Posts in Category: flowers
7/21/2011: Black-eyed in the Sun (Susan)
We have a vigorous stand of Black-eyed Susans in the yard this year. I went out after supper to catch the late light on the flowers in the front yard and got down under this beauty to put it between the camera and the sun. Between the Active-D Lighting on the camera and some Fill Light in Lightroom, I was able to catch a fairly natural balance between the shadowed stem and the highlighted petals.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode (macro) at 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/640th @ ISO 160.
Processed for Clarity and Sharpness (and that extra bit of Fill Light) in Lightroom.
7/19/2011: With bugs on…
On a visit to Laudholm Farms and the Wells National Estuarine Research Center last Saturday there were bugs everywhere. (Birds were few…but lots of bugs.) Butterflies of several varieties in the Milkweed flowers and the forest, moths, dragonflies, and, of course, bees.
After a valiant search through all my references and on the internet, this appears to be Meadow Rue. It is common at the edges of woods and in hedges within sight of the sea here in Kennebunk, and appears particularly lush this season. The bees certainly find it attractive.
The Queen Ann’s Lace, Yarrow on the other hand, attracted these very small Yellow-Jackets Hoverflies (thanks Judy).
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode. 1) 100mm equivalent field of view, f4.6 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160. Cropped from full frame. 2) 260mm equivalent, f7.1 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
7/17/2011: Whimsy, The Children’s Garden. Happy Sunday!
The Child’s Garden only opened a year ago the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, after at least 2 years of development. It is hard to imagine a more whimsical place. White bordered yards with cat picket fences, grass roofed Victorian sheds, tall hollyhocks and red roses, giant sunflowers, old fashioned water pumps, a windmill, a pond with the boats from Wind in the Willows and a life sized brass statue of the bear from Blueberries for Sal, William Carlos William’s Red Wheelbarrow (an actual red wheelbarrow with the poem on the side), a tiny bog with carnivorous plants, a tree house and a wigwam, a bear cave, a windmill, Farmer Macgregor’s vegetable patch and the first annual gourd Olympics. And that is without mentioning the Gnome Shed with its rounded door and a roof of blueberry plants. Whimsy, pure and simple.
Like most attempts at whimsy, this is a very adult production. The attention to detail, the hyper-inventiveness, the elaboration is very unchildlike. It is not simple, not innocent, but very calculated…calculated to appeal to a child.
It certainly appeals to the child in me. I love it! I appreciate the whimsy and admire the inventiveness. I have no real idea, though, how a child would see it. If the children in attendance on a Friday in July were any evidence, then it certainly has at least a quiet appeal…but then I suspect that the children in attendance were already a select group…as in the children of parents who would appreciate a day at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden and expect their children will enjoy it too. Children who have been read Wind in the Willows and Peter Rabbit, Peter Pan, and Blueberries for Sal. Children with lovingly fed imaginations. Rare children, I suspect, these days. Then too, it is hard to say how much of the children’s enjoyment of this truly magical place is a simple reflection of the obvious joy their parents take in it.
Ah…but it does not really matter, in the end. Certainly part of our love of whimsy is spiritual, and was succulently captured by Jesus when he told us that it is the children, and those who have (as we say it today) maintained their inner child, who will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Not a childish faith, but a childlike faith is what we all need. And adult whimsy is certainly one of the best approaches to that inner child, and to that faith.
The whimsical Children’s Garden at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden succeeds, largely, because its creators believed that if they could touch the inner child in themselves, then true children would enjoy it. And that is indeed a childlike faith, and that puts the Children’s Garden half way to heaven as far as I am concerned.
Happy Sunday.
7/14/2011: Coreopsis, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
Since our visit to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Maine almost a week ago, I have avoided the temptation to bombard you with flower shots (okay…except for the experience and photo technique piece on Point & Shoot 4 Landscape, here). You will, however, see some shots from the trip over the next week or so.
This is Coreopsis, according to the helpful sign in the bed, but it is not like any Coreopsis I have ever seen. We have Coreopsis of the normal yellow variety in our yard (see right). This isn’t it. I can only assume that the CMBG variety is a cultivar of someone’s invention.
Ah, but it certainly is a striking flower!
Nikon Coolpix p500 in Close Up scene mode, 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/400th @ ISO 160.
(The shot from the yard is also Close Up mode, as above, but 1/200.)
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
7/12/2011: Burdock Flowers
The other evening while walking the beaches in Kennebunk we came across this fine specimen of Burdock in flower growing at the head of Oaks Neck, the point of rock between Middle and Gooch’s Beach. The Narragansett (four and half story 1930s beach hotel now converted to condos) across the way provided open shade in the low evening sun, and Close Up mode (macro) on the Coolpix caught all the vivid color and detail of the flower. As a boy we thought of these as particularly vicious weeds, but, in trendy Kennebunk today I would be surprised if some health food aficionado does not harvest this plant before it has a chance to make burrs :).
The Burdock flower is certainly striking…if not quite beautiful. It is kind of the Americanized version (cliché warning!) of the Scottish Thistle. In lots of ways it could be our national flower too. I certainly would not object. 🙂
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up Scene mode, 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/60th @ ISO 160.
Processed for Clarity and Sharpness in Lightroom.
7/5/2011: Foxglove in the morning.
According to wikipedia, there are many theories as to where the name foxglove comes from, but the one that makes most sense to me is that it is a corruption of folk’s glove or fairies glove. (Perhaps combined with the fact that they were also called Fuchs’ Glove, in honor of the man who first gave them their scientific name…digitalis.) In fact, according to the same source, they are still called folk-fairies-glove in Wales. Children in Wales, apparently, still clip a stalk and strike the blooms against the hand to hear the fairy thunder as the wee folk who hide inside the bells escape in a huff. Such strange things you can find on wiki. 🙂
This is an early morning shot, and, in addition to the beauty of the blooms with their beads of dew, I really like what the sun was doing with the out-of-focus background. Great bokeh. To achieve that effect I set the camera to Close Up Mode to engage macro, and then over-road the 32mm equivalent setting, zooming up to 435mm equivalent so that I could back well away from the plant and still achieve a macro effect.
Nikon Coolpix P500. f5.6 @ 1/125th @ ISO 160. Close Up Mode.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
This is, by the way, another shot from my The Yard collection on WideEyedInWonder, all shots taken in our small yard in Kennebunk Maine.
6/19/2011: Lichen Flowers: Happy Sunday!
Happy Sunday.
As I mentioned in my extended essay on shooting in the rain (Acadia from under an umbrella…), one of the advantages of prevailing mist and falling water is that you tend (or at least I tend) to look at what is close to hand more carefully…and, of course, the water on everything adds a glisten that catches the eye. I have always been fascinated by moss and lichen, though I know next to nothing about it. I like the forms it takes, the colors (or lack thereof) and the textures. The northern coast of Maine has both moss and lichen in abundance.
This whitish, antlered lichen forms large dense beads from the seaside path to the tops of the mountains of Acadia. It generally hosts a variety of other plants, but only a few hardy individuals, well spaced, as below.
I had, however, never seen the flowers, if that is the proper word for these reproductive parts of this particular lichen, until my day of photographing in the rain.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in 1) Close Up Scene mode, 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/60th @ ISO 160. 2) 100mm equivalent, f4.6 @ 1/60th @ ISO 160 Program.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
And, of the Sunday thought, that matter of looking close come to mind. Though we Christians don’t give “paying attention” as much attention as some other religions, I certainly find that a sense of reverence has to be grounded in attention…in looking closely at life…in seeing and celebrating all the works of creation, from the most grand landscape to the smallest lichen on the forest floor. And when you do pay attention, you see the most amazing things. I mean, how unlikely are those flowers, or whatever lichen have, and how unlikely is the lichen itself…a fungus and an alga living entwined, supporting and feeding each other? The infinite forms of creation is enough to keep me reverent…and entertained…even on a rainy day. Even on a Sunday. Especially on a Sunday!
6/14/2011: High-Bush Blueberry Blossoms in the Rain
I spent the morning yesterday shooting Acadia National Park from under an umbrella in the rain. Different. I plan an extended post on the experience on Point and Shoot 4 Landscape one of these days soon.
These high-bush blueberry blooms were at the Wild Gardens of Acadia at Sieur de Mont Springs in the Park. I was shooting from under the branch, looking up at a sharp angle, and the dark background is the peak of the roof of the Nature Center at Sieur de Mont. I love the way the rain has beaded the flowers. A close look (click the image and use the size controls at the top of the window that opens) will show lens effects of several kinds…there are drops where the bush and what is behind it are imaged…you see shots like that often…but there are also drops that are acting as close up lenses, showing the fine texture of the petal they are on.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up scene mode (assisted macro) at 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/200 @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
6/13/2011: Lupines in the Rain
Though it rained all day yesterday, we did take an afternoon drive around the Park Loop at Acadia National Park, and, when we came on this amazing stand of Lupines between Great Meadow and the road, I could not resist stopping (despite my comments of yesterday). It meant working from under an umbrella and getting my feet wet, but the contrast of the flowers and the aspen saplings in the subdued light was just too good to miss.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 100mm equivalent field of view, f4.6 @ 1/60th @ ISO 160. Program with Active D-Lighting and Vibrant Image Optimization.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
6/12/2011: Lupine Love
Happy Sunday. It is the season of the Lupine in Maine. Some of the best stands are along verge the length of Interstate 95, particularly north of Freeport. Of course, those will never be photographed, at least by me, as I am not about to merge back onto the highway without a running start. Not even for the love of Lupines.
This stand is in Kennebunkport, and has been there every year for longer than the memories of the locals. This year the mix of buttercup made the blues even more intense.
I debated with myself about leaving the out of focus Lupine on the right in the frame or cropping it out. In the end I decided, obviously, to leave it in, as I think it increases the impression of depth.
Of course it is impossible to take just one shot (or two or three shots) of a stand of Lupines like this, so here is a little slideshow. Lupine Love. (It is available up to full 1080i HD.)
I am writing this, this rainy Sunday morning, from a motel room near Bar Harbor Maine. With the best laid plans we came up this weekend to visit a daughter who lives here, and one who is working here for the summer…and to photograph, among other things, the Lupines of Mt. Desert Island. Of course we did not figure on the rain, which looks set to keep us doing indoors kind of things most of the trip.
So it is a particular blessing that a casual conversation with my daughter (yet another) reminded me of this field of Lupines closer to home, and I ran out on Friday morning while doing some field testing of a new tripod to take this series. While the Lupines of Mt. Desert Island have more allure, the Lupines of home are still wonderful.
And, for Sunday, there is of course, a spiritual truth there. As Americans we do a lot of running around after something special, and this seems particularly true of my generation of Christians. But of course, if you don’t take time to see what is special right at home, then there is little hope the something special you find elsewhere will change anything of significance in your life. In fact, isn’t that exactly the change that would have the most effect…an opening of the eyes to what is special where ever you are.
Still, I might have missed this field of Lupines in full bloom, though I know full well it is there every June, if not for that passing word from my daughter. I am thankful that there are greater forces at work, when it comes to what is truly special in the world around us, than you or I 🙂