Images: Photo contest finalists
A dragon fly lands on a blade of grass in the Grant Woods Forest Preserve in Ingleside in June.
Marty Krogh of Ingleside
A grizzly bear and her cubs play in the grass in Katmai, Alaska in July 2010.
Cindy Groth of Hoffman Estates
A bug crawls up the stamen of a day lily in a Palatine garden .
Bob Esbensen of Palatine
Two kids stop runnng around to watch the fireworks display in Wauconda on July 3rd.
Patti McElwee of Wauconda
Space shuttle Atlantis breaks through the clouds at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 8 to offer one last glimpse as she heads out for her final mission.
Anita Sloma-Martinez of Elk Grove Village
I took this picture last month while in San Francisco. It was my first time there and I had to settle for the Golden Gate in the fog. Its still very impressive.
Milton Hoskins of Hampshire
This photo shows star trails across the night sky. In order to achieve this effect i had to take one picture every thirty seconds of the stars. Since the Earth rotates the stars appear to move, thus creating the light lines you see in the picture. Lastly I had to blend all two hundred of the images together to create what are known as star trails.
Brendan McGee of Batavia
Here is a shot from Door County, Wisconsin at the end of June, in the town of Sister Bay.
Richard Baley of Elgin
These beautiful sun rays brightened my backyard early one morning.
Sue Gager of Roselle
I took this photo through my picture window. It looked like the jay was watching me! Ive taken several pictures of birds including hawks this way while they visit our bird feeder.
Kathy Rambo of Wheaton
I took this picture of a beautiful magnolia in New Orleans. The magnolia trees were in full bloom everywhere I looked.
Linda M. Fiermuga of Addison