I love being home for Thanksgiving. Nothing to do but hang out, eat, and drink with those you really care about.

Now it seems to me that people think they can’t get cool photographs around where they live. I think they’re wrong. It’s really amazing what you see when you just open your eyes.

So for Thanksgiving and in the spirit of being home for the holidays, I thought I’d post some shots from around my house — some taken in the last couple days.

This first one is who I’d like to call the “King” of the pond in my neighborhood. This mammoth red-painted turtle is one amazing (and ugly) dude. Here he stands in his classic “King of the Castle” pose:

Red Painted Turtle in Maryland (click for larger version or purchase)

I’ve got plenty more of him and his turtle, frog, and dragonfly friends from the pond… if only I could catch up on my editing queue… stay tuned.

This next one is from a lake about 1.5 miles from my house. I used a long exposure on this shot to show movement in the water:

Lake Needwood(click for larger version or purchase)

Got this next shot at a park near my girlfriend’s house:

Fall colors in Clarksburg, MD (click for larger version or purchase)

These next two shots were taken just a couple days ago.

This first one was at dusk after a cloudly day. I ventured a few miles north from my house in search of an open field… hoping to capture some of the dramatic clouds and color with the setting sun. I found a small opening in the road… into something I would call a random, open field. On this approximately 3×3 acre plain sat a horde of Canadian geese, seemingly resting between flights down south. They were too far away to get a decent shot of, but were really awesome to see nonetheless. What was really cool was the dark swirling clouds over a trees backlight by the fire of the sunset:

Fall Clouds during Sunset (click for larger version or purchase)

This last one was pretty amazing to see. You might have seen my Twitter status that said, “Halo around the moon”… Well, here’s what I saw — a misty halo around the moon over my house:

Halo around the Moon (click for larger version or purchase)

There are some other cool ones from that set, so I’ll post those (hopefully soon).

Anyways, everyone have a great Thanksgiving… and cherish home, as I try to.