On a cold November morning while walking the dog, I looked down as I crossed toward an open field. Noticing this group of frosty leaves under my feet i stopped suddenly, grabbed for my camera, stopped, raised it to my eye, focused and released the shutter on this and several other nearby groupings. By simply shifting my footing slightly I was able to capture several interesting frames. The real magic happened within Lightroom. It's in this realm I am able to find the hidden meaning trapped inside those 1s and 0s. This part of the process for me is where I coax out hidden worlds lurking in the nooks and crannies of nature.

My friend Scott has a Koi pond in his backyard. He has meticulously coiffed the rim of the pond with beautiful plants like this one pictured. Every couple years he invites friends and neighbors to an open house where we gather to admire the fish, vegetation and other intricacies in this backyard sculpture.

Several years ago we went hiking in the local forest preserve one sunny October day. In a meadow we walked across grew this proud little thistle-like plant begging to be photographed for all posterity.

For four years we lived in a typical tri-level mid-western semi-brick home. One of the previous owners was adept at gardening. Every summer his flower bed arrangements provided an on-going fireworks display in the form of colorful flowers that bloomed according to a well planned schedule of explosive wonder like these amazingly intricate pixies.

From the same group as image one, this clump of frosty leaves lay waiting for a full overcoat of fresh, fluffy snow.