I've been working steadily on a new body of work, which is not quite ready for the world's eyes. But this is a small collection of some of the more beautiful things around my world. 

The sun sets January 28, 2016 near Taylorville, Illinois.

Daffodils bloom March 12, 2016 outside a home in Sparta, Illinois.

Prayer flags glow in the morning sun March 16, 2016 in Steeleville, Illinois. 

Storm clouds pass over a flooded farm field Dec. 28 in Raddle, Ill. Rain is forecast to subside after Mon. with Mississippi flood waters cresting Thurs. at 49.8 ft. and possibly breaching levees in Southern Illinois. 

Sisters Carrie Witthoft, top right, and Stephanie King, top middle, talk with friend Stacey Smith, top left, of plans for moving their grandfather, Herbert Korando, 83, because of iminent flooding near his Raddle, Ill. home Dec. 28. This is not Korado’s first flood. He recalls several floods in 1943, 1944, 1947, and again in 1993. While other neighbors were evacuating, Korando wanted to give it one more day. 

A crew, including Menard Correctional Center inmates, work to close and sandbag a levee Dec. 28 between Jackson and Randolph Counties in Ill. in anticipation of significant flooding. The Mississippi River is anticipated to crest at 49.8 ft. at Chester, Ill., higher than the flood of 1993. 

Graffiti demands “No trespassing,” on a house near Jacob, Ill. Dec. 29.

Karen Hall, right, looks out over her backyard with her 15-year-old daughter, Miriah Hall Dec. 29 in Jacob Ill. The day before, Karen’s children had used wooden pallets to make a dock in the standing water behind their home. 

A friend drives up the levee Dec. 29 to tak Ron Kranawetter’s livestock to safer ground, away from the potential flooding on his Jacob farm. 

Donnie Stueve watches as trucks are filled with his grain Dec. 29 near Raddle, Ill. As the threat of a levee break increased, farmers in the region hauled their grain and machinery to higher ground. 

This has always been my favorite time of year to shoot. I love the scenes of the world getting ready to slow down. Bringing the corn and beans in. Planting rows of winter crops. It will never not be beautiful to me and I am grateful to be back in this area just in time to see it. 

Harvest crews work the field Sept. 15, 2015 near Steeleville, Ill.

A mowed field Sept. 15, 2015 near Steeleville, Ill.

Corn is ready to be harvested Sept. 15, 2015.

 Melchor Fabcan, middle, and his father, Salvador Fabcan, right, examine apples brought by the pickers and hand out bonus pay tokens Sept. 1, 2015 in a stand of trees at Rendleman Orchard. Salvador has worked on the farm for more than two decades and raised his son there. As the years have gone on, orchard owner Wayne Sirles says multiple generations of works at the orchard have grown more common.

Salvador Fabcan sorts through apples brought by pickers in the field Sept. 1 2015 on Rendleman Orchard in Alto Pass. 

An abandoned house Sept. 17, 2015 near Steeleville, Ill.