Talking Pictures

When I’m not out photographing, I’m participating in my other passion: reenacting the fur trade period of the West in the early 1800s. While on a trip this fall with two friends in the Eagle Cap Wilderness of eastern Oregon, we had broke camp and were in the saddle heading to a lower elevation as a major early storm was moving in. As the snowflakes got bigger and bigger, I could see...

I made this image during a visit to Prague in 2007. On our first day there my wife and I took a walking tour that passed by this memorial to John Lennon. At the same time we arrived so did several large tour buses, which prevented us from getting a clear view of the memorial.

I like to explore and take pictures early in the morning on trips so that is what I did the following...

On a recent cruise of the French Polynesia in the South Pacific, I caught this chance image of a powerful thunderstorm enveloping the island of Moorea. The shaft of light evoked a feeling of hope, safety, and refuge in a turbulent world. Within a minute of taking this photo, the entire island was caught in a tropical downpour.
—Chuck O’Donnell
Matthews, NC

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Moored at the abandoned Alameda naval base is the USS Hornet aircraft carrier. I decided to explore this floating museum while my wife attended a nearby antiques fair.

Climbing down the steep ladders, I became fascinated by the chambers and hallways, each compartment separated by a sculptural door. As I wandered the empty halls and rooms on my own, with the smell of oil in the...

Meandering through Miami’s Brickell financial district, I expected to be taking pictures of the architecture rather than nature. However, I was nicely surprised when this small anole appeared. I was struck not only by his eye-catching bright green skin, but also by the way his pink tongue matched the flower. This happy scene reminds me of nature’s resiliency as it seems to affirm...

We took this photo through our rental car windshield as the fog was lifting and the smoke from a forest fire lay heavy above the road early in the morning on Highway 120 as we entered Yosemite National Park. The combination of the filtered sunlight and sky resulted in a surrealistic road picture. We find it fun to capture the “mood” of the road. This image was made using our Sony...

On a morning walk/shoot through Loch Raven Reservoir in Loch Raven, Maryland, I came upon a gaggle of geese. The morning mist was lifting off of the lake and there were fishermen in the water. Fortunately, the geese didn’t need me to be around them, so I turned to head back to the road for some distance shots and waited for the sun to rise a little more. This is the scene that I was blessed...