Sunrise On Snowball Hill

By Jim | Published June 19, 2017

(After a short hiatus last week, I’m now back at the computer. It was a stressful week as my air conditioner went totally out on Tuesday evening and had to be replaced. Replacement occurred Friday afternoon, after a week of hot and humid weather, with comfort index reaching as high as 105F! And to top […]

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Fun Friday: How Bees Make Honey

By Jim | Published May 19, 2017

Yesterday morning, I decided to go check out Snowball Hill Prairie, a wonderful prairie remnant near my rural Missouri home. This past winter, the Missouri Prairie Foundation (MPF) did a controlled burn on the remaining half of the prairie (the first half was burned in the winter of 2016) and I wanted to see what […]

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Faves of 3Q 2016

By Jim | Published January 6, 2017

Third Quarter 2016 was photographically slow starting out. My wife had just passed and I was busy taking care of her estate. And at that time, my desire to get out and photograph was at a new, all-time low. But after a lot of soul searching, I knew I had to return to what was […]

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A Little Rough Around the Edges

By Jim | Published October 26, 2016

Today’s post comes from one of my fall trips to Snowball Hill Prairie in rural Cass County, Missouri. At the top of the hill, a few Rough Blazing Star (Liatris aspera) wildflowers were growing when I visited. Here are a few of my favorite images: And a single Rough Blazing Star composed itself in the […]

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Fall on the Prairie

By Jim | Published October 24, 2016

On a recent photo trip to Snowball Hill Prairie, I found the Slender Bush Clover (Lespedeza virginica) showing off their rendition of fall colors. Growing 3 to 4 feet tall, the flowers are favorites among some of the prairie birds at Snowball Hill. It seems that every time I venture near these bushy plants, scores […]

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Prairie Featherweight

By Jim | Published October 19, 2016

Another image captured on Snowball Hill Prairie a week ago. I’m always fascinated finding something like this, wondering who it belonged to, how it arrived at it’s location, and how it looks so peaceful: Photographic Equipment Used: Canon 5D Mark 3 body Canon 180mm, f/3.5 macro lens Bogen 3221 tripod with Ballhead ISO 800 Aperture […]

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Wonderful Blues on the Prairie

By Jim | Published October 5, 2016

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been photographing some new prairie wildflowers for me … the Downy Gentian. These wildflowers are a very deep blue and very mesmerizing. And in some conditions, the flowers look nearly purple. All the Gentians I’ve been finding are quite small, ranging from about 8-inches to 16-inches tall, and […]

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Royalty on the Prairie

By Jim | Published September 30, 2016

A couple of mornings ago, I spent about 4 hours on Snowball Hill Prairie, photographing the last of this year’s wildflowers. Transitioning into fall, the last of the wildflowers are now in bloom, while lots of wildflowers are already setting seeds for next year’s color. Arriving before sunrise, there was not much happening except for […]

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Ladies’ Tresses

By Jim | Published September 28, 2016

I hiked around Snowball Hill Prairie yesterday morning and found quite a few neat things. In today’s post, I’m featuring a focus-stacked image (combining 9 individual images) of a Ladies’ Tresses wildflower (Spiranthes cernua), a member of the Orchid family. I actually saw 14 of these small beauties (they grow to about 14″ to 18″ […]

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Confused: Night or Day?

By Jim | Published September 22, 2016

After shooting the awesome sunrise I featured in yesterday’s post (“What A Way To Wake Up!”), I hiked around the prairie and photographed other wildflowers and insects. When I came to a large patch of Helianthus sunflowers, I looked up and saw the moon peaking over the wonderful cluster of sunflowers. It was a bit […]

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