Posts in Category: flowers
Wood Lily…I warned you :)
I did warn you that I was not done with Wood Lilies. This cluster was growing on the Maguire Road section of the Kennebunk Plains, here in Southern Maine. Note the tiny Green Metallic Bee between the bottom two flowers, on its way to its next pollen stop. I came in close for a more conventional close-up. Sony Rx10iv at 106mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Wood Lily Close
I went back out to the Kennebunk Plains yesterday looking for Wood Lilies and dragonflies…this time to what I think of as the “back” side of the plains…the area along Maguire Road where it runs up toward Route 99 and the “front” side of the plains. I was, again, surprised to find that many of the lilies there were already past their prime. It seems to be an early bloom this year, and the lilies on the back side of the plains, for whatever reason, are always a bit advanced over the lilies on the front side. This is a smallish lily growing all by itself, and I zoomed in close for the shot. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. You will have to indulge me on Wood Lilies. I have several more shots to share, but they only last a few weeks and then they are gone for 12 months. 🙂
Wood Lily (again)
One Wood Lily leads to another 🙂 Such lovely flowers. I wait for them to bloom every year. They are not with us many weeks and then they are gone for another year. Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine. Sony Rx10iv at about 420mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Wood Lily!
I rode my ebike out to the Kennebunk Plains yesterday looking for dragonflies, and was surprised to find the the Wood Lilies in full bloom. This feels early for Wood Lily. I think of them in full bloom in mid to late July…but there they were. Much of the area where they grow was included in the prescribed burn of last September, and it looks like we will not have lilies this year in those areas, but along the edge in the deeper brush that did not burn, they are tall already. The light was lovely yesterday afternoon and showed the lilies to best advantage. Sony Rx10iv at 480mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Wild Rose with Snout Beatles
The wild roses are in bloom at Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve) just down the road from us…well, actually, they are in bloom all though southern Maine right now…but I photographed this one at Laudholm Farms. It has some pesky visitors, known to gardeners (and everyone else) as the Red-snout Beatles. They are not welcome in most people’s gardens, as they damage the plants, but I guess, out here in nature, they are to be expected where the flowers are in bloom. Sony Rx10iv at 512mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Grass Pink Orchids
Grass Pink Orchids come in many different shades and there is even a rare White Grass Pink Orchid, which is its own species. The last flower in this series might be one…but it could be just a unusually pale Grass Pink. It certainly stood out among all the pinker Grass Pinks in the tiny remnant bog at Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve), in Wells, Maine. The boardwalk through the bog is my go-to place for at least two bog orchids…the Grass Pink and the Rose Pogonia …though it was apparently too dry this spring for the Pagonias. Sony Rx10iv at various focal lengths from 600mm to about 80mm using Sony’s full time macro. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications (which I also use for macro). Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Jack-in-the-pulpit
The parking lot and trail at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge here in Southern Maine has been closed until just this past weekend, so I have not been able to check on this year’s crop of Jack-in-the-pulpits near the bike rack were they have been growing for several years. Now that the parking lot is open, I stopped by on my eBike to see what was up. I suspect the first plants were transplanted as part of a “wild garden” concept, which has since gone completely wild. The Jacks that grow there are the largest I have ever seen…way larger than I could have ever imagined Jack-in-the-pulpits could get. The oldest plants are over 3 feet tall with many pulpits…and some of the pulpits themselves are 6 inches in length. The leaves can be a foot long. These are really big plants. And they are spreading. There are now two smaller plants along side the bike rack that were definitely not there last year. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at various focal lengths (the Sony has full time macro focus). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Beach Rose Pond
This little pond is right on Route 9 between Brown Street and the Kennebunk/Wells town line. The beauty of this view stopped me on my eBike as I rode by yesterday. Sony Rx10iv at 24mm equivalent. HDR mode. I used Program Shift to select a small aperture for increased depth of field and selective focus on the roses. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Wild Iris
The Wild Iris, also called the Blue Flag Iris, is one of the most beautiful and widespread wildflowers of late spring / early summer in North America. I wait patiently for this reliable clump, a the edge of a pond along one of our local roads, to bloom each year. Generally I can catch them on at least one sunny day, but this year they were in full bloom on the first of day of several days of overcast and rain. Still beautiful. I used Program Shift to select f16 for this shot…to increase depth of field, and selectively focused on the closest Iris. Though I say that, I was also using HDR mode to help keep detail in the cloudy sky…so, while the recorded aperture is indeed f16, at a shutter speed of 1/20th of a second (ISO 100 and an exposure bias of -1 (again for detail in the clouds)…some of the individual exposures for the HDR will have varied one or more of those settings. At any rate, I was pleased with the results. I try to avoid anything under f5.6 in general shooting, as the Sony lens is sharpest near wide open, but this, I think, worked. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Lupines for Sunday
On Friday afternoon I rode my eBike out to Emmon’s Preserve to check for early dragonflies in the meadows, but mainly to check on the Lupine bloom in a field out that way. In the week between visits we have had some nice early summer weather, and indeed, the Lupines have responded. I took my landscape camera with me…the Sony a6500 with the 16mm lens (24mm equivalent) and the Ultrawide converter, which results in an 18mm equivalent view. I invested in this combination because I always enjoy the perspective of the ultrawide lens. I don’t carry it enough on my photoprowls around home. The sun was behind the clouds, where it had been all morning, when I got to the Lupine field, but I waited it out, and got a few shots at the end of the visit with the sun on the flowers. I offer this shot as celebration of Sunday! Sony a6500 as above with 18mm equivalent. HDR mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.