krnaturalphoto's Blog 
Here’s the thing. There is so much happening in the world. Too much. We are all on overload. We want to stay informed but wee are bombarded with news. Most of which is bad. There is little traction for good news. Which, we desperately need. Many of us want to do our part to make this world a better place. But it is hard to feel like we can make a difference.
We often hear that trying to work in our local community is a good way to build support for initiatives we care about. But in many areas our local representatives won’t even hold meetings with their constituents. Meetings over many important local issues take place at inconvenient times. Or behind closed doors. Or baring public comment. And then when the public does have an opportunity to speak up it feels like we are often ignored. Especially when it comes to big money interests.
I give a lot of credit to the people who show up to speak at meetings and protest etc. I really wanted to attend a recent meeting over an issue that is important to me, but I just couldn’t not muster the strength to engage in that manner. But, I am a writer. I have written articles in the past about issues I care about. And some of those have been published. So I am going to do what I can to make my voice heard on an issue I care about.
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As I have built myself up as a runner I have made many friends. Some of those friends are multi sport athletes. I began riding a bike. And I have for a while now toyed with the idea of taking on a triathlon. Then in 2025 after a year of big bike adventures which included riding around all of the 11 finger lakes in NY, culminating in a 100 mile ride (my first ever), and my first bike event 50 mile gravel race I decided to actually sign up for a triathlon.
But, there is just one problem. I can’t remember the last time I did any significant swimming with intention. I tried swimming a little during a camping trip over the summer of 2025 where we did a little mini triathlon and that was not easy. Swimming might be the hardest thing I have done since I first began learning to run.
I like to choose events that will challenge myself. If I am going to commit to do something it is not “just for fun”. I want to have fun, but I also want to challenge myself in some way. I don’t know why I am that way. The fun is in the training and commitment and seeing what my body can actually do if I commit to training it.
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“The principle on which this country was founded and by which it has always been governed is that Americanism is a matter of the mind and heart; Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of race and ancestry. A good American is one who is loyal to this country and to our creed of liberty and democracy.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1943
From a fully white winter scen to a scene with just an edging of snow: Tree Trunk and Snow.
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“He enumerated the objections against an equality of votes in the second branch, notwithstanding the proportional representation in the first. The minority could negative the will of the majority of the people. They could extort measures by making them a condition of their assent to other necessary measures. They could obtrude measures on the majority by virtue of the peculiar powers which would be vested in the Senate. The evil instead of being cured by time, would increase with every new State that should be admitted, as they must all be admitted on the principle of equality. The perpetuity it would give to the preponderance of the Northern against the Southern Scale was a serious consideration.” – James Madison
If you like the combination of winter and water click the link to see: Frozen Wetlands at Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
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“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.” – Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to Col. William F. Elkins, November 21, 1864
Winter can be a challenging time to get outside and create photos, but it is highly rewarding: Snow covered pine trees.
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“It has long, however, been my opinion, and I have never shrunk from its expression … that the germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal judiciary; … working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped.” – Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Hammond, August 18, 1821
I love a good pond scene. Another good one of a close-up of the edge of a freezing pond during a snow storm: Freezing water and snow.
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I love waterfalls. I enjoy photographing waterfalls of all shapes and sizes. Giant falls down to a tiny trickle. Enormous drops of 200+ feet or just a few inches. Spring, summer, and fall all pose great times for waterfall photography.
But what about winter?
Cold. Dreary. Frozen. Winter.
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“The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or anyone else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about anyone else.” – Teddy Roosevelt, Kansas City Star, May 7, 1918
If you like ducks click the link to see this close-up of a baby mallard duckling: Mallard Duckling.
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As we age, if we are doing this life thing right we grow and we change, hopefully for the better, over the years. Our interests, beliefs, and values might change. The things we enjoy change. We develop new passions and some things maybe fall aside.
When I was in college I thought my real interest was in psychology. But that interest could only thrive in an academic setting. Then I discovered photography and that passion bloomed and grew for years. Photography began to encompass everything else I loved as well. Nature, hiking, dogs, wildlife, and even running once I found that sport.
Over the last few years I had begun to think that my true passion had shifted from photography to running. There was a lot I loved about running. And one of those things I loved about it is it felt like something that I was in complete control over. I could pursue it as hard or as softly as I liked. Choose big goals and go for it. And I could make those things happen. Whereas it felt like to a large degree the bigger the goals I chose to pursue in photography the more of it was out of my control. And that was just a drain.
I don’t love running simply for running’s sake. There are a lot of qualifiers that really make the act of running connect for me. For example getting on a treadmill and running does nothing for me and I kind of hate it.
But just focusing on the simple act of creating photography with nothing else in mind. That energizes me.
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I have been struggling a lot to create any photography this winter. I can’t remember the last time I photographed anything. I don’t know if it just the times we are living in getting me down. Or that I have just been too distracted and unfocused. Allowing the flow of social media to wash over me. Or maybe I am trying too hard to find “balance” by spending a little bit of time on all the different aspects of life I enjoy.
The challenge is photography takes some level of commitment. It takes time. Photography requires focus. And when you are unfocused and noncommittal then photography falls away.
At the encouragement of my wife I took a day to go out and focus on photography.
I have had so little energy and enthusiasm for photography that even after adding a new lens to my toolkit I hadn’t even taken it out of its box let alone used it. So, this would be the primary focus of a day out creating photography. Explore the world with this new tool. See what types of images I could create. And also maybe do a little more traditional waterfall photography as well. (I just can’t help myself)
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