Eastern Bluebird. Kennebunk, Maine, USA, August 2026 — When it comes time to test a new camera or lens, our resident Bluebirds are always ready to cooperate. If I sit in the open deck door and wait, they will come for mealworms and sit on the perches I have provided long enough for even comparison shots. Sony RX10 V at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my developing custom bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator with my developing preset for this camera. 🙂 Everything is still in development, but I am happy so far.

Transverse Banded Drone Fly: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, August 2026 — A member of the Hover Fly family on a sunflower at Roger’s Pond Park along the Mousam River here in Kennebunk. They have planted a nice patch of native plants, and it is always full of various kinds of bees and related species. This specimen, with its bold yellow and brown abdomen, certainly was begging for a photo. Sony RX10 V at 600mm equivalent (cropped to maybe 800mm equivalent field of view). Bird and wildlife modifications to Program. Processed in Photomator.

Kennebunk, Maine, USA. August 2026. I went out early this morning before the heat came down on us, to try the new Sony RX10 V on birds in flight. There are still a lot of Least Tern Chicks and a few adults and a couple of Common Terns. Only one of these shots is a Least Tern (the one with the fish). Flight shots using my flight and action modifications. 1/2000th second. The RX10 V makes what was relatively easy with the a6700, really easy! And the quality is a notch up too. A flock of Canada Geese came by low and close. (Easy is a relative term—terns are never easy.) And finally a landscape at 24mm using my modifications for high dynamic range landscapes that I have been developing for the a7CR and Voltrox 14mm. The RX10 V handles it well.

This is a 180-degree panorama made from 6, 14mm shots, with the camera held on its side to produce vertical panels. The sun is in front of me, barely out of the frame. Sony a7CR. Viltrox 14mm f/4. My custom combination of DRO and Creative Look. Processed in Photomator using my HDR preset for this lens and camera, and auto-merged in Bimostitch Pro. Because of the vertical format, it does not have the look of a conventional panorama. It looks more like a shot with an impossibly wide-angle lens. It is almost exactly what you would see if you kept your eyes on the center of the frame and relaxed your mind until you were seeing the whole of your field of view—something we humans have a hard time doing. The right edge is what you would see from the corner of your right eye, and the left edge is what you would see from the corner of your left eye. 🙂

Song Sparrow: Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, August 2026 — It is rare to see a flock of Song Sparrows on territory, so I am suspecting that this was actually a family of Song Sparrows, the adults and at least two broods of fledglings, still hanging out together in the shade over the tiny canal (ditch?) along one section of the trail. They were popping all over, only posing for a second at a time. It was fun. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 Contemporary at about 600mm equivalent field of view crop. Program with birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Indian Pipe (Ghost Flower): Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Headlands Trail (old visitor center), Wells, Maine, USA, August 2026 — The Indian Pipe plants are just beginning to emerge in the forests of Southern Maine. Yesterday I found my first sizable, healthy-looking patch, under the pines beside the trail at Rachel Carson. Indian Pipe, according to online sources, is a Mycmo-Heterotroph. It lacks any chlorophyll at all and steals its nutrients from the underground fiber networks of Russula and Lactarius mushrooms, which are themselves in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of mature trees. So the energy that keeps the Indian Pipe alive is produced by trees, bartered by mushrooms, and stolen by Indian Pipe. If that is not strange enough for you, I don’t know what would be. The fresh flowers always droop down toward the ground, but as they mature, they will turn up, showing off the black and gold parts, which attract bees and other pollinators. Because it needs no sunlight to grow, you find it in the deepest, darkest, mostly damp shades of the undergrowth. It always makes it a challenge to photograph without artificial light. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 Contemporary at 140mm equivalent. Aperture with Macro modifications, from my tiny carbon fiber tripod. Processed in Photomator.

The Northern Blazing Star is just coming into flower on the Kennebunk Plains. The Plains are still very dry, and it might not be a bumper year for Blazing Star, but there are a few somewhat dusty-looking blooms. And a few somewhat dusty-looking Monarchs as well. The Monarchs favor the Blazing Star, and I always see them on the plains in season. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 Contemporary at about 600mm equivalent field of view crop. Program with insect modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Kennebunk, Maine, USA, August 2026 — This is 5 overlapping landscape mode 14mm frames, with the Viltrox 14mm f/4 and the Sony a7CR with its 61mm sensor. Processed in Photomator and merged and rendered to a 94mp image, 16783×5600, in Bimostitch. It is a bit over 180 degrees of view. There is no way to really display it for full effect, but it is a fun image and captures the amazing sky in a way no single frame, even a 14mm with its 100-degree field of view, could. Next time I will try turning the camera on its side and taking more frames. 🙂 That would be a really huge file. 🙂 Bimostitch, by the way, is magical!

Hydnellum peckii, or Bleeding Tooth fungus: Kennebunk, Maine, USA. You just never know what you will find in the Southern Maine forest (or any forest for that matter). This strange-looking mushroom gets its common names from the drops of amber to red liquid that emerge from the fruiting body. It is not always this lumpy. It is also called “strawberries and cream” and “Devil’s Tooth,” although “Dracula’s Tooth” might be more fitting. I am pretty sure I have never seen it before, and I certainly have never photographed it. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 Contemporary at 72mm equivalent field of view. Aperture with macro modifications. Processed in Photomator.

Another photo of nothing in particular—or everything in particular. Sony a7CR with Viltrox 14mm f/4. My custom landscape modifications to the Neutral Creative Look. Processed and color-graded in Photomator.