Welcome to my website.  I hope you will enjoy viewing some of my favorite images on the Galleries pages.

The exhibition of my images from my trip to the Falklands, S. Georgia Island, and Antarctica, on the Polar Star with Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris is about to open: August 4 - 16, "To The End Of The Earth", Gallery 21 in Spanish Village, 1770 Village Place, Balboa Park, San Diego. There will be a reception August 8 from 2-5 PM. The exhibition includes many images that I've put on my website over the past months AND many images that have yet to be added here.

In the meantime, this is the fifth set of images from the trip. It will be the last set for a while. I still have enormous numbers of wonderful images that you haven't seen, but next time I will start to again share images from other times.

This set of images is essentially about animal behavior. I've included parents with chicks in various situations, fur seal cubs playing together, and some other remarkable penguin behaviors.

I begin with two family groupings of Gentoo penguins: one with two already hatched chicks and the other with a chick and an egg. Since the second one was taken in late January, it's not clear whether the egg will hatch or, if it does, whether there will be enough time before winter for the chick to grow and survive. Unlike the other six penguin species we saw, the Gentoos are capable of routinely raising two chicks, and we even saw some instances of a parent with three full-sized, apparently healthy chicks. Then comes a black-browed albatross feeding its chick. Next, we share a moment of remarkable interaction between a black-browed albatross chick and two adult Rockhopper penguins.

The King penguin breeding cycle lasts more than a year. A chick has to put on enough weight before winter to survive until its parents return in the spring: their baby feathers aren't waterproof, and they huddle together in a creche, without feeding, all winter. In these images we see a full-grown chick that survived the winter still being fed by a parent, and we see the amazing assemblages of Kings at Salisbury Plain (S. Georgia Is.); the masses of chicks are creches, and somehow parents and chicks find each other at feeding time. Where there is such a concentration of wildlife, there is always lots of death. As I was photographing the skeleton of a King, a live adult walked up and leaned over to look at it, too. That was one of the most emotional moments of the trip.

Penguins have to move fast when entering or exiting the ocean in order to avoid potential predators waiting for them in the water. I share with you a Gentoo making a comical entry, an Adelie nearly walking on water as it quickly exits, and a mass of Chinstraps both entering and exiting the ocean in the eternal cycle of survival. Going in large groups increases the chances of any particular penguin surviving.

The final image is another of my overall favorites: a group of Adelies on a highway crossing a snow field. All the penguin species we encountered nested above and away from the ocean, and each colony had its highways where the penguins would travel back and forth.

You'll find information on my background and photography on the About page.

CURRENT AND UPCOMING SHOWS

July 9 - August 21; "Faces", InnerSpace Gallery, Escondido, CA.

July 11 - August 7; "Selections From The Southwest", Westin Emerald Plaza Hotel, Columbia and C St., San Diego, CA.

July 24 - November 6; "Summer Illustrated", Chiropractic Rehabilitation Wellness Center, 115 Main St., Vista, CA.

August 4 - 16; "To The End Of The Earth", Gallery 21 in Spanish Village, 1770 Village Place, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA.

August 6 - 22; "Collected Stories", New American Museum, Liberty Station, 2825 Dewey St., San Diego, CA.

I'm pleased to let you know that I am represented by Gallery 104 in San Clemente, California, and by the Front Porch Gallery in Carlsbad, California. Please visit the gallery if you're in the area.

ALSO

Remeber to check out the Links on the Links Page for YouTube Videos.

Best wishes!