Josh Morgan Photography

09/08/2026

October 10th, 2021 | Lake Beshear

A mallard drake showing off a little more color than we normally get to see.

When we think of a male mallard, it’s usually the glossy green head that gets all the attention. But when he stretches his wings, that brilliant blue patch of feathers becomes impossible to miss. Those feathers are called the speculum, and they’re normally tucked away along the wing and much less noticeable.

I caught this one at just the right moment as he rose out of the water and stretched, scattering droplets around him. Between the spread wings, the water, and that flash of blue, a pretty ordinary mallard suddenly became a lot more interesting.

Taken October 10th, 2021 on Lake Beshear.

09/06/2026

This photo was taken July 30th, 2024 on Lake Beshear.

Photographing lightning is mostly a game of patience and probability. You can watch the storm and have a pretty good idea where the lightning might be, but there’s no predicting exactly when or where the next bolt will appear.

So I set the camera on a tripod and kept taking photos, using long exposures to give myself the best chance of catching a strike. Over the course of the storm, I took well over a hundred frames. Most captured nothing but clouds and water.

A handful caught exactly what I was waiting for.

This final image is a combination of 3 or 4 of those photographs, layered together to show several of the best lightning strikes from the same storm. Since the camera never moved, the landscape remained exactly the same while the sky changed from exposure to exposure.

There’s a funny contrast in photography sometimes. The finished image lasts a fraction of a second to look at, but creating it can mean standing behind a tripod taking photo after photo, waiting for nature to finally cooperate.

And on this particular night, I’d say it cooperated. ⚡📷

09/03/2026

A close flyby from an immature osprey over Lake Beshear.

One of my favorite details in this photo is the orange eye. Young ospreys typically have orange to reddish-orange eyes, which gradually transition toward the bright yellow eyes we normally associate with adults.

It’s one of those little details that’s easy to overlook until you freeze the bird in flight and get a chance to really study it.

📍 Lake Beshear, Kentucky
📷 August 31st, 2026

09/01/2026

Just enough contact.

An osprey skimming across the surface of Lake Beshear, both feet dragging through the water as it pulls away. The spray hanging behind it lasts only an instant, but the camera gets to keep it.

I love photographing moments like this because there’s so much happening in a fraction of a second that you don’t always notice in real time. The stretched wings, the feet cutting through the surface, and that trail of suspended water showing exactly where it has been.

August 30th, 2026 | Lake Beshear

08/30/2026

When I first spot wildlife, I start taking photos almost immediately. You never know how long the opportunity will last. The bird could fly, move behind a tree, or the light could change in a matter of seconds.

Once I know I have a few shots, I’ll start repositioning the boat and watching the animal more closely, trying to anticipate what it might do next. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that when the sun is low on the horizon and directly behind me, birds along the bank have a much harder time seeing me. It gives me a chance to quietly “stalk” them with the camera and photograph their natural behavior without them seeming to pay much attention to me.

That’s exactly what happened with this Great Egret.

I was fortunate enough to watch it catch this bluegill, and by the time everything was over, I had a few hundred photographs to sort through.

Out of all of them, I kept coming back to this frame.

The egret had just turned its head enough for its eye to emerge from the shadow and catch the warm evening light. At the same time, the bluegill’s eye was perfectly visible and illuminated too. Two sets of eyes, both looking in completely different directions, caught in the same fraction of a second.

Taking the photographs is only half the process. Going through a few hundred frames, finding the one, and then editing it can take just as long as photographing the scene.

Actually…who am I kidding? The selection and editing usually takes way longer. 😂

📍 Lake Beshear
📅 August 25, 2026

08/27/2026

Great Egrets aren’t a common sight around Lake Beshear, so when one decides to make a pass right in front of the camera, I’m certainly not going to complain.

That brilliant white plumage really stands out against the darker water and shoreline, but what caught my attention after looking at the photo was just how much detail there is in those wings. Every feather seems to have its place.

It’s always fun when something a little out of the ordinary shows up on a lake I’ve spent so much time exploring.

Great Egret
August 25th, 2026
Lake Beshear, Kentucky

08/25/2026

After an osprey plunges into the water, it has a little housekeeping to do once it’s back in the air.

Much like a wet dog, an osprey will shake its body and feathers while flying to shed the extra water. The whole thing happens incredibly fast, turning a smooth flight into a brief explosion of water droplets.

Photography has a pretty good way of showing us things our eyes don’t always have time to see.

Taken September 10th, 2020 on Lake Beshear.

08/23/2026

Tuesday afternoon was an eagle fly-by, so it only seems fair to give the osprey a turn.

What I love most about this photo is the light. Most of the scene disappears into darkness, while just enough catches the osprey to separate it from the background. And then there’s that eye, almost impossible not to look at.

Sometimes the right light can turn a quick fly-by into something completely different.

August 19th, 2022 | Lake Beshear

08/22/2026

The 2026 Mahr Photography Contest is officially underway! 📸

I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone captures this year. Get out there, have some fun with it, and good luck to everyone who enters!

Guess what?! The 2026 Mahr Photography Contest starts TODAY!

We’re excited to see Mahr Park through your eyes! The contest runs through August 29th, and we’re especially excited about this year’s Hot Air Balloon category on August 28th during the Madisonville Illuminated Hot Air Balloon Glow.

Contest Rules & Submission:
www.mahrparkarboretum.com/photography-contest

Take a look at our 2025 Best Overall Winner in the Traditional Camera Division:
“Design Element” by Jessica Bryant

Will we see your photo featured as a 2026 winner? We can’t wait to see what you capture!

08/20/2026

There are thousands, probably millions, of photographs of the Great American Eclipse of 2017.

But this one is mine.

On August 21st, 2017, I was sitting in a boat on Lake Beshear with friends, camera pointed toward something I knew I may never get the chance to photograph quite like this again. We were only about 12 miles north of the point of greatest duration, putting us incredibly close to the center of one of the most anticipated celestial events in decades.

This photograph was taken immediately after totality, as the first bit of sunlight began to emerge from behind the moon. I was trying to create the illusion of a glowing diamond ring, and this was the result.

I took several photographs during totality that day, but nearly nine years later, this one is still my favorite.

Another total solar eclipse crossed the United States in 2024, and there will be others somewhere in the world. But I don’t know that I’ll ever again be sitting on my home lake, with friends, just a few miles from the center of totality, watching daylight disappear in the middle of the afternoon.

Sometimes the significance of a photograph isn’t that nobody else has one. It’s that you were there to take yours.

August 21st, 2017
Lake Beshear, Kentucky