Hanging On

This dragonfly is hanging on to save energy on a windy day. Canon 7D, 1/200 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 100, zoom at 400mm focal length.

Dwarf Fountain Grass

Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln' - Dwarf Fountain Grass. Canon 7D, 1/125 sec @ f/13.0, ISO 200, 100mm macro.

Sage

This is Berggarten Sage a beautiful sage plant with the same flavor as common sage but bred not to flower so that leaf production will not stop. This perennial has beautiful large rounded green-gray leaves and is often used as an ornamental planting at the corners of beds and along walkways. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/200 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 800, 100mm macro, one LED light panel.

The Grandcat

This is my son's cat - Haz Mat. He's a great cat with a cool laid back disposition that's required when you share the house with a five-year old boy and a 95 pound black lab.

Canon 5D Mark II, 1/15 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 1600. This was a low light photo with no flash that demonstrates the Canon 5D Mark II's high ISO low noise capability along with Canon lens based image stabilization.

The Well-Behaved Liriope

My liriope muscari is full of tall purple blooms this year. Often refered to as the well-behaved liriope because it is the “clumping” kind that does not spread by runners and basically stays where you put it. It shares all the good qualities of the spreading kind — incredible toughness and adaptability — without the invasive behavior. My green-and-white variegated variety of this plant brightens up the borders in my shady backyard. Canon 5D Mark II, 1/125 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 800, 100mm macro, one LED Litepanel for illumination.

Beach Boy

What's better than a handful of wet sand? Two handfuls! — Robert at Sandbridge Beach on a glorious late afternoon in September. Canon G1X, 1/1250 sec @ f/7.1, ISO 100.

Jefferson "Beak" Howell

Lieutenant General Jefferson "Beak" Howell addressed the 2012 Commonwealth of Virginia's Innovative Technology Symposium (COVITS), the state's forum for collaboration and participation in government technology. His topic, Lessons in Leadership, is taken from his long career in the United States Marines and as director of NASA's Johnson Space Center. He had only been on the job at NASA seven months when the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost during a return to earth.
Hosted by Jack Mortimer, National Conference Director Government Technology magazine General Howell discussed he leadership lessons from his long career and shared what has become known as “Beak's Rules of Leadership”:

1. Never stereotype your subordinates; give them the attention and respect they rate as individuals.
2. People normally live up to your expectations of them.
3. Never underestimate the effect that you as a leader have on your subordinates.
4. Let your people do their job.
5. To be a good leader, you must be an effective manager.
6. Where you sit determines what you see.
7. Things are never as good or as bad as first reported.
8. Don't argue with an idiot.

Canon G11, 1/15 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 800.