The first year we grew sweet potatoes for the produce auction, we noticed numerous little hollows in the mature tubers…
Beetles
Rescued From Death
It all started when my two older brothers returned home from helping the neighbor man clean out his storage shed.
Beneficials in My Garden
View the full issue in the Magazine Archive The pea crop was bountiful. Buckets filled as we picked by the handful. But what was this crawling up my arm? A little green aphid dodged hairs as he...
Creation Close-ups, May 2026
Enjoy our readers’ photo submissions from the May issue!
Let’s Take a Hike ~ Summer
Come along with me on a summer outing. We’ll drive up to our mountain forest and pasture land…
Mailbox, December 2023
Favorite Focus, August 2023
Favorite Focus, July 2023
Northern lights as seen in Kansas. Photo © Thaddeaus Magley. Fireflies. Photo © Steven Russell Smith. It looks to me like Steven Russel Smith’s creative juices were working overtime again. Let this...
Focus Illustrated, June 2023
I took this HDR panorama just after sundown at a field with a beautiful mixture of Indian paintbrushes and Texas Bluebonnets. I used six individual HDRs and Affinity Photo to make this final...
Sparks of Beetle Light
Along the roadside in a mass of morning glory plants, specks of gold flitted among the leaves. They moved fast and were hard to focus on, but with the sunshine on them, they were like sparks of...
Acquiring Photographic Inspiration: Focus Illustrated and Favorite Focus, September 2022
Focus Illustrated, August 2022
July 2022, End of the Trail: Bolides
Photos © Cheryl Shank.
Of Bolides and Birds
Bolide with Tau Herculid meteor shower and fireflies. Photo © Cheryl Shank. I didn’t know birds talk in their sleep, but they surely must. About 12:30 a.m. an Ovenbird began to talk. Before long, a...
Going Underwater the Easy Way
Predaceous diving beetle with rotifer. Photo © Kevin Shank.