06-01-12 Flowers For Katie I

Once again a photo found me. I was engaged in the mundane task of putting our garbage receptacle away, when I noticed that the late evening sun was offering perfect, direct light on Deb's beautiful Siberian iris patch, which had just gone into bloom. Knowing that I only had a few minutes of this particular light, I literally ran into the house to get my camera.I took 92 photos of these flowers - I just couldn't help it! Compositionally, this one made the "first cut," in part because I am a slave to the rule of thirds and this photo exemplifies it. I shot this with my Canon 70-200 2.8L lens so I could get very good selective focus. And, I used a tripod.Canon 5DII 1/640s f/2.8 ISO320 200mm

05-19-12 About To Bloom

I'm practicing my macro technique again, this time on an Iris that is probably one day away from full bloom. Somehow an iris bud reminds me of the super compact foam toys that blow up to huge proportion when you add water. I guess with an iris you just add water, too.

A Beautiful Place

In light of current events in Japan, I went back to my collection of photos. I hadn't really looked closely at this one before but I like it because the place conveys the kind of beauty and peace I found in many locations while visiting Japan. The images of destruction in Japan are wrenching. We might find comfort in the beauty of the Japanese landscape and character, but where do the Japanese go? Memory and photos will hardly suffice in the days and weeks to come.

Ready To Bloom

Because we typically go on vacation at the end of May and the beginning of June, this is all Deb and I normally see of the Iris that she has planted in her garden. But there is something attractive and stately about an Iris that is ready to bloom.

03-19-10 The Promise

Today I will serve up some iris from a garden we visited in Japan. I call this the promise because now that the snow is melting, I can see bare earth in my wife's flower garden. It won't be long before we see our own iris.