Laudholm landscape
Time for a landscape Pic for today 🙂 A lovely late summer sky over the buildings at Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve) in Wells, Maine. iPhone SE with Moment thin case and Sirui 18mm ultra-wide lens. Apple Camera app with Smart HDR engaged. Processed in Apple Photos.
September rose…
We have these two small rose bushes out front, which I think I bought at Walmart several years ago. They have bloomed every year in the spring, and this year, for some reason, they are blooming again in September. This is a shot after rain overnight on a bud just opening. Not dew on roses, but rain on roses. September roses. iPhone SE with Moment thin case and Sirui 10x macro lens. Apple Camera app with Smart HDR engaged. Processed in Apple Photos.
American Lady
American Lady Butterfly: Kennebunk Plains Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — It is short aster season on the Kennebunk Plains here in Southern Maine, with at least 3 species of small asters in bloom, and large areas heavily carpeted. I found several fairly fresh looking American Ladies working a stand in the sun. They did not want to sit still for photography but I did my best. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos and assembled in FrameMagic. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/1000th, 1/1000th, 1/640th, and 1/800th.
Praying Mantis
Praying Mantis (European Mantis): Kennebunk Plains Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I have not seen a Praying Mantis in several years. I see them so infrequently these days that I remember every encounter. Of course the one I saw a few years ago was the first one I had seen since I was a boy playing the fields of upstate New York on the Vermont border, so I am thinking either they are fairly rare (not likely) or I am just not looking at the right time. 🙂 This week when I went out to the Kennebunk Plains I saw at least 4, maybe 5, Praying Mantises, all in a little square of low vegetation about 20 feet on a side in the middle of the plains with no particular distinguishing features. Maybe there were other clusters like it…but I did not find any. Strange. It was quite windy and the Mantises were up on waving grass stalks hunting so my photos are not portrait quality, but still, it was fun to see them. I am happy not to be a honey bee when these are around. (I am happy not to be a honey bee most of the time, but I certainly would not want to fall prey to a Praying Mantis.) I am not certain these are European Mantis, but that is most common species in Maine. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/640 and 1/500th.
Great Egret hunting
Great Egret: Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA — This is Maine and the Egrets are never as close as I would like, but we do get Great Egrets in good numbers during the extended migration in late summer and early fall. There were two hunting in the tidal marsh beyond the viewing platform in the Maple Swamp. The Sony Rx10iv will take a good crop when the birds are too far away, and this shot had some help from Pixomatic Photo Pro’s Machine Learning Max Resolution…but the main limiting factor with birds across a marsh at any distance, no matter how long your lens or big your sensor, is heat wave interference, and you can see some softening this shot. Still, and elegant bird, even in hunting mode. Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr, Pixomatic Photo Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4.5 @ 1/1000th. -1/3 EV.
Cormorant attitude!
Double Crested Cormorant: Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms, Wells, Maine, USA — I went to Laudholm Farms specifically to fill my photo buffer. When you post a image every day, you have to think about keeping ahead of the calendar 🙂 I found this handsome (and doesn’t he just know it) fellow on the boat dock at the overlook on the Little River. At least I think it is a “he”. I see what might be the beginnings of crests happening above the eyes. We rarely to never see them in breeding plumage here in southern Maine. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/1000th.
Monarch Chrysalis
When I visit the Wells Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms in Wells, Maine, I park my trike on the grass beside the bike rack beyond the Handicapped Parking signs. As I passed carefully between the signs yesterday there was a nice fresh Monarch chrysalis hanging, right at my eye level on the trike, from the underside of one of the signs. Too good an opportunity to miss, and before I road away after my hike, I set my iPhone up with the Sirui 10x Macor lens and took a number of shots. It is a fascinating structure, and there were still water drops on it from the rain overnight. Altogether a thing of beauty. It is a rather exposed spot and I can only hope it survives to be a butterfly. iPhone SE with Moment thin case and Sirui 10x Macro lens. Standard Apple Camera app with Smart HDR engaged. Processed Apple Photos.
Bumblebee in the Turtlehead
Someone gave us a few Turtlehead plants many years ago, and they have grown into 4 substantial clumps in the shade of the trees along either edge of our yard. Turtleheads are more commonly a flower of the stream-side. We have the white variety growing wild along the Kennebunk River not from from home. They are such a strange flower, closed in on themselves and not very inviting, but the big bumblebees we have here in Southern Maine seem to like them, and are very busy forcing their ways into the throat of the turtle and back out again laden with pollen. I was out with my iPhone for some macro and semi-macro shots. This one was taken with the Sirui 60mm portrait lens on the Moment thin case at about 2x digital zoom with the standard Apple Camera app. Smart HDR engaged. Processed in Apple Photos.
Hog Island Ketch
This shot is just right at the edge of what I can call Nature Photography. If it were a close up of the sailing ketch then, for sure, it would not be a nature photo…but in this ultra-wide view, the ketch…off Hog Island, Maine, USA…and the boats behind it, become elements in the land, sea, and sky scape. Mostly it is just a pleasing photo. iPhone SE with Moment thin case and Sirui 18mm ultra-wide. Standard Apple Camera app with smart HDR engaged. Processed in Apple Photos.
Muskrat Monarch
Monarch Butterfly, Muskrat Pond, Medomak, Maine, USA — It is the season of the Monarch in Maine, whether I am in Kennebunk around home, or, apparently, further north in Medomak. There are large stands of goldenrod and the invasive Himalayan Balsam between the road and the edge of Muskrat Pond, and the Monarchs were working it on the overcast morning we visited. The color contrasts make the shot. Just another Monarch? Perhaps not in this setting. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th.