This is one of those seasons when it always feels we’re on a rollercoaster of temperatures. Within the last week and a half or so, we’ve had everything from sub-zero temperatures to 80 degrees F. I’ve done some photography at both ends of that range, including the frozen river shots I shared a week ago. Here are some more examples from both the cold and hot extremes. I’ll start with the cold end first.

The cottonwood leaves above were photographed when the temperature was hovering around 1 or 2 degrees F and it was nice and breezy to boot. I layered up and scampered down the banks to the frozen surface of Lincoln Creek here in town. I had fun tracking down a beaver lodge and dam while photographing leaves and other errata.

Below is a series of photos from Wednesday evening. I finished up what I needed to do for work by late afternoon and drove out to our family prairie to take advantage of the 80 degree temperatures. I didn’t get as many photos as I was hoping for, but had a lot of fun wandering around anyway. I spent a lot of time along the edge of the pond, where I watched bullfrogs, spiders, water boatmen, flies, and some tiny beetle-like insects I couldn’t ever get near enough to identify. The light was a little too harsh for photography until it got pretty close to the horizon, at which point it sent me some gorgeous golden color to work with.