Health Care Fine Art

Missouri Native Plant Society - Fall Field Trip at the PGT

Missouri Native Plant Society arrives and starts the walk in the rain

Three-and-a-half hours later - the sun came out.

Today the Missouri Native Plant Society came out to our property (the Prairie Garden Trust) for their Fall Field Trip. Over 50 people showed up despite the drizzly weather. Those who attended are some of Missouri's best botanists. They contributed to the inventory of the plants found on the property; over 350 species so far.

As I hiked with them they were seeing all kinds of plants that I walk past every day and never noticed, reinforcing my belief that "what you see is what you know." As I learn more about the native plants here I can see more and photograph more. I try to identify every plant I photograph, naming the image by it's genus and species. For example if I photograph a Purple Coneflower, I will title it Echinacea purpurea.

I firmly believe that the best way to be a better nature photographer is to be a better naturalist. To read a previous blog post on this topic, click here.

Atrium of a Mega-Hotel

Atrium of the Hyatt Regency in Austin

We arrived in Austin today. Despite the fact that there has been a severe drought here for two years, today there has been 6-inches of rain and flooding. Hard to take pictures in a severe downpour!

We are staying in a mega-hotel since Lorna's conference is here. I hate big hotels, but I did enjoy taking a picture of the view of the atrium from my room. The shot was inspired by Andreas Gursky, a contemporary German photographers I like.

Tomorrow if the rain slows down I'll get to take some pictures at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. www.wildflower.org

Crazy Shell Pictures

Conus excelsus_0736-39

Dr. José Leal, Ph.D. suggested that I try some color alterations on the shell pictures that I have taken at the shell museum he runs. I had fun playing with that today. I doubt if anyone would every want to buy a print of one of these images, but I sure enjoyed creating them. To see the images, click here.

To learn more about the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum click here.