Morning sunshine was pushing the clouds away at Rogers Lakewood Park.

“God’s mercies are new every morning.”
Lamentations 3:23
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
Morning sunshine was pushing the clouds away at Rogers Lakewood Park.
Lamentations 3:23
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
Wordless Wednesday – Cluster of Yellow
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
Seeing the beginning of the end of nature’s season of growth.
This time of summer is about over! Autumn colors and snowy white winter are soon to follow.
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
Macro Monday – A thistle flower waving in the wind at Gabis Arboretum in Valparaiso, Indiana.
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
Silent Sunday – Field of Vision
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
The end of summer has brought glowing wispiness along the Great Marsh Trail – Indiana Dunes National Park.
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
Other than being macro, this is definitely outside of my usual photography box. Seemingly locked in place, these chains caught my eye and I couldn’t resist clicking.
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
A great way to start the day is hiking along a tree-lined path to sunshine. This trail happens to be at Meadowbrook Nature Preserve in Valparaiso, Indiana.
– Henry David Thoreau
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
Surrounded by a world of green images from two of Chicago’s conservatories.
Above is a succulent from the Desert Garden in Garfield Conservatory. Below is a large fan palm leaf captured at the Oak Park Conservatory.
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
Traveling and experiencing new places is something that I have always enjoyed. My one regret is that my furthest adventure to Vienna, Austria for a total of 5,596 miles from my then home of Houston, Texas, also happened 10 years before I discovered the delight of photography. I simply did not understand what the hubbub of photography was all about. I have lots of great memories from spending three weeks with my daughter exploring parts of Siegen, Germany by train and flying to Vienna, Austria for a few days, but not a single photograph.
Fast forward to 2014 when I got to tag along with my hubby on one of his trips to Florence, Italy. By this time I had my first camera, a Nikon 3200 with one kit lens. I had only had it for maybe a couple of months before this trip and really had no idea what I was doing but I took lots of photos, including chalk artist above and doors and windows below.
This trip to Italy is a close second in furthest place that I have traveled to from home at about. Many of the pictures from this trip were lost a few years ago when making the switch from Apple’s Aperture to Lightroom but these three images were saved. I am grateful to have them and now I understand the importance of backing up photos in more than one place.
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
More travel adventures are to come. Let the fun continue!
Fandango’s One Word Challenge – Hubbub
Ragtag Daily Prompt – Delight
In the Garden – Ready for Picking
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
Wordless Wednesday
It’s almost impossible for me to walk past a flower without pausing to take a closer look at the details within. Hiking along the same paths will probably take me a lot shorter time in a couple of months or so when the flowers have all disappeared until spring.
This flower within a flower was happily blooming at Meadowbrook Nature Preserve in Valparaiso, Indiana.
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
I knew it was inevitable. Eventually I would have to do it. Do what, you ask. I’ve made the switch from my much-loved Nikon D850 to a Nikon mirrorless camera. I’ve gone from being doubtful and filled with questions to feeling relieved and unbelievably delighted.
I had been keeping an observant eye on the mirrorless cameras ever since Nikon announced their first mirrorless camera in the Z-line. One thing I was absolutely sure of is that a transition for me had to be to a full-frame mirrorless that was at least comparable to my Nikon D850. Only then, would I even consider making a switch.
Then came the Nikon Z 7II. It looked and sounded great on the Nikon website from the very first. Still a bit apprehensive, I waited and waited until more reviews came out from Nikon professional photographers whose interests were similar to my own. I figured if a professional photographer was just as satisfied with the results from Z 7II as with their D850, I would look into it a bit more seriously.
Well, it got serious pretty quickly! To my surprise, many of the reviews I read felt that the Z 7II was equal to and in some ways surpassed the D850. Not only that, the equivalent lenses that were “must haves” for me (such as a macro lens), were now also available in the mirrorless line. My hubby who already knew my considerations for making the switch, understood my excitement and encouraged me to “Just Do It!”
It has now been exactly three months since trading up from my Nikon D850 camera and every lens in my bag and replacing them with a new Nikon Z 7II and my first two must-have lenses. As hard as it was to pack up my D850 plus lenses and send them away to Nikon, I have not regretted the decision once since receiving my Z 7II. I absolutely love, love, LOVE it! The biggest difference for me has been the amazing focus on the Z 7II. I was already using the D850 completely on manual mode except for auto focus. WIth my bad eyesight and handheld shots 95% of the time, the auto-focus on the D850 did a much better job than I could accomplish. Now with the Z 7II, I am manually focusing every single shot (handheld), just because I can and it is fun. From day one with the Z 7II, I was able to take a lot fewer clicks of the same shot to be sure I had a decent shot. I often take one click of the shutter and move on to a different framing or completely different scene. I get home with fewer photos to cull through but with many more usable pics that I am happy with and that are worth keeping.
I almost forgot to mention that the Nikon Z 7II is also much smaller and lighter in weight, which makes a huge difference when hiking for miles with a camera bag on my back. Can you tell I love my new camera and lenses?
All the photos used on this post were taken with my Nikon Z 7II and some have been used in earlier posts over the last three months. For me, there’s not a single regret to making the switch to a mirrorless camera and the fun has just begun!
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
As I was traipsed the trails at Hamstra Gardens, I glanced through the trees and what did I see? A hidden cottage on the edge of the water!
Thinking that I would love to live there, wouldn’t you?
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
Looking forward to the changing colors of fall but until then, I will enjoy the last of the yellow shades of summer.
These pretty flowers happened to be at Foundation Meadows Park in Valparaiso, Indiana.
All photos are my own. ©Pepper Tron/Heaven’s Sunshine
No usage allowed in any form without my written consent.
Heaven’s Sunshine – Capturing the beauty of God’s creation through the lens of a camera.