That Georgia Biologist

So this past week I finally made it out to the botanical gardens again for a bit of a respite and reprieve from the rigors of school. I enjoyed my time...and enjoyed focusing on rose photography...one can never have too many rose photos in your own personal stock photo collection ;) Enjoy the pics! :) ~Austin  Just absolutely lovely...  A nice shot of a garden pathway.  Pretty periwinkle and dahlia! Well, that's it for now! Gotta scamper off to bed! :)

My week has been good :) While there is still lots of new stuff to learn, overall it is a very smooth transition academically. The grad students are welcoming, the professors friendly, and yes I still remember how to crank with a capitol C!!  Yesterday evening as a bit of a reprieve I spent some time at the botanical gardens. I really enjoyed my time; and especially was delighted at all the butterfly photos I was able to capture. I hope you enjoy them! :) -Austin  Happy happy happy! I like the color yellow  :D  Beautiful setting for a bench.  Not sure what species this flower is, but it sure is lovely! :)  Such an inviting path...   Jatropha integerrima above, and very likely Helianthus annuus below.  Some pretty periwinkle - I want to learn the exact species!  A Firey Skipper butterfly above, and Red-Banded Hairstreak butterfly below!  Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Ge...

Well, whaddya know, life now finds me spending a few weeks in Tennessee! I'm excited to move down to Georgia, but also enjoying some quality time with family. This past weekend my parents took my sister and I to the Tennessee Aquarium, one of our favorite places to go. A highlight was exploring the new "Island Life" exhibit, which featured animals such as chameleons and clownfish. I appreciated that the signage included biological islands, as well as literal islands of land in the sea! I highly visiting in person - but below, enjoy my photos, and click here to see my video! :) ~Austin  There was also a very nice exhibit about Vancouver Bay. Till next time!!

So over Christmas break, I had the chance to spend some good solid quality time with my best friend. As we both enjoy nature photography and animals, we chose to go to the Chattanooga Zoo together. I had not visited the place for several years, so I was excited to go again and see what updates had happened in my absence. It was a slightly chilly day, but we bundled up and had fun. It was great to use my telephoto lens again. Here are some of my favorite pictures!  The tamarins were quite active, but the reflections made them hard to photograph. Still very cool to see these creatures.

Despite the busyness of the semester's end, I have found it quite beneficial to have balance in my life. Exercise, sleep, eating, etc. I think balance also applies to the school/break ratio. Yes, I need to get all my school done...but it's also important to take a break now and then and have fun. Last week with it being Thanksgiving break and all I had a lighter school load. So I took the opportunity to visit the Potawanami Zoo in South Bend, Indiana, roughly an hour south of Berrien. I had never been before and so was very excited to go! It was great, it was the late season and a week morning, so I basically had the place to myself. It's a smaller zoo, but definitely still great. I was especially excited because this my first trip in a while that I brought along my telephoto lens. I thought that it would help me in capturing great shots of the animals from safe distances, and boy was that right!! So without further adeiu...here's some of my favorite pictures! ...