On July 20 I escaped the hot desert for a summer camp in the mountains outside Payson, Arizona. There, I was one of five photographers to volunteer for Flashes of Hope, an organization that provides portraits of serious ill children for their families. Together, we captured in one morning all the portraits of the participants at the camp. We were assigned groups by their activities. Mine were out fishing. Here are some of my favorites.

 

 

It's hard to NOT get out in the desert and photograph the incredible explosion of flowers this spring. There was more experimenting with the light from an iPhone app, as well as use of small LED flashlights, some covered with colored gels.

Sent from Nanc's iPhone

Phoenix is the hub of the world in March for Spring Training, the annual influx of 15 MLB teams who flex their talent before the regular season. Not all the action is in the majors, as these middle school kids demonstrate.

Hope blooms eternal that Arizona State will break the spell of uninterrupted losses to USC, but the night of November 7, 2009, wasn't it. USC won 14-9.

Normally the northern forests of Michigan are bursting with color at the time I opted to take an evening kayaking my favorite lake. But, the color was only subtle, but still, clearly fall is in the air.

On September 4, I posted the transformation of a caterpillar into a chrysalis. On September 11, the product of those seven days spent all wrapped up emerged as a monarch butterfly. There's a learning curve on my part to capturing all this action, from timing when these conversions occur, to camera settings and placement. Fortunately, I seem to have reaped a supply of caterpillars on a backyard plant that gives me some margin for error. There are four more caterpillars munching their way toward more conversions. These eight frames began at 6:38:43 a.m. and the show was over by 6:47:14. The butterfly hung around for another couple of hours, and then took off. By nightfall, I am left with an empty shell, wondering where butterflies sleep....

Just taking a break around the pool after supper, even if it is over 100 Fahrenhite.

Sent from Nanc's iPhone

I was impressed by the recent cover story in the Sept issue of PDN of all the places photographers can volunteer their services. These photos are some I took at a portrait session last April with children in Flashes of Hope through the local chapter of ASMP in Phoenix, Arizona. It was an exhausting day but every child's personality melted away any fatigue as I saw the best in the human spirit. Fit it in to your schedule. Volunteering was very rewarding in so many ways.

 
A Monarch caterpillar I observed yesterday took this morning to convert to a chrysalis, a fast track to becoming a butterfly. Armed with a newly acquired extension tube and an interest in time lapse photography (sans the timer), I set up shop. I set my iPhone alarm to go off every five minutes, and I patiently recorded frame after frame. I began to notice some changes after about three hours. The caterpillar looked liked he was struggling. Dark colored "antennae" were now withered and I thought would drop off. It seemed almost instantly in one five-minute span, the conversion had happened. In another two hours, the chrysalis had smoothed, hardened, and gained distinctive glistening gold dots. Come back in a few days, and I'll have an image of what emerges.