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Featured Galleries

Nature's Camouflage

Nature's Camouflage: Animals and insects have a way of hiding thems ...

Updated: Jan 07, 2008 12:10pm PST

Magellanic Penguins of Magdalena Island, Chile

An optional tour in Punta Arenas, Chile, was a trip on a privately cha ...

Updated: Mar 14, 2008 5:44pm PST

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone is the country's first, largest in the lower fourty-eight ...

Updated: Nov 23, 2007 7:05pm PST

Hawks, Eagles and Other Birds of Prey

Hawk and other buteos ride thermals up and soar (glide) to the next l ...

Updated: Oct 21, 2006 9:12am PST

Gallery Categories

Antarctica & South American Cruise Galleries

10 galleries with 328 photos

Updated: Mar 16, 2008 8:27pm CDT

North American Birds

28 galleries with 573 photos

Updated: Mar 10, 2008 7:02am CDT

Nature

12 galleries with 391 photos

Updated: Jan 30, 2008 11:12am CDT

Landscapes

6 galleries with 153 photos

Updated: Feb 05, 2008 9:22am CDT

Fall Colors

1 gallery with 31 photos

Updated: Nov 29, 2007 10:24am CDT

National Parks

6 galleries with 284 photos

Updated: Nov 23, 2007 9:22pm CDT

Photo - Destinations

10 galleries with 235 photos

Updated: Jul 14, 2007 7:29am CDT

Alaska

7 galleries with 108 photos

Updated: Jun 29, 2006 4:49pm CDT

Photography

2 galleries with 200 photos

Updated: Mar 19, 2008 6:42am CDT

Inspiration

3 galleries with 15 photos

Updated: Dec 08, 2006 3:54pm CDT

People

2 galleries with 29 photos

Updated: Nov 30, 2007 9:09pm CDT

Christmas at Second Baptist Church

1 gallery with 170 photos

Updated: Nov 29, 2007 2:08pm CDT

Family

1 gallery with 53 photos

Updated: May 25, 2008 7:01pm CDT

Most Popular Photos

Cathedral Rock, Red Rock Crossing, Sedona, AZ

Bald Eagle

I took this photo in Ketchikan, Alaska. There were more eagles in this port city than any of the other ports of call on our cruise.

Lake Isabelle in Lake Houston State Park

On a recent birding trip to Lake Houston State Park we were taken to Lake Isabelle adjacent to the San Jacinto River. The lake is home to an osprey which we flushed from one of the trees on the other side. I saw the still water and tall cypress trees reflection, composed a photo and shot this exposure without a tripod.

Fuji S3 Pro Finepix DSLR with a Nikon 70-200mm lens

Barred Owl
This is one of my favorite photographs and one of the first I ever took as a bird photographer. I happened to be walking the Red Buckeye Trail in eastern part of Brazos Bend State Park in mid-Oct and saw this Barred Owl perched. I approached him quietly with a Nikon F100 with a 300mm lens. His attention was focused on the ground. I snapped several slides of him before he leaped off the branch to the ground and onto a green lizzard. He took the lizzard up about 40 feet in an oak and consumed him. His flight down to the ground and up into the oak tree was as silent as a butterfly. They are amazing animals.

The Pileated Woodpecker is next to the largest woodpecker. It was the largest until the Ivory bill was found in Arkansas. This Pileated was photographed at the Moore Sanctuary, H.A.S in Houston. There was a nesting pair found along the bayou.

Henslow's Sparrow photographed in Lake Houston State Park with birding guide Gerald Walls.

Bald Eagle photographed in Ketchikan, Alaska

Photographed with a Fuji Finepix S3 camera and Nikon 300mm f2.8 lens.

Prothonotary Warbler, photo taken in Jesse Jones Park

It's sundown on the Firehole River, and there is just enought light for one more cast. You look around at what God has created; the landscape, the animals, sunsets and sunrises and wonder how anyone cannot believe?

This photo was taken on the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park at sunset in mid-September. I had set up the camera and tripod to take a photo of the sunset on the river. When the fly fisherman worked his way into the photo, I waited until he was at the "power point" and took this image.

I entered the photo in the St. Luke's Episcopal Hospitall, Texas Medical Center photography contest in 2001 and it chosen as "Best of Show". In addition to the $150 prize, it hangs in the Debakey Heart Institute along with other years winners.

As the sun gets lower in the sky, light begins to work on the dust in the atmosphere and starts turning the sky warmer.

Sleeping Common Nighthawk photographed on Retillion Rd, Bolivar, TX

Chihuahuan Desert in Big Bend National Park

Your Bio

My name is Wayne Wendel. I retired from the Houston Police Dept. in April of 2005. My love of the outdoors and nature led me into photography. I began nature photography about 8 years ago while on bow-hunting trips, taking pictures of animals, landscapes and birds. I now shoot with a 500mm lens instead of a longbow.

The Psalmist tells us that the "heavens declare the glory of God and the earth shows his handiwork." A nature photographer puts a frame around what God has already painted for us to enjoy. In every photograph I try to convey the beauty of God's creative genius. Limited by composition, exposure, and equipment, my photography attempts to reveal the beauty in the natural world. Whether landscape, birds or flowers. God's creation is revealed in every photograph.

Birds are the most abundant subject to photograph and a natural subject for the nature photographer. I got interested in birding so I could name all the birds I was photographing. Many of my photos were taken on property managed by the Houston Audubon Society and I have donated many photographs for their web site. You can see them at http://www.houstonaudubon.org. I switched from slides to digital photography in 2000 and currently use a Nikon D200 digital camera with Nikon lenses and a Gitzo tripod topped with an Arca-Swiss ball head. My favorite lenses are 500mm f/4, 300mm/f4, 70-180 f/3.5 macro, an 18-200mm f/3.5 and a 70-200mm f/2.8 and 12-24mm f/4. I also use a Leica Digilux 3 in landscape photography and Canon G9 Sure Shot for snapshots.