Cool Story, Bro

Full Poem: https://medium.com/@wdibble/cool-story-bro-840bb3690a31 Image Description: A photograph of two bighorn sheep. One is in the foreground, staring at the camera. He has two small horns and a white snout. The other is behind him, staring off camera to the right. There are green bushes in the background.

Stranger at the Fence

Full Poem: https://medium.com/@wdibble/stranger-at-the-fence-983a43701634 Image Description: A black and white portrait of a highland cow, with the head slightly to the left of the center of the photo. It has two curved horns, and one has tufts of hair at the end of it. The cow is covered in shaggy fur and is looking directly at the camera. There is a tag near its right ear, where the number 26 is visible. The background is blurry grass.

Alphabet Soup

For full poem: https://medium.com/@wdibble/alphabet-soup-7f36e99d698e Image Description: A line of land is visible at the very bottom of the image. The foreground in the left half of photo is dominated by a stylized wind turbine. It appears as a large slender tower with a full circle of turbine blades around the top, forming a nearly complete circle. Fourteen identical wind turbines dot the horizon in the distance behind it, interspersed along the land at the bottom of the photograph. Just to the right of the main turbine are a pair of small birds. The entire foreground is silhouetted. The sky is filled with purple storm clouds that fade to reddish-orange at the horizon. The clouds are blurred with motion across the sky.

When They Saw Us, They Were Unafraid

Please Stay And Talk With Me

White-barred Emperor 01

Malachite 01

Paper Kite 01

Tailed Jay 01

Common Lacewing 01

The Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, Colorado, has a fantastic selection of insects and even ocean creatures to view. The highlight of any trip to that location, however, is the butterfly house. If you ever visit, be sure to bring a macro lens with you! I've personally found that phone cameras work really well if you don't have any macro lenses!

Ether

H.P. Lovecraft's works postulated that creatures beyond our imagination lived in the vast ether beyond our world. They possessed powers and appearances beyond our comprehension that could drive a person mad. He may not have been wrong.

Chipmunk on Rock

Taken near Sprague Lake. Many chipmunks in the park are not shy- in fact, they will wait nearby as if expecting food. Feeding the animals is forbidden, however.

Mudface

Mudcrabs are a common bait for people fishing off the NC coasts for Sheepshead. However, they are also feisty little guys. They have to be caught by hand for use, and are very strong with sharp claws. It certainly doesn't help that they like hiding under sharp rocks to keep away from predators.

Rhinocerous Viper 01

Lachesis Muta 01

Mangshan Pitviper 01

Eyelash Viper 01

Eastern Green Mamba 01

Broadheaded Skink

This little guy was such an excellent model, tolerating my massive 100mm f/2.8 macro lens right up in his cute little face. Thank you, little man, for being a good sport.

Redhead

Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn

I can't help but think of one of my favorite bands when I see this picture. Mono, a post-rock band from Japan, has a song "Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn". I can't really call it lyrically inspired, though, as the song has no lyrics. Either way, I love this silhouette against the sunrise.

And We Flew Like Silhouettes for Days Past

I frequently relax by listening to post-rock bands. This has a few effects if I do so while working on photography. Photographs worked on tend to take on a more abstract look, and the titles tend to be... Longer. Many bands in post rock have sentence-length song titles. Anyway, I relaly felt like one was fitting for this photograph. Despite being clearly a nature photograph of birds, it has a very distinct appeal.

Honeybee on Purple

I had never tried using my 75-300mm lens for macro work until last year. I've owned one since 2008 or so, but only tried using it for far-off subjects. Last summer, I began trying it out for macro work. It's not the best, but it gives me something to work with. I also managed to obtain a 60mm f/2.8 macro, and this is one of my earliest captures on it. At the time, I had a less than complete knowledge of apertures and depth of field. I've learned a lot since then. However, I feel like this shot really came out as a quality composition. The bokeh was excellent. The sharpness of the honeybee and the foreground flower. I am totally satisfied with this. I was not so satisfied with my hands and knees, though. This flower was just off a path paved with some kind of glued-together pebbles, and it hurts to sit in it.

In Sunlit Waters

This is one of my favorite pictures I've taken. I would like to retake it with newer gear and more knowledge, but despite the limitations, I feel it came out nicely. I took this, along with around 40 failed versions of it, at Ripley's Aquarium in South Carolina. Between all of the attempted exposures, this is the only one that actually came out like I wanted it to. A customer once bought one in 20"x30". I admit some jealousy, as I've never seen it printed above 10"x15". Awards and Recognition: Wake Med Reflections Gallery - July 2014 through October 2014 roguemark Gallery October 2014