Photographer Todd Sherlock follows old Boy Scout adage: Be prepared

Todd Sherlock knows better than to leave home without his trusty Nikon.

Sometimes it's stashed in his coat pocket, sometimes in his car, but it's almost always within fairly easy reach.

For the past three or four years, the Downers Grove man has been focusing a lot of his efforts - no pun intended - on photography, and if there's one thing he's learned, it's this: "You never know what you're going to find."

As if to prove the point, Sherlock says he was taking a walk at one of his favorite haunts, the Herrick Lake Forest Preserve near Wheaton, when he came upon a pond where the combination of light, wind and shadows from nearby trees helped create a gorgeous ripple effect.

Out came the Nikon and he calls the image he came away with "Autumn Ripples."

"You can go back to the same spot five days in a row and never get 'Autumn Ripples' again," Sherlock says.

The Daily Herald's DuPage County photo staff was suitably impressed and chose "Ripples" as the winner of our November Photo Finish contest.

DuPage Photo Director Scott Sanders says Sherlock's winning shot "looks like a Japanese painting. The pastel colors heighten the effect.

"It also demonstrates that you don't have to travel to some distant, exotic location to find opportunities for excellent photos."

That's true, but it doesn't mean Sherlock's path to photography didn't take some twists and turns. In the past, he's helped oversee some Merrill Chase art galleries, been a buyer for Marshall Field and worked at an Oakbrook Center art gallery that featured nature photography.

When that gallery closed three years ago, Sherlock found himself with time to pursue his own interest in photography - and it's a wide-ranging interest.

"I always thought I had a pretty good eye," he says.

He has his own website to show off some of his works - go to fineartamerica.com and type in his name - and he says his pictures have appeared in the Daily Herald 23 times.

Sherlock says he enjoys shooting pictures of almost anything, from barns and horses to the wonders of Chicago's architecture.

"I like things that are rusting out and falling down," he says. "And I enjoy shooting barns. I bet I've shot every barn between here and Champaign on Route 47."