Posts in Category: flowers
Any perch
My wife and I spent the better part of the day at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Maine yesterday. It is something we have done several times now on or around our anniversary. The CMBG is a treasure, the unlikely result of the ongoing efforts of a group of dedicated people in Boothbay. They have assembled a world class collection of plants in beautifully landscaped settings that always provides a day of pleasure when we visit. We were a few weeks later this year than in past visits and it was interesting to see the difference that few weeks made in what was blooming, and what was not.
A highlight of this trip was the number of insects. There were bees, mostly Bumble, everywhere, and squadrons of Twelve-spotted Skimmer Dragonflies. crickets. Wasps. Several other Odonata. Etc. It sometimes seemed difficult to photograph flowers without catching a bug in the frame. 🙂
This image is, of course, an unusual juxtaposition. Dragonflies, like the Blue Dasher here, are predators and do not generally visit flowers. That is not to say they will not settle on one if it presents itself as a likely perch for hunting. This stand of salmon colored Day Lilies was along the bank above an ornamental pond where many dragonflies were patrolling. And the Blue Dasher is not the only dragon I caught perched among the blooms.
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 380mm equivalent. Shutter preferred. 1/500th @ ISO 320 @ f8. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Day Lily Greets the Day. Happy Sunday!
Our Day Lilies are always the last to bloom on our street, and, I suspect, in town. We evidently have a unique combination of tree shade and some kind of micro-climate effect that keeps us about one to two weeks behind the prevailing season. It is what it is. Our Day Lilies are no less beautiful for being late.
I caught yesterday’s Lily just as the first sun of the day hit it. Remember our shade. It was well after dawn, but the light still held some of the early warmth and the angle was still closer to horizontal than vertical, picking the flower out against a predominantly shaded background.
Sony Alpha NEX 5T with ZEISS Touit 50mm macro. ISO 100 @ 1/160 @ f8. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
And for the Sunday Thought: Our particular micro-climate is evident in everything that grows in our yard. We are always significantly out of sync with the world around us. It is just a little strange, but we have gotten used to it. It is even possible to take some pleasure in being different. And indeed, there is a definite up-side. We get to experience every change of season twice: Once when it reaches the neighbors’ yards up and down the street, and once when it reaches ours. 🙂 And honestly, anyone who pays attention to the spirit, and certainly anyone who attempts to live by faith, is going to have to get used to being slightly out of sync with the surrounding world anyway. The spirit has its own micro-climate, even more radically different than the climate of our yard. I remember the cartoon from the Sunday Papers of my boyhood where one of the characters was always drawn with his own personal rain cloud hovering over him. I would like to think that those who live by faith should have their own personal ray of sun, no matter the prevailing weather. But of course experience does not bear that out. If those who walk by faith have a micro-climate, it is one they create around themselves despite the prevailing weather. If they have a personal ray of sun, it shines out of them, not on them. Yes the seasons of the spirit will always be slightly out of sync with the world. The trick is to be able to take pleasure in the difference…to celebrate the up-side and let your ray of sun do its work on the world around you.
More Wood Lilies!
Rain is predicted the rest of the week so I decided to do some exploring on the Kennebunk Plains yesterday. It was hot and humid but there was little wind, and I thought I might get some more photos of the Wood Lily, since the last time I tried to photograph them the wind was blowing a gale. Once out there, with my initial Wood Lily fix accomplished right near the parking area on the south side of the main road, I decided to hike down to a pond that I have known for years, from maps, is in the south side of the Plains. For whatever reason I have never visited the pond. The visit merits, and will receive, a full photoprowl treatment. The pond itself is attractive, with signs of fresh Beaver action, there were lots of dragonflies and some bird life, and an abundance of Wood Lilies.
You do not often find Wood Lilies growing in clumps as you see them here. They are mostly spread singly, in an open cluster that covers 10 square yards…maybe, at most, a half dozen plants in the cluster…or you find them growing alone, springing apparently randomly out of the grasses and brush like orange flags. So this bouquet of Wood Lilies was a treat.
Sony Alpha NEX 5T with ZEISS Touit 50mm f2.8 macro. Program shift to f16 for depth of field. ISO 100 @ 1/250th. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
And do watch for the Kennebunk Plains Pond Photoprowl on photoprowls.lightshedder.com.
Hoverfly in Grass Pink Orchid
Last Thursday I attended a program on dragonflies and butterflies at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farm in Wells, Maine. We netted a few interesting moths and butterflies…including a Snowberry Clearwing Moth…and after the program I wandered down to the boardwalk through the mini-bog that my wife Carol discovered earlier this summer. I had gotten good photos of the Grass Pink Orchids there earlier in the week, but I wanted to try for better shots of the Pink Pagonia, the other common bog orchid in Southern Maine. Still I could not resist a few more shots of Grass Pink…especially when I caught this Hoverfly visiting. There seem to be several species of Hoverfly here in Southern Maine…or else the species is very variable in size. I see all sizes, from very tiny (smaller than this one), to big brutes that over in openings and over trails in the forest 2/3rs the size of a Bumble Bee.
Sony Alpha NEX 5T with the ZEISS Touit 50mm f2.8 macro. Aperture preferred at f11 for depth of field. 1/250th @ ISO 100. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet. Cropped slightly for scale and composition.
Grass Pink, bog orchid
A collage of Grass Pink from the bog at Laudholm Farms
Grass Pink certainly got shortchanged by the naming department! This little bog orchid, which I found growing in abundance along with the more common Pink Pagonia, in the tiny section of bog at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm, should be called Purple Pulpit Flower, or Yellow Bearded Purple Bog Orchid, or certainly something much more grand than “Grass Pink” . I mean! Look at it! Anyone passing out names should be impressed. I certainly am. Bad day in the naming department, is all I have to say!
Again this panel is a mix of telephoto macros at the long end of the 600mm equivalent zoom on my Olympus OM-D E-M10, and true macros with the ZEISS Touit 50mm macro on the Sony NEX 5T. There is indeed, some variation in the purple/pink color of the blooms. A volunteer at the Reserve, who we happened to meet on the bog boardwalk, suggested that it had to do with how long the blossom had been out. She speculated that they fade in the sun. Could be. We saw a few that were definitely pink…but most were shades of purple.
As above: Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom and Sony NEX 5T with ZEISS Touit 50mm f2.8 macro. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet. Panel assembled in Pixlr Express.
Wood Lily
It is time to celebrate the Wood Lily again, now that I know where to reliably find them. They are not as abundant on the Kennebunk Plains this year as last, but when I stopped by on Saturday there were a few early blooms scattered among the blueberries on the south side of the road. The wind was blowing a gale, and the flowers were dancing above the blueberries. They were moving so much and so fast that it was hard both to find focus and to keep the flower fully in the frame…but I managed a few decent shots with the ZEISS Touit 50mm macro. The clarity of this lens continues to amaze me, and there is no more fitting subject than the brilliant Wood Lily. I especially like the subtle rendering of the orange here…the texture of of petals coming through.
Sony NEX 5T with ZEISS Touit 50mm f2.8 macro. ISO 100 @ 1/250th @ f8. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Tigers Together! Happy Sunday.
This is an all tiger shot. Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, and Tiger Lily. I started to write, “sometimes images just happen” …but of course, images always just happen. Be there. Be aware. Be ready. That is the only secret to satisfying photography, especially nature photography. This one is in a stand of Tiger Lily by the bridge over the Mousam at Old Falls Pond. It is a not a safe spot for photography, as the cars come whipping around the curve and over the bridge far too fast, and there is precious little room at the very edge of the pavement to stand, but I am always tempted across the bridge to try to get both the Lilies and the falls in the same frame. Yesterday there were Swallowtails. Such fun!
(Yes I do know that this is not a genuine Tiger Lily. It is only an orange Day Lily. But it is what everyone in Southern Maine calls a Tiger Lily. Actual Tiger Lily is very rare here, even in plantings.)
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent. Shutter preferred. 1/640th @ ISO 320 @ f7.1. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
And for the Sunday Thought: Be there.
Since I am recovering from a heart attack, I tire much more quickly than in the past, and every adventure is an exercise in marshaling my stamina to get where I need to go and home safely. Yesterday I was on an errand to Walmart, looking for a storage solution that would tidy my “office” corner of the bedroom enough so my wife does not kick me out. 🙂 (Which she would be completely justified in doing. I seem to create a little pocket of chaos where ever I sit for more than a few moments at at time…and, I have learned the hard way, most people, including my wife, have a much lower tolerance for chaos than I do.) To get to Walmart the short way goes by the Kennebunk Plains, and, of course, I had to stop to see if the Wood Lilies are in bloom yet. They are, just, a few plants here and there, so I did some tramping around and photography there. Then the store itself, and an hour of shopping (there were other things on my list besides the storage). I had planned, on the way back, to take the long way around by Old Falls Pond to see if there were any interesting dragonflies, but I had a five minute debate sitting in the car after loading the 40 pound bag of dog food into the trunk as to whether I had enough energy left to make the detour. Still: The sun was shinning. A nice fresh breeze was blowing. There were white clouds of several descriptions decorating the blue sky. All in all a wonderful July day…so I talked myself into the visit to Old Falls. And there were Swallowtails in the Tiger Lilies! I made it home with enough left in the tank to get me to my chair. (Though I still have not taken the 40 pound bag of dog food out of the trunk 🙂
I have hopes that over time, I will build my stamina back to the point were “being there” is not the major obstacle to what I need and want to do…especially to doing the things that I love to do. I have a plan. I bought a bicycle, and a heart rate monitor, and I am eating even more sensibly than before. Still, the days when I can take “being there” for granted are clearly gone. (And in more ways than one.) And that should, and does, make me even more thankful for Swallowtails in the Tiger Lilies…for Wood Lilies on the Kennebunk Plains, for Snowy Owls on the chimney pots in Kennebunkport, for raindrops on Foxglove in the yard, for dragonflies at the little ponds in town…for all the wonders that are still in easy reach. God is. God is good. God loves us more than we can ever deserve. God is everywhere. We are surrounded by the wonders of creation, where ever the there is that we find ourselves. If we be…we be there. And for that I am profoundly grateful. Happy Sunday!
Mullen over the Atlantic
The Forth of July in Kennebunkport Maine was one of those high drama days along the coast. Storms building in from the west. We took a stroll (actually my wife was strolling, I was photo-prowling) along what is called Parson’s Way…a narrow sea-side park that runs along the top of the rocks from the Colony Beach in Kennebunkport, around past St. Ann’s Church on its point, and out onto Cape Arundel as far as the overlook for the George Bush Estate behind locked gates and Secret Service guards on its own point. This shot is along the way. I could not resist the two stalks of Mullen, the bit of visible bench, the ocean bonsai and the clouds, with just a hint of reflection in the sea.
And again, the ZEISS Touit 12mm f2.8 lens comes through with an image that would be very hard to capture with most other lenses. Sony NEX 5T in Superior Auto caught the exposure. Processing for HDR effect in Snapseed on my tablet completes the task. It is a challenging composition, but it works for me 🙂
Rose Pagonia
I spent several pleasant (if hot) hours at Saco Heath the other day. Saco Heath is one the southern-most Peet Bogs in the North-east, a remnant bog just north and West of Saco Maine, now protected by the Nature Conservancy. The Rodora is all gone by, only the last of the Sheep Laural is in bloom, and even the Pitcher Plant flowers were well past their prime. But the Rose Pagonia is in bloom. Rose Pagonia is the most common bog orchid at Saco Heath (it may be the only one…it is certainly the only one I have see there), but it is certainly worthy of a close look.
This panel combines telephoto macros taken at 1200mm equivalent with the Olympus 75-300mm zoom, and conventional macros taken with the ZEISS Touit 50mm f2.8 macro. Most of the orchids, of course, are well out from the boardwalk, where only a telephoto view is possible. A few are close enough so that, if you sit right down on the boardwalk and hang over the edge, you can work them with a shorter macro. 🙂
Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom and Sony NEX 3N with ZEISS Touit 50mm macro. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet. Assembled in Pixlr Express.
I will be sharing more of the images from my visit to Saco Heath, but for the full effect of the day, you could visit the gallery at Gallery: Hit the Slideshow button for an easy stroll through the Heath.
Iris at the Pond
I have photographed this pond many many times. It is only a few feet from, a busy road (busy in the summer, that is) connecting the beaches of Wells and Kennebunk, but it always has the atmosphere of a secluded pool somewhere deep in the wilderness. Give it a good sky for reflections, and the right light, and it never fails to please. The Wild Iris is just a bonus, of the kind that is likely to turn up in the foreground at this pond. The low angle and the wide lens here puts everything into perspective and completes the composition. Even the overhanging tree on the upper left makes its contribution.
I have attempted this kind of shot so many times in the past, with a strong foreground element against a landscape with interesting sky, without, I must say, much success. The ZEISS Touit 12mm f2.8 lens is the first lens I have used (I don’t own it…yet 🙂 that makes the shot not only possible, but easy. You can not (propably) imagine how close I was to that flower. I had to drop the camera in from the top, with the flip-up lcd out, down among the lily fonds to frame the single flower. And to credit the Sony Alpha NEX camera (5T in this case), it was able to find focus and set exposure (using Superior Auto) for an image that I could process in Snapseed using the HDR Scene filter to a fairly accurate rendering of the visual scene. To some eyes it might look a bit pumped up…but this is Maine in early summer…the way life is supposed to be…and I can attest that it is actually pretty realistic. It is just that we are not used to seeing this range of light and shadow, of color and contrast, in an image unless we are looking at a painting…at an obviously artistic interpretation. (The extreme depth of field is also unexpected in a photograph and adds to the painterly look.) In my HDR work, I strive for realism, not for obvious effect, and this image is, at the very least, life the way it is supposed to be. 🙂
Sony NEX 5T with ZEISS Touit 12mm f2.8. ISO 100 @ 1/100th @ f11. Processed for HDR effect in Snapseed on my tablet.