I surprisingly found this guy shuffeling around in the leaves on the side of one of the trails in the Fred Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Good luck to my competitors. Please tell me what you think of it if you have time:)!

Camera: Nikon D40
Lens: Nikkor AF 70-300mm G
Exposure: 1/200 of a sec f/5.6 at 800 ISO focal length 240 with a tripod

I found this giraffe wandering the "veld" on it's own. He stood still for a few seconds as if he new I wanted to take a photo and then carried on.

Just a regular old garden spider on its web on a fence next to a lake. Took this at night and the little fella was kind enough to not move for a 2 second exposure.

Axis deer in "velvet" stage of horn development. A native of India, transplanted to a US ranch.

Trying to keep cool

This baby moose was trying to cross the road where his mother was waiting (right behind us!)
In this shot, a group of Harleys were coming down the road and scared him.
He ended up bolting the other way up the mountain and mom went running after him. First time I had ever been this close to one in the wild.

This weta is still a young one, which is why it's colour is quite pale. It is about 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, with antenna at least twice that.

I found it in my mother-in-laws woodpile.

Not at all pleased to be chosen for photographic glory, it charged the camera, from about 3 inches away!

View full for true ugly!

Be gentle with him (and me).