Grasshopper

The grasshopper waited quietly in the tall grass and weeds while I watch and photographed it.  When I attempted to coax it into a “better” pose it decided I was no longer trustworthy and quickly disappeared into the foliage.

Great Blue Heron

Here’s another picture of the great blue heron I spotted in a river near Damascus, VA.  In case you missed the first photo, you can see it here: https://dougcouvillion.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/great-blue-heron-taking-flight. The earlier photo was under exposed to account for the brightness of the river.  In this photo I increased the exposure to capture more detail of the heron and manually compensated for the glare on the river by editing the image later.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Solitary

Hiking through the woods I found this single, orange leaf that had fallen into a sea of brown.  It struck me as quite a standout and a good candidate for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge topic “Solitary”.

Fallen Crape Myrtle Blossom

This fallen crape myrtle blossom serves as a reminder the warm summer weather will soon be a memory.

Black Dragonfly on Fig Tree

Another dragonfly found in my yard.  They really seem to like using this fig tree as a resting place while they hunt.  Apparently dragonflies are territorial.  As I watched them I noticed they would frequently chase each other off and there would rarely be more than one on the tree at a time.

White Admiral and Berries

Walking through a vineyard near Scottsville, VA, I spotted this White Admiral butterfly perched near colorful berries.

Melons at the Farmers Market

A vendor was selling melons at the South of the James Farmers Market in late August.  The bright yellow canary melons place just in front of the dark green watermelons caught my eye.

Dragonfly Profile

Here’s another dragonfly photographed in my backyard.  This dragonfly seemed to rest with its wings pointing slightly forward.  Dragonflies prey on mosquitos and anything that reduces the mosquito population is a friend of mine.  Maybe its because we have so many mosquitos in the summer that so many dragonflies stake claim to our yard.

Evening Frog Encounter

This small frog was hunting insects in my yard one night.  To get the picture I used a handheld flashlight and the on camera flash with my camera mounted on a tripod.  I think it is a leopard frog.  If you believe differently, please let me know.

Cicada Shell

Leaving for work, I noticed the sunlight gleaming through this abandon cicada shell hanging under a fence rail.  I came back a few days later, right around the same time, and got this photo of the backlit shell.  These empty shells disgust my wife but when I was a child we would play with them in the summer.  We had great fun pretending they were aliens, space ships and monsters.  Maybe because of that, they remind me of simpler times and summer fun.