Fairlee physical therapist Catherine Burt caught Lake Morey in an early January thaw that left inches of water on top of ice. Shooting from the porch of a friend who lives along the lake, Burt was able to capture this “walking on water” (or standing in sky) image with a Fuji digital pocket camera as residents mulled around on the lake in rubber boots.

“I couldn’t believe there was so much water, and it was still frozen,” Burt said.

While Burt has been interested in photography since childhood, she started putting a lot of effort into her nature photos last spring. She carried the camera with her on walks after work, documenting the living world around her. She started a nature photo album that she showed to her uncle Jeremy Dickson, a Bradford, Vt., professional photographer. “He said, ‘You have a good eye and I think you should consider moving up to a better camera,’ which I have yet to do.”

In another light and water shot, Tom Neubelt caught the burning of the sun in fog at the far end of Island Pond in Washington, N.H., while staying at his in-laws’ cottage. A part-time motor sports photographer, Neubelt, 54, has loved and photographed landscapes most of his life. But this shot struck the note he’s sought after most within that category — scenes of storms and intense mood.

“Living in the Upper Valley, you see some really interesting weather,” Neubelt said.

Arriving at the cottage, he spotted the scene and immediately set up on a dock using a Nikon D2X digital camera with a 300 mm lens. “It was way down at the end of the lake,” he said. “I shot a few frames trying to catch the light.”

Magic Wings butterfly sanctuary in Deerfield, Mass., had good things in store for Randy Britton, of Grantham, and his daughter, Olivia, last summer. Both were waiting for the moment when the light and color would come together. “Olivia just loves butterflies, and she’d dressed up so they would land on her, because she’d heard they might do that,” Britton said.

Olivia, 4, in a bright green dress, and her father with a digital Canon Rebel, made this image as one of the sanctuary’s 4,000 butterflies came to rest on her finger.

“I was able to capture that wonder and excitement,” Britton said. “It was a nice spot. They had lots of skylights all over, a lot of natural light and it was a pretty, sunny day. It was a matter of trying to catch her in just the right shot.”