This was a big fat hornet of some kind trying to stuff a cicada in a hole. Bugs are cool.

It blows my mind how big this guy's head is.  I mean, look at that head!!!

These animals were ready for their Senior Portraits!

This was taken through a fence, but turned out pretty neat. 

This was taken through a fence too, actually! 

The orangutan looked to be scheming. I wish it had been less hot, cause these guys are cute when they're active!

Which one's your favorite?? I can't decide.

And though it's not a great photo, it was a great moment when this spunky chimp jumped from Grandpa's back to Grandma's as Grandpa chuckled to himself.

A great day!  And If I had an extra $8,000 laying around, and wanted to pump up my arm muscles while shooting, I would buy this lens in a heartbeat!

I had a BLAST camping with my buddies this weekend on a much needed get-away to beautiful Lake Whitney, TX.  It was the perfect distance to feel like a vacation without having to drive for hours and hours.

We rented an insane 400mm lens with a 2x extender and a super-duty tripod in hopes of snapping some cool Super-Moon photos.  The heavy-as-all-get-out equipment was definitely worth the experience, and the enjoyment I got out of experimenting with it. Craig snapped a few iPhone pics of the setup.  (That's me in yellow!).

During the day, we relaxed and fished, and found a few cool bugs to photograph.

Super-Moon went into hiding for the night after about 20 minutes, behind a cloud covered sky, leaving me looking at the sky in disbelief all night.  But we still managed to get some really cool shots in my opinion!!

I am blown away by the amount of detail you can see in that one.  As were the people at my go-to lens rental shop, Dallas Camera.  They said it was the best moon shot they've seen with their 400mm! (Had to brag!) The craters! So amazing! Space is fascinating!! I've got a few different exposures of it so I'm going to attempt an HDR, and experiment with focus stacking when time allows.   Here's a pic Craig snapped with his iPhone at the same time, for comparison.
Those were actually from Friday night when sky conditions were perfectly clear.  The following are from Super Moon Saturday.

Though the moon was awesome, I have to say that my favorite shot from the whole weekend was this group shot.  Everyone has authentic and natural smiles, and it really speaks to how much fun we all had together. Not to mention the awesome bokeh from the 400mm lens.  And it has a great story!  To my knowledge, the 10 second delay only works when you press the shutter on camera.  And to get everyone in the shot, the camera was about 50 meters away.  So, Craig took one for the team- pressed the shutter, and sprinted his fastest 50 yard dash just in time for the shutter to open; with his rump barely hitting the bench.  His flip-flops flew off of his feet in the process, and we all had a good laugh.