Steven Helmer Publications

Timing is everything when it comes to nature photography. Some days (like yesterday), I'll go for a walk and not see anything worth taking a photo of. Other days (like today), I'll walk around a corner and there will be a snake with a frog in its mouth.

After a bit of a hiatus, I decided to grab my camera and hit the nature trails again today. As I expected, many of the trails were underwater from the recent rain and there were a ton of mosquitoes. But I still managed to get a few photos while I was out.

Synopsis: Daniel Pecan Cambridge is an ordinary American, except for the fact he is afraid of 8-inch-high curbs, can't hold a job because of a counting obsession, secretly drugs is upstairs neighbor, is romantically obsessed with a local realtor he has never spoken to, needs to have a grand sum of 1125 watts of light in his apartment and was once a suspect in a murder.
Review: I ended up checking out this book from our local library a couple days ago mostly because I am a big Steve Martin fan and, until recently, had completely forgotten he had written books. I didn't really know what to expect from this particular novel, but, after finishing it, I have to say I enjoyed every page.I think the thing that really drew me in when reading this book was I didn't quite know what it was going to be about. It's a first-person account from Daniel's perspective and, as a result of that, a lot of the pages are nothing more than him rambling a bit and not seeming to have much of…

Synopsis: Still sporting a black eye from a fight at his sister's wedding, a cynical journalist travels to Pittsburgh to interview children's television star Fred Rogers for a puff piece about heroes. Believing Mr. Rogers isn't as clean-cut as he would have people believe, he attempts to dig deeper but ultimately winds up being drawn in by the TV star's genuine warmth.Who's in it? The movie stars Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Chris Cooper, Maryann Plunkett and Susan Kelechi Watson. Review: I've had this movie on DVD from Netflix for a few weeks now and just never seemed to find the motivation to watch it. However, my wife and I had some free time yesterday evening and, mostly so I could send it back, we decided to finally watch it.I wasn't really sure if I would enjoy this movie, to be honest. In fact, that is a large part of the reason why we took so long to watch it. After seeing it, I can honestly say I didn't hate it. However, it also wasn't quite wha…

Synopsis: When Perry Mason recovers a pair of ostrich-plume fans following a car accident and attempts to return them to their rightful owner, he ends up representing a successful fan dancer accused of killing her estranged husband.

Review: I started out reading a non-Perry Mason mystery a few days ago but, after losing interest after only a couple chapters, pulled out this book instead. I finished it on Saturday morning and, overall, found I enjoyed the book.There were a couple things I found I really liked about this mystery. One of the main ones was the fact everything seemed to be stacked against his client. She was identified by one of Paul Drake's detectives, a witness saw her burying evidence and multiple witnesses picked her out of a lineup. Also adding to this mystery was his client's actions, which seemed to indicate her guilt. This included her stealing Mason's car and trying to flee from both him and the police. In fact, had it not been for the police insisting …

Synopsis: Still in mourning, Libby,  a widowed mother of two, moves to her aunt's goat farm hoping for a fresh start. At her aunt's insistence, she reluctantly begins to run the farm with the help of her aunt's divorced farm manager, James O'Connor.Who's in it? The movie stars Leslie Bibb, Josh Duhamel, Nora Dunn, Isiah Whitlock, Jr. and Sharon Lawrence.
Review: My wife came across this film on Netflix yesterday afternoon. Normally, it's the type of movie she would enjoy and I would avoid watching. But, since we couldn't decide on anything else and I had to make dinner anyway, I told her to just put it on. Overall, it turned out to be better than I was expecting.I'll start out by saying this movie is misclassified as a romance film. Yes, there was, predictably, some sparks between Libby (Bibb) and James (Duhamel). However, the majority of the film centered more on Libby's efforts to get over the guilt of her husband's death while coming to grips …