Challenge #38: Wildlife preparing
September 23, 2026
This week’s challenge, Wildlife Preparing, is all about the purposeful ways animals shift into autumn mode. The inspiration image is a fox squirrel hustling down an oak trunk with an acorn clenched proudly in his mouth - a reminder of what is to come. As days shorten, creatures everywhere begin caching food, migrating, molting, gathering, or simply...
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Peek‑a‑Buck: The First Signs of Rut Season
September 22, 2026
A black‑tailed buck with velvet antlers peering out from behind a tree feels like the perfect “welcome back” moment for rut season—like he’s been gone all summer and suddenly remembered he has responsibilities again. These bucks have been practically invisible for months, melting into the landscape as if on an extended off‑the‑grid retreat, and now...
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Challenge #37: Softness
September 16, 2026
Softness in nature often reveals itself in the quietest moments, and this week’s challenge invites you to lean into that gentleness. Think of how fog blurs the edges of a forest, how moss cushions the base of an old tree, how petals fold like velvet, or how diffused light wraps a scene in calm. Let the inspiration image—a wolf’s portrait set agains...
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Cedar Waxwing: the Cindy Crawford of the bird world
September 15, 2026
Cedar Waxwings always look like they woke up flawless, stepped onto the branch, and said, “Yes, the light is perfect for me today.” With their sleek caramel plumage, perfectly applied eyeliner mask, and that glossy berry‑fed glow, they’re basically the Cindy Crawford of the bird world—effortlessly glamorous, a little mysterious, and fully aware the...
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From Meteors to Mustangs: A Mono Lake Trip That Didn’t Go as Planned
September 10, 2026
Text and photos by Heather Cline
Wild horses, Inyo National Forest
I recently planned a short trip to the Eastern Sierras to photograph the Perseids meteor shower at Mono Lake. The Perseids may not be the most active meteor shower, but it’s certainly the most popular—warm summer nights, bright streaks, and weeks of viewing before the peak. I tr...
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Challenge #36: Nature's Layers
September 09, 2026
This week’s challenge, Nature In Layers, invites you to explore how the natural world builds depth through repetition, texture, and perspective. The inspiration image—a cholla cactus standing in the foreground with a soft blur of additional chollas behind it—shows how layered elements can create a sense of place and rhythm. Your task is to make an...
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This Hawk Prefers Surf over Turf
September 08, 2026
While walking in the nature preserve near my home, I noticed this red-shouldered hawk dive into the tules that dominate the nature pond. When it flew back up, it had a crawdad in it's talons. I observed it doing this twice and was able to get a few shots of it dining on it's aquatic breakfast. I thought this was uncommon since I see these hawks on...
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The Truth Behind 10 Common Wildlife Myths
September 03, 2026
10 Wildlife Myths We Need to Finally Retire
Text and photos by Heather Cline
Wildlife is endlessly fascinating — and so are the stories we tell about it. Some of those stories are sweet, some are dramatic, but some are wildly inaccurate. As a nature photographer who spends a lot of time quietly watching animals just be themselves, I’ve learned th...
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Challenge #35: Nature's Mood
September 02, 2026
This week’s photo challenge, Nature’s Mood, invites you to chase the emotional undercurrent of a scene—those subtle cues of light, weather, color, and composition that make an image feel serene, dramatic, joyful, or even a little lonely. To spark your creativity, I’m sharing a quiet moment between two wild horses standing in a simple meadow, their...
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Harlequin Duck Takes on the Rapids
September 01, 2026
This week’s featured shot captures a harlequin duck powering through whitewater—a perfect window into the life of a bird built for chaos. Harlequins don’t just tolerate rapids; they thrive in them, diving straight into fast, churning water to hunt aquatic insects, small crustaceans, and fish eggs that other species can’t reach. Their compact bodies...
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The Extrovert and the Introvert: Photographing Sea Lions and Harbor Seals
August 27, 2026
Text and photos by Heather Cline
Spend enough time photographing marine mammals along the California coast and you start to realize something: sea lions and harbor seals may share the same beaches, bays, and breakwaters, but they live completely different lives. One is loud, social, and constantly negotiating for space like it’s Black Friday at th...
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Challenge #34: The Horizon as Character
August 26, 2026
This week’s photo challenge is The Horizon as Character, an invitation to treat that distant line not as background but as a significant component in your composition. The inspiration image comes from White Domes Road in Valley of Fire State Park, where the vertical frame pulls the eye through pink, orange, and yellow rock toward a high horizon and...
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A Superior Sunrise
August 25, 2026
This week’s “shot of the week” is a brief but beautiful glimpse of a Lake Superior sunrise. After three weeks of touring several national parks, I begrudgingly began a three‑day slog home at dark‑thirty. Just as I was turning away from the lake for the last time, the sun lifted over the horizon right as I approached this little inlet. It felt like...
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Stone Spires and Sunrise Fire: Photographing Bryce Canyon’s Amphitheater
August 20, 2026
Text and photos by Heather Cline
Bryce Canyon is one of those places that feels almost unreal the first time you see it. The hoodoos glow, the canyon drops away in unexpected shapes, and the light changes faster than you expect. It’s a landscape that rewards slowing down, watching the color shift, and paying attention to the small details as muc...
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Challenge #33: Nature's Glow
August 19, 2026
This week’s challenge is Nature’s Glow, a chance to focus on simple moments where light makes the natural world stand out. Look for glow in places you might normally overlook — bioluminescence, backlit insects, glowing mushrooms, reflective minerals, or light shining through anything translucent. The inspiration photo shows an egret in flight with...
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