Nature Gallery

Shoestring Astronomy by Doug Anderson

Besides astrophotography, I like to try and capture nature at its finest from time to time.
baldy.jpg (405 kbytes) Bald Eagle - One of the reasons I chose the Olympus C-700 as my first digital camera was because I wanted to do some nature photography. Less than two weeks after I got the camera, I was out on a cold, crisp December afternoon driving around looking for subject matter. This bald eagle flew over my car, so I followed him for about a mile, where he perched and posed perfectly in a tree. I still wonder if I will ever get an opportunity like this again.
shooting_time.jpg (54 kbytes) Shooting Time - I was out with my best friend Eric and my father-in-law Bob duck hunting on Eagle Lake, Iowa. Fortunately, I had a camera along with me to capture this sunrise. Other than some great fellowship, this picture was about all we got that day. If only those had been real geese...
lightning040611.jpg (32 kbytes) Lightning - Plans to spend a night of astrophotography on June 11, 2004, were scuttled by a thunderstorm. So, I took advantage of the situation to try some lightning photography.
sunrise_031126_1.jpg (411 kbytes) The Morning Commute - More and more, I am becoming a believer that you should carry a camera with you at all times. I see a lot of great sunrises and sunsets on my way to work and back, but don't often stop to enjoy them. This time, I did.
manta1.jpg (142 kbytes) Mouth of the Manta - While scuba diving on a vacation in Costa Rica in March 2004, I managed to get one picture of some of the manta rays we saw. The water was very murky, which of course is why the mantas were there, to feed on the plankton. These were large animals with wingspans of 12 to 15 feet.
whale3.jpg (172 kbytes) Breaching Humpback - Returning to shore after the manta ray dives, we came across a mother and calf humpback whale. The calf was in a playful mood and put on quite a show!
lapaz.jpg (147 kbytes) La Paz Waterfall - Costa Rica is as close to the Garden of Eden as you can find on Earth. This is the La Paz Waterfall which drops about 120 feet in a deep valley completely covered with rain forest.