Taken on Robben Island, South Africa, on August 14th, 2008
Robben Island is well known as the political prison which held Nelson Mandela for many years until his release in 1990. Now a tourist spot and protected area, Robben Island is home to many members of nature’s kingdom, including rabbits, deer, penguins, and the Calla lily, a beautiful plant with rich green leaves and striking white and yellow flowers.
Taken in Joshua Tree National Park, California on February 24th, 2008
The winter of 2008 started off as a wet one, which proved fortuitous for the desert wildflowers. On this weekend in February I arrived in Joshua Tree to find carpets of flowers of all colors covering the desert floor. Wanting to be near the action come morning, I hiked about a ways into the park, pitched my tent, and slept surrounded by wildflowers. Early the next morning I woke before the sun and raced up to a slightly higher elevation where the poppies were blooming in full force. Then, once the sun rose above the horizon, illuminating the poppy fields and turning the clouds into bright nuggets of color in the sky, I snapped this photo.
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Taken in the Sierra Tuolumne River Canyon near Tuolumne, California on February 10th, 2008
Wanting to shoot some river scenes, I drove out to the scenic Tuolumne River in Northern California. After a fair bit of hiking around, I was feeling a little befuddled by the utter lack of the grand river vistas I was searching for. I then decided to turn my attention to a smaller scale which is when I noticed the contrasting and vibrant textures of this oak leaf and the lichen-covered granite boulder on which it was resting.
