T.L. Mair Fine Art Photography

A Cool Drink - Mandarin Drake You can smell the decaying leaves signaling the changing of the seasons. A lone Mandarin Drake duck sneaks from his hiding place in the thick timbers to take a drink of the cool waters that soon will be frozen over. He's still wearing his full breeding plumage of brown, buff, purple and green. With just the right amount of white to accent the striking colors. He stops and looks around, making sure there are no predators then takes a quick drink and disappears back into the wood-lot he calls home...at least for the summer. Mandarin Ducks are native to Asia, however, due to their beautiful colors, they have become popular throughout the world, where they adorn many ponds and waterways. This fine specimen was photographed at a secluded waterway in Utah. Mandarin Ducks are a close cousin to the American wood duck, sharing many of their habits including nesting in trees. During mating season they can be seen flashing their beautiful hoo

Sunset Storm, Haystack Rock, Canon Beach, Oregon Coast I know it's been a few weeks since I posted, but sometimes life gets in the way and what should have been a couple of days turns into a couple of weeks, and before you know it you're lost. Such was the month of July, with a trip to Moab Utah, a trip to Oregon for a stay on the beach, and a family wedding, then home to a family reunion. Of course it rained, nothing new, it rains every time my wife and I take a trip to the coast, a few years ago we took a trip to Washington state, right in the middle of a long drought, yep it rained every day we were there, Your welcome Washington, not complaining, some of the best things I've seen and was able to photograph were because of rain storms. When we drove into Portland it was a nice sunny day, beautiful weather the entire drive from Utah, I was thinking what a great trip, there will be a few fluffy white clouds over the great Pacific ocean, the sun will set with

Rushing Waters - Upper Provo River High up in the Uinta mountains of Utah there is a road called the "Mirror Lake Highway" this highway connects the mountain town of Kamas Utah to Evanston Wyoming by way of the Uinta mountains. The Mirror lake highway winds her way up through the Uinta mountains, passing many small lakes and streams, some you have to hike to like Fehr lake, and Washington lake, others like Butterfly lake, Lost lake, and Pass lake to name just a few can be seen and accessed right from the highway, and of course Mirror Lake which is where the highway gets her name, all beautiful. It is in these mountains that the famous Smith Morehouse trail begins, you can still walk, or ride horses along this trail, taking you to many other lakes, such as Duck lake, and Island lake. The Highway also follows the beginnings of the Provo river, up in these mountains the river is nothing more than a large stream, gaining water from other streams it becomes a rushin

Clearing Storm Over Timpanogos High up in the Wasatch mountains of Utah, part of the Rocky Mountains there is a mountain that Lords over all the other mountains, and the valleys in the area, this mountains is Called Timpanogos, the legend of Timpanogos says that an Indian maiden named Ucanogos  went into the mountain to kill herself because she could not be with her young brave Timpanac, when she got there she could not do it, but word of her planned demise reached young Timpanac and he went looking for her, when he could not find her he leaped to his death, Ucanogos upon finding her love perished on the mountain jumped with him, and the mountain is named for the two of them, and when you look at the profile of the mountain you can see, after having it pointed out to you the image of a person laying dead.  In another version the names are Utahna, and Red Feather, the great God is Timpanogos, but the outcome is basically the same. Sounds a little Shakespearean, from what

The Face of Tatanka One of the most fascinating animals on the planet, to me at least is the American Bison, we commonly call this guy a Buffalo. The Lakota call him Tatanka, a name which means " The one who controls us " because the Native Americans relied on this huge beast for the lives, he gave them food, and clothing in the way of Bison blankets, and robes, so in a sense he controlled them. I just wanted to tell a couple of stories from encounters that I have had with these beautiful animals. On one occasion my family decided to take a motorcycle trip to Yellowstone, two of my sons and I would ride the bikes to Victor Idaho, the place we stayed during the trip, and my wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law would ride in our van then get on the bikes for the trip into the park, we were traveling north on the upper loop road, highway 89 when traffic stopped, in Yellowstone when traffic stops you know there is an animal near the road, maybe it would be a bear, c

Twisted Cedar Arches National Park My son and I had planned a trip to Moab Utah, a place made up of slick rock, and a playground for ATV enthusiasts, but that's not why we were headed there, not this time. My son Paul had never been to that part of the country, not since he was old enough to remember, and he was anxious to see it, and I was excited to return and see it again. I left Midway Utah, headed for Provo to pick up my son on the way, when I got to Provo it was a blizzard, and foggy, not exactly what we wanted for traveling, but undaunted we drove on, as we ventured further south the snow began to lift giving way to rain, at one point on Utah 89 we seen a Brinks armored truck which had lost a rear axle, I bet that was n interesting ride, the guards where gone and I suspect so was the money, hope they took it and not someone else! When we arrived at Moab it was raining hard, and the sky was dark and bleak, I did not hold out much hope for good photographic weather