Sunrise over Lake Superior

SUNRISE OVER LAKE SUPERIOR, GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 23, 2015

Pentax K-3
Sigma 18-250 at 26mm
1/125 sec. f8
ISO 400

It was worth arising early for this one. Much of a good sunrise photo depends on cloud formations in the distance, and Mother Nature cooperated.

Cabbage White Butterfly

CABBAGE WHITE BUTTERFLY, GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 5, 2015

Pentax K-01
Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
1/400 sec. f9
ISO 400

I was hoping to catch a bumblebee with my macro photography outfit set up next to a pot of purple flowers on the back deck when this specimen of Pieris rapae flitted within range. It's a pretty butterfly, but its larvae play hell with crops in the cabbage family.

Fresnel lens

FRESNEL LENS, SPLIT ROCK LIGHTHOUSE, SILVER BAY, MINNESOTA, JULY 1, 2015

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 28mm
1/160 sec. f10
ISO 400

Deborah Abbott, sprightlier than I am, climbed the long winding staircase inside the historical lighthouse at Split Rock on Minnesota's Lake Superior north shore to capture this view of the mighty Third Order Fresnel lens from the landing below. Although the lighthouse was retired in 1969 and has become a museum, the lens remains on its pedestal and emits a beam every November 10 to mark the loss of the lake freighter Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975.

Red squirrel

RED SQUIRREL, GREEN, MICHIGAN, JULY 2, 2015

Pentax K-5
Sigma 18-250 at 250mm
1/100 sec. f6.3
ISO 1600

They're cute, cheeky little fellows, but red squirrels are destructive pests in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I chased this one from our bird feeders and he stopped while climbing a nearby tree to flip me the squirrel equivalent of the bird.