“If you’re not comfortable, just let me know,” said Adam Richardson, as he started the engine of our Land Rover.

Adam was our guide with a private game reserve near South Africa’s Kruger National Park and he was talking to our tracker, Pauley. Pauley was firmly seated on the front of our vehicle in an attached chair, and the focus of our attention was a young, male leopard, with a notch in his right ear, who had recently wandered onto the property.

“Because if it is that leopard, we want to try to make sure we leave him happy.”

We first encountered the leopard a few days prior on a game drive shortly after he made a kill, and it was trying to drag the carcass into a tree.  The noise of the Land Rovers and cameras clicking away spooked the apprehensive leopard, so our guide chose to pull away and let him get slowly acclimated to human interactions before trying to get close again.

Now, a couple of days later, we were on a game drive through the bush and stumbled upon a large, male rhinoceros patrolling its area.  We watched as the rhinoceros approached his dung pile and proceeded to mark its territory.  Then our guide, knowing what was developing, zipped ahead to a nearby watering hole, realizing it was probably the next stop for the rhinoceros.

After we parked near some large bushes for cover, the rhinoceros approached the scene, checked out the surroundings and plopped into the mud pit.  He rolled around in the mud, freely passing gas, while my wife shot video and I took pictures. After he was finished, the rhinoceros made his way up the small incline towards a clearing.

About 15 feet from the watering hole, the wandering rhinoceros was caught off guard by a leopard laying in wait.  The rhinoceros jumped in the air from fright, but continued his course knowing the leopard wouldn’t attack. While Adam was repositioning the Land Rover for a closer view of the leopard, he realized it was the same apprehensive animal from a few days prior.

Very cautiously the leopard watched as the Land Rover slowly crept towards it’s resting place.  At a safe distance, Adam turned off the engine and for nearly an hour he, my wife and I chatted about everything from life as a guide to the potential back-story of this leopard.

Our guide’s goal was to give the leopard an opportunity to have a good experience with vehicles and people.  Each time the wildlife on South African game reserves has a good experience with vehicles, the more likely it will allow the vehicles to get in closer next time; the sounds of the vehicle’s engine, people’s voices or clicking cameras will no longer bother it as much.  In this particular case, Adam had a new animal on the property that could use some “TLC,” plus he had my wife and I in the vehicle and we were more than happy to give the leopard all the time it needed.

It was one of those unplanned moments in life where “going with the flow” was exactly what was needed.  As a result, the whole sequence became one of my favorite moments on our safari: the skill of our guide Adam to acknowledge an opportunity ahead with the rhinoceros aiming for the watering hole; the adorable “freak out” from said rhinoceros stumbling upon the new leopard; the new leopard checking out humans, letting out a large yawn and falling back to sleep for its nap; us parking and allowing the leopard to become acclimated to tourists and Land Rovers; knowing that, potentially, my wife and I are helping a family get closer to the leopard when they come for their safari in a few weeks or a few months.

Arriving back at the lodge fairly late from our time with the rhinoceros and then the leopard, the other guests were all gathered near the fireplace swapping stories about their day’s game drives while sipping cocktails. Three women from the United States really, really wanted to see a leopard but hadn’t been fortunate enough yet, but they also knew that we had been very lucky to see a leopard every day (including an incredible kill on our first night). Because it was best for the new leopard to only have one compassionate vehicle near it — versus swarms of vehicles and tourists — other guides respectfully stayed away and mentioned nothing to their guests. As a result of all of this, it was sort of a situation that became “our little secret” with the other guides in the lodge. Showing up late, one of the women looked directly at me and said “Don’t tell me you saw another leopard today!”

I am a terrible liar, so I mumbled some sentence containing a “No” and quickly took a large gulp of my drink.

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Hello beautiful weather. So nice to see you!

After a rather forgettable winter, our spring has been rather insane. In Chicago, we’ve gone from 40-degree days one day to 80-degree days the next. As I write this, our “normal” is somewhere near 70-degrees, but I feel like every day is about twenty degrees warmer, or twenty degrees cooler. Getting dressed in the morning makes for an interesting challenge.

Nearly two years ago, to the day, I took the above picture at the Chicago Botanic Garden, in Glencoe, Illinois. That particular spring was as normal as normal could get, which was nice for planning trips to the botanical garden. This year, however, I find myself at Mother Nature’s mercy, as I try to work in time to get out and take pictures of everything from iconic lighthouses to flowering tulips.

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After several years of putting the early Chicago River bridge raises in my calendar to “keep an eye on,” I finally had a day where my schedule, the weather and boats all cooperated.

I’d been wanting to shoot images of boats traveling under bridges for quite some time, and finally had the chance to make the trek to the river last week to watch. Slowly — very slowly — boats traveled along the river getting help from the Bridge Division of the Chicago Department of Transportation. The process reminded me a lot of ships traveling through the Panama Canal; it was a very slow moving process, but very fun to observe. (I often tell people watching boats go through the Panama Canal is the most exciting boring thing you’ll see in your lifetime)

I had set the day aside to head downtown to watch the bridge lifts, but I’m pretty sure most (if not all) of the motorists downtown were caught off-gaurd. When the lights would starting blinking and the bells would start making their noise, motorists would mash the gas in hopes of making it through the gates before they were stopped. On more than one occasion, I witnessed a brief shouting match between a cab driver and a bridge attendant.

It made for an enjoyable, but long, day. My quest started at half-past nine in the morning, and at two o’clock I made my way back towards home. Running a few errands later in the day, I heard the radio mention the last bridge was just on its wait down, snarling traffic on Lakeshore Drive. Hearing this, I found myself smiling knowing the dozen or so boats made it to their home for the summer.

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I finally got out to shoot some pictures. Between my schedule, the weather, and a few other things, yesterday was the first day in a very, very long time I went out with the purpose of taking pictures for myself. It was such a fun day.

My goal was to head downtown and shoot the bridge lifts. Chicago has eighteen bridges along two miles of the Chicago River, and while I’ve wanted to shoot some pictures of them for the last few years, something always seem to come up and I never made it. This year I was determined to make it, and I was so enthusiastic, I was an hour-and-change early.

While I waited for the sail boats to make their way into Chicago‘s Loop, the tulips near Marina City caught my eye.

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Yesterday I was listening to a photography podcast I regularly enjoy (On Taking Pictures), and the two hosts briefly mentioned how one of their photographer buddies went up in a helicopter and shot some some spectacular video from above an old military base. The two hosts quickly discussed how technology has advanced so much that it is now possible to go up to shoot aerial images for an amount one can, basically, put on their credit card. Twenty years ago it would have cost someone about $50,000 to do the same thing — if it was even possible at all.

It got me to thinking about my recent adventures into aerial photography (something I very much enjoy). I admittedly started exploring it when it became dramatically cheaper and much easier to do, technologically speaking.

Cameras now are far more advanced, so I can easily go up in a helicopter without thousands of dollars in support gear. I can shoot two hundred images without having to stop to change a roll of film every 36 shots. I can bring the images into my computer and do a lot of minor adjustments that, as a whole, were difficult to do ten or fifteen years ago.

So the image above is a result of that whole discussion, and how I could affordably head up in a helicopter to shoot some pictures far easier than even the greatest photographers could have done ten or fifteen years ago.

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Located in County Clare, Ireland, are the famous Cliffs of Moher, and while planning our trip to the Emerald Isle, a trip to the 300 million year-old “bird sanctuary” was high on the list. The site receives nearly one million tourists each year, but is home to an estimated 30,000 different birds, covering about 20 different species. (The birds live in the countless nests that are perched along the wall, and come and go freely, without much fear of predators.)

Traveling through Ireland, my wife and I didn’t plan any “set in stone” itinerary, except for the last couple of days. I knew I really wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher in the afternoon, and hopefully with clear skies. While we worked out our schedule, I saw what day the weather was supposed to be clear, and to the Cliffs we went.

The Cliffs of Moher are amazingly dramatic. One could drive past them one hundred times and never know, on the other side of the hill, is a straight drop down 700 feet (214 meters) to the Atlantic Ocean below.

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Built during the Great Depression, the Fond du Lac Lighthouse has become an iconic part of the city, being featured in the city’s logo, on signs throughout town, and (the obvious) marking the entryway to the Fond du Lac Yacht Club.

Inside of the forty-foot lighthouse is a winding stairwell offering visitors an opportunity to climb to the observation deck on the top (weather permitting) and get a full 365-degree view of Fond du Lac‘s Lakeside Park and Lake Winnebago.

During the winter months, the town places an image of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on the top of the lighthouse, using the beacon as Rudolph’s nose.

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It was getting bright out as my wife and I arrived at the Taj Mahal in Agra, India.

We started our trek to the famed historic site shortly before sunrise, from about a mile away. After we purchased our tickets, we paid the extra couple of dollars for a rickshaw ride to the entryway. The entry line was long and I remember thinking “This is the best time to be here?”

Turns out, it was.

Later in the day, as my wife and I went back to the banks of the Yamuna River to watch the sun set, we saw the line for the Taj Mahal seemingly went on for ever. I was really glad we spent a few hours in the morning with the smaller hoardes of people, because I’m sure going later in the day it would have been far more chaotic than I would have liked.

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I recall the day I took this picture as one of those “perfect temperature” days in Chicago. One could have worn shorts and a T-shirt, jeans and a sweatshirt, or anything in between and have been comfortable. Later in the day, however, it rained. And by “it rained,” I mean “it poured.” Buckets and buckets of rain fell, with blinding lightning and roaring thunder. It was a good afternoon to spend inside going through pictures from earlier in the day.

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Located in Bristol, Maine, the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse was first built in 1827. However, because the builder used salt water in his mortar mix, it didn’t survive the elements very well, and a new light was built in 1835 (this time, without the use of salt water).

Over a century later, more than 100,000 people visit the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse annually, and the light is featured on the state’s quarter.

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