Kippy Spilker
banner
kippy.geminai.com
Kippy Spilker
@kippy.geminai.com
Photographer and Creative Manager, I'm a Buddhist-wannabe, hoping to make a difference. Avid reader, enthusiastic kayaker, inexperienced bicyclist, mediocre hiker. Married to my best friend, and mom to fur-kids only.

Brevity is not one of my virtues.
Two weeks ago we drove through a snowstorm to meet Gerald, who became our new family member that day. Caught as a stray with wounds consistent with jumping or being thrown from a moving car, he has brought that beautiful lab energy back to our home. He is very loved. Dets in alt text. #adopt #dogs
March 30, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Yesterday we saw a lot of #SomethingBeautiful during a gorgeous day paddle on Mono Lake, outside Yosemite National Park. After exploring the south tufa, we spent time on geothermal Paoha Island. What a great day to be in the caldera of a volcano.

#PhotographersUnited #Kayaking #Tufa #Geothermal
March 10, 2025 at 10:55 PM
I'm lucky in that much of my job relies on me finding #SomethingBeautiful in our state. This was taken on one of those days, where our staff went kayaking on Lake Tahoe, in clear-bottomed boats. I took this photo of a beautiful day 'hard at work.'

#PhotographersUnited
#ILoveMyJob
#DronePhotography
March 3, 2025 at 10:27 PM
#SomethingBeautiful in a quick cell phone snap, while on a bike ride today. This blue heron patiently allowed me to take a photo. Loved the reflections.

#Wildlifephotography
#CellPhonePhotography
#PhotographersUnited
#Photography
#Booksky
#Herons
March 2, 2025 at 1:42 AM
If you've traveled through the Reno-Tahoe Int'l Airport, you may have encountered #SomethingBeautiful of the canine persuasion - the volunteers of Paws 4 Passengers. Leaving smiles in their wake, they are 4-legged angels. Their people aren't too bad, either. ;)

#PhotographersUnited
#Dogs
#Flying
February 26, 2025 at 10:00 PM
#SomethingBeautiful, for sure! A sign that spring is on the way, when the stonecrop starts waking up. :)

#CellPhonePhotography #PhotographersUnited #SpringIsComing #Succulents #Stonecrop #Gardening
February 24, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Made our way up to #SomethingBeautiful today. Almost 600 feet of elevation gain, I'm definitely feeling this snowshoe, but it was so worth it. This is Lake Tahoe as seen from near Captain Pomin Rock. #Photography #PhotographersUnited #LakeTahoe #Snowshoeing #SierraNevada #Nevada
February 22, 2025 at 9:41 PM
A couple summers ago we put in a pollinator wall, and a big part of it is this Candy Swirl Honeysuckle. #SomethingBeautiful and also something good for the environment. I loved this shot of the bee, flinging pollen as it hovered.

#Photography
#PhotographersUnited
#Pollinators
#Bees
February 21, 2025 at 6:49 PM
A meteor shower over the Black Rock Desert (where Burning Man is held) in northern Nevada provided a whole night of #SomethingBeautiful last July.

#Photography, #Astrophotography, #BlackRockDesert, #PhotographersUnited, #MilkyWay, #MeteorShower
February 20, 2025 at 8:18 PM
A few years back, there was #SomethingBeautiful outside the french doors in our dining room. This gorgeous (and patient) Coopers Hawk is no dummy - lots of songbirds visit our waterfall. Not bad for shooting through glass.

#Photography, #BirdPhotography, #NaturePhotography, #PhotographersUnited
February 18, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Kippy Spilker
Working on this page brought back great memories of attending the bumble bee workshop at Nachusa Grasslands back in 2021. We were able to get close looks at many different species, but the conclusion was that our native bees are precious and need care.
#SciArt #insects #naturejournal #prairie
February 18, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Feeling a little overwhelmed of late, had to take a bit of a mental break to quiet thoughts. I endeavored for my brain to look like this photo, #SomethingBeautiful photographed while drifting by on a kayak on the Cosumnes River.

#PhotographersUnited
#BirdPhotography
#Kayaking
#Silence
#Solitude
February 17, 2025 at 7:59 PM
#SomethingBeautiful from another angle, following up yesterday's post. This day out on the water, it looked like we were paddling through liquid silver. Gorgeous, every step of the way.

#PhotographersUnited
#LiquidSilver
#Kayaking
#Photography
#WinterPaddling
#LakeTahoe
February 10, 2025 at 11:19 PM
#SomethingBeautiful from a few years back, when we kayaked about 12 miles round trip, to Emerald Bay in south Lake Tahoe. Too much ice for us to get out on shore, and the water was like liquid silver.

#WinterKayaking
#LakeTahoe
#PhotographersUnited
#IceIceBaby
#GoodDays
February 9, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Last night at a work event, I saw #SomethingBeautiful. I'm not sure Olaf the Owl thought the same. haha. He stared at me for nearly a full minute like this. Perhaps he sensed my adoration ...

#PhotographersUnited
#Owls
#Falconers
#Raptors
#UnrequitedLove
February 7, 2025 at 8:11 PM
I was sitting still in my kayak, shooting something else, when some coots drifted by me. I had the audacity to LOOK at them, and they took off. I didn't mean to startle them, but it did make for a beautiful photo.

#SomethingBeautiful
#WildlifePhotography
#PhotographersUnited
#Birds
#Coots
February 6, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Christmas Eve morning, 2016, we found ourselves paddling into #SomethingBeautiful (and also Something Intimidating) on Lake Tahoe. We didn't go far and we didn't stay out long, but Tahoe almost never disappoints, especially in the winter.

#kayaking #storms #PhotographersUnited #LakeTahoe
February 5, 2025 at 4:05 PM
We said goodbye to our beloved english lab, Larry, a week ago today. This morning, as I pulled into a road near work, this was what I saw. Just physics, but I'm still going to take it as a sign of happier times to come.

#SomethingBeautiful #Rainbows #PhotographersUnited #CellPhonePhotography
February 4, 2025 at 4:04 PM
A kayaker heading out to fish before sunrise, Lake Alpine, CA, 2018.

#SomethingBeautiful
#PhotographersUnited
#LakeAlpine
#Fishing
#Kayaking
#Sunrise
#Photography
February 3, 2025 at 6:40 PM
One of my favorite drone photos, also a Nat Geo editor's choice, back in the day. A photographer friend of mine walking up Crescent Dune, outside Tonopah, NV, one freezing cold early morning.

#SomethingBeautiful #PhotographersUnited #DronePhotography #Photography #Nevada
February 2, 2025 at 5:58 PM
"Is that a sparrow?" I inquired, as we were snowshoeing in Ebbett's Pass. As we approached I could tell this was no sparrow, but it wasn't 'til I had my camera up that I realized it was a tiny little owl! Pygmy owl, to be precise.

#SomethingBeautiful #PhotographersUnited #wildlifephotography #owls
February 1, 2025 at 11:39 PM
May 10, 2024, the first of recent northern lights events we could see in Nevada. We eventually found ourselves at Fort Churchill State Historic Park. This shot is bracketed, to showcase the structures and the skies.
#SomethingBeautiful #PhotographersUnited #Astrophotography #AuroraBorealis
January 31, 2025 at 4:07 PM
There was #SomethingBeautiful in the sky in 2020. Neowise Comet photographed at Mono Lake, CA, at Blue Hour - 4:29 a.m.

#comet
#MonoLake
#Astrophotography
#photography
January 30, 2025 at 3:54 PM
This is the Larry. Technically it's "Everybody Loves Larry," & that is the truth.

Tired of fighting cancer at nearly 13 years old, tonight he crosses the rainbow bridge. So today is one more trip to the river, lots of bacon, broccoli, & snuggles.

#SomethingBeautiful
#BestBoy
#RainbowBridge
#dogs
January 28, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Up at 5:30 a.m. to get to the trail for this hike. We go early because our dogs don't have great recall (our fault) and we like to allow them off-leash. What a gorgeous autumn 2023 hike to Scott Lake, near Hope Valley, CA.

#SomethingBeautiful
#Dogs
#Hiking
#Autumn
#SierraNevada
January 27, 2025 at 4:00 PM