variety of the Obedient Plant. This picture shows the neutral quality of the out-of-focus image that the Nikkor 60mm f2.8 AF-D Micro creates. This quality makes it useful for both macro photography and portraiture. Not bad for a lens that costs less than $400.

Taken with D100 on Gitzo monopod with Kirk BH-1 ball head.

This is the famous sunken garden planted in a former rock quarry several miles from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

The D100's little on-camera flash made the difference in this shot as the Croc emerged from the water and headed into the bushes on an overcast day.

It pays to get up early. These out-of-this world colors appeared out of nowhere just before dawn. I had time to snap three handheld pictures as the little boat slid across the sound, and the colors faded as fast as they appeared.

I love that purple glow.

I had good luck with this mountain at dawn the previous day. Now this mountain is seen in the extreme distance viewed from Western Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Alpenglow and sense of serenity both supplied by nature, not Photoshop.

Taken with the macro feature on the humble and venerable 28-70 f3.5-4.5 AF (not the AFS).

These blossoms were in the shade, so I added some extra light, color, and image depth from a silver-gold reflector placed in the sun almost directly behind the camera. This added the "outlining" effect on the stems and on parts of the blossoms. The 60mm f2.8 AF-D Micro captured remarkable sharpness in both blossoms (which I placed in the same plane of focus).

By converting the image to LAB color, and then sharpening, every detail in the foliage seems to have been accentuated. This creates an overwhelming impression of sharpness.

Soft light is courtesy of Silver-Gold reflector placed in the sun about 20 feet away from the rose blossom. The background light is from sunlight filtered through a plum tree. The 60mm AF-D Micro provides a very nice perspective for flowers. Longer focal lengths tend to have more limited depth of field, and create more compression or foreshortening of the image.

Serenely surveying scene.

The Paradise variety is one of the world's most elegant bi-color roses. This is a perfect assignment for the Nikkor 60mm f2.8 AF-D Micro lens.

This image was taken handheld at only f5.

Translucent leaves show delicate veins in close-up.

These are the birds that killed black and white photography.

Who says love is blue?

This wild mallard duck dabbled for food in the fresh water tidal marsh and did not pay much attention to me and my monopod as I approached slowly with my Nikkor 300mm f4 AF-D.

The very first blossoms of Spring 2003 emerged on my plum tree while it was raining. When it stopped raining, a droplet-laden blossom opened fully for the camera.

Calceolaria Integrifolia, a small variety of the group of similar flowers collectively called Scotsman's Purse, at Buchart Gardens.

The wide angle lens was able to capture an amazing amount of small detail as the afternoon sun began to fade.

What better place to see digital noise than in the shadows of white blossoms. Add a 640 ISO and trouble strikes. But not after a trip through Neat Image. It took a lot of tweaking of the NI parameters, but this clean and sharp version of the blossoms emerged. Most importantly, the shadow noise has been minimized without significantly compromising overall sharpness and detail.

You guessed it, the big male turkey fanning its tail has a crush on the small coquettish female.

Another rite of Spring among wild turkeys takes its course in the open fields of Woodacre in Marin County California.

These are yellow California poppies on a rocky, granite outcropping in Pt. Reyes's Tule Elk National Preserve. These look a lot like the orange colored variety, but these are two-toned with orange only in the center.

Spring is the time to relax on the beautiful bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Pt. Reyes.

This image shows the golden center and yellow edges of these two-toned California poppies

Standing like sentries, three Tule Elk survey the idyllic surroundings they share with the other 497 elk in the Preserve.

A Sunday outing with my son. Did we have time to get to Africa? Not quite. We only made it as far as the San Francisco Zoo. This tiger emerged from the shadows to pose majestically for the camera.

"For what reason have I this vast range and circuit, some square miles of unfrequented forest, for my privacy, abandoned to me by men?" -- Henry David Thoreau, On Walden Pond, Ch.5.

On Walden Pond's shoreline, not far from Thoreau's cabin site, aspen, alder, and pine rise serenely to meet the forest canopy.

"I could not but notice some of the peculiarities of my visitors. Girls and boys and young women generally seemed glad to be in the woods. They looked in the pond and at the flowers, and improved their time." -- Henry David Thoreau, On Walden Pond, Ch. 6.

Wild Chicory growing in the woods along the water's edge at Walden Pond. Chicory is an Old World plant that was brought to America where it proliferated.

Pushing its way through the loam and composted leaves and pine needles, a hearty mushroom cap finds light and life in the forest. This mushroom is probably a Yellow Fly Agaric (Amanita pantheria), a member of a family of highly toxic mushrooms. We hope that Mr. Thoreau stayed away from these during his sojourn at Walden Pond.

Holiday light show at the Oakland Zoo. The Flamingos ask us to "Think Pink."

Tule Elk blending into their natural surroundings.