Summer 2020 - on my usual summer hiatus - back to get caught up when the cold season arrives.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I am a professional botanist based in the in the western North American deserts. More below....

--------------------------------------------------------------------

...but first, to all of my Flickr friends: if you also photograph species in nature, I HIGHLY recommend that you join www.inaturalist.org (or your regional affiliate) if you haven't already, and share your work there too. I'd be happy to Flickrmail with anyone wanting tips or guidance on joining up. It is a great place to get your species images identified when needed (and when not... ;-), and to contribute to a rapidly growing source of valuable scientific data being contributed every day by photographers and naturalists all over the world. To make it easy, iNaturalist has a nifty interface to load your selected images and metadata directly from Flickr!

All of my Flickr species photos (plus many more) can be found starting at www.inaturalist.org/people/51061.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I am a botanist with professional and personal interests centering on the incredible diversity and beauty of the Great Basin and Mojave deserts and surrounding areas of western North America. There is a special place in my heart for the hardiest and least charismatic species, those obscure unsung heroes of arid and alpine lands. (And also for just about every square meter of Inyo County, California -- "dwelling place of a great spirit.")

An equipment minimalist for better or worse, I like to travel nimble and quick in the backcountry. My aim is to capture what my eyes see in a reasonably pleasing way with minimal fuss. No more and no less. For this purpose the Olympus E-510 kit, as-is, has been a very workable companion since 2008. I don't carry a flash, and all plant subjects are in their wild settings (a few non-native species excepted). I do confess to spending a lot of time waiting for lulls in the breeze...

Before going digital in 2008, I used an Olympus OM-4T mainly with Kodachrome-64 film. Some of the very earliest photos came from a cheap 35mm Yashica viewfinder with Kodachrome or color negatives. Film and transparencies are scanned with a Nikon Coolscan 5000 and post-processed with Paintshop. Automated geotagging courtesy of RoboGeo software.