Tasting the Rain Toddler T-Shirt

As she sat atop a flower in the rain, this female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird appeared to be trying to catch raindrops on her tongue. The raindrops are lost in the bokeh but a few drops may be seen on her head and beak. The flower is the black-eyed-susan or Rudbeckia of sorts. The photograph was taken in my northern Michigan front yard.

Through my photography, I share the things I see in the natural world around me. My photographic aim is to end up with a photograph I can share that looks like what I saw in my mind's eye and to have it appreciated by the viewer. To that end, I shoot in camera raw and develop it in my digital darkroom to achieve a high quality, realistic-looking photograph of what I viewed. Beyond that process, I sometimes take a photograph to an additional step by rendering it as an Impressionist might have painted it centuries ago or by giving it a 'dreamy' look through my own technique . . . it all depends upon the photograph in front of me and how I wish to present it. I feel there exists an immediacy in much of photography that does not exist in...