I could not help my shutter finger the morning we spent with this mom and her cubs. They were just so adorable. Watching them play and seeing mom staying so vigilant watching for danger.

There was one that was obviously the leader of the pack as he was always off doing something it seemed away from the group. Mom would just watch him like if you go any further I will come after you!

These were all with a 600mm lens and a good crop. They had been a little closer before we got there which is a bummer as I would have liked better quality. But I will take these!

Sadly a few weeks after I left one of the cubs was bitten by a snake and died. I know it it nature, but it still is sad. I wonder if Mr. bold, leader of the pack, was the one as he seemed so curious about everything.

And so I am going to inflict them on you. For one thing, I find icicles dangling over cold rushing water to be mesmerizing with their crystalline beauty and delicate hues. For another, icicles are not always a given in southern New Mexico, since some years the creeks go dry in the fall. Finding good formations is like finding diamonds.

Knowing that the peaks above it had gotten up to a foot of snow and that the nighttime temps had dropped into the lower twenties, I had to drive out to Lower Gallinas Canyon for a hike. It's simply one of my favorite canyons on the face of the earth, and I know I probably say that about any canyon I've just been taking photos in, but this one is consistently near the top of my list. I have included images of the scenery surrounding the creek, partly to delight you with its loveliness, but also to give you a sense of why I didn't hang around for long after discovering a set of mountain lion tracks that were headed in the same direction I was. It's not like there's anyplace to GO except right straight up.

Having said that, I will admit that many of these images were made AFTER I saw the tracks (some of which are visible on top of a snow rock above the icy waterfall), so I guess I hung around longer than a lot of people might have. It was just so beautiful...grab a sweater, and enjoy.

This past Sat conditions were good so I headed down to Borrego Springs CA to do some star trails work using one of Ricardo Breceda's metal sculptures for the foreground. People were camping at my first choice the Serpent (BLM land) there campfire with the added light and smoke was a no-go. I knew the Scorpion wasn't far and that its general location should work well given I needed to point the camera north towards Polaris. Studied the process a fair bit but this was first attempt at time-lapse star trails. 15 / 3 min frames using Sequator for the merge, Affinity Photo for the edit. Next time I might reduce time by 1 min but increase the frame count by double to 30. Any input on process is appreciated. Thanks for looking...