Feed Me

When I looked at this photo (which I had taken, processed and then abandoned), I was struck by how much these flowers look like newly hatched birds in nest waiting to be fed. Thus, today's title.

December 25, 2009

After seeing yesterday's post, my wife told me not to post any more winter photos for a while. I guess I saw that as a bit of a challenge and so today I am defying her request.This one was taken last Christmas. But I'm not in our backyard here; we're in Mexico on the Yucatan peninsula. A blanket of white snow might be nice to see in photos but I would take palm fronds tinted by tropical sunlight any day.

The Promise of Winter

This is offered to provide a little balance for yesterday's post. There is beauty in winter. But generally it's not green.

Summer's Reminder

You may not know this but it isn't the cool weather that causes the first leaves to turn color and fall. It's the diminishing hours of sunlight. Photosynthesis - literally making something out of light - needs the fuel that sunlight offers and at some point in our part of the world, the leaves say, "I'm out of here!" and give up.It also part of the cycle of life. But because I am leaf-like in my need for sun, I'm not all that excited about fall and the winter that will soon follow. What do I get from the sun? Warmth. Melatonin. No need to wear socks.And daisies.

Neon

When we stopped along the road on the west edge of Henry, SD, our mission was to change drivers, not take photos. But, as often happens, something caught my eye. In this case, it was the pale green serpentine vine. Both the shape and the contrasting tones made this subject worthy. And, everything is the color green. And I apparently have a thing for green.

I Am Not the Artist

If you think I did something beyond point and shoot on this photo, you'd be wrong. I credit Mother Nature. But my 70-200mm 2.8 lens played an important role.The circular green swirls that seem to frame these lilies are actually out-of-focus lilly leaves. And, like so many shots I take, I didn't see this until I opened the photo on my computer.These lilies are long gone now, I'm sad to say. In fact many of the flowers in my wife's garden are waning. Fall is just around the corner and, of course, it offers many opportunities for photographers.It's the four or five months of winter that I find challenging. . . .Canon 5DII 1/200s f/2.8 ISO400 130mm

Imminence - Sunrise, August 21, 2010

I had spent Friday, August 20, 2010, making small repairs to Wandering Star and then sailing, motoring and swimming on a hot, August day on Lake Oahe. Deb drove out from Watertown after work and arrived around 8 PM. I said, "We're going to Hurricane Bay." Because the wind had died to whisper, we motored west a few miles and dropped our anchor in a narrow, protected channel of the bay. We were alone. On this clear, warm evening it seemed like we had the bay, the lake and a billion stars all to ourselves.The next morning, we woke up well before sunrise and around 6:30 we pulled up anchor and motored out into the main channel to watch the sunrise. The weather forecast said it was going to get to 100 degrees Fahrenheit on this day. But in the pre-dawn moments, it was beautiful. And just as the sun started to light up a band of clouds close to the horizon, I took this photo.Yes, it's "just another sunrise shot" but like my "just another sunset shot" from several weeks ago, there is much more here than meets the eye: I was with my favorite person on my favorite boat in one of my favorite places. Some would call central South Dakota on a 100+ degree day "god-forsaken." I would say that you must have your senses shut down if you aren't seeing god here - especially in a beautiful, quiet sunrise like this.(See this on Panoramio.)

An Evil Flower?

Not only is this a "weed," but it is a "noxious weed" - aka a "thistle." But it is also a flower and when I was taking pictures of this intriguing plant, I was wondering what makes some flowers (roses and lillies, for example) "flowers" and what makes others (Canadian thistle and dandelions) "weeds?" I have my theories, but I'm playing coy today. I'll let you ponder this deep and profound mystery.

Bambi Twins

It's easy to shoot wildlife photos when the wildlife wanders into your front yard. In this case the front yard is at our cabin in the Black HIlls. They were lured there by the cracked corn that had been thrown on the grass.If you study the spots on the fawns, incidentally, you will discover that the deer are not identical twins, though I'm guessing that human twins wouldn't necessarily have the exact same skin blemishes, would they? Maybe it's the same for deer.

Variations On A Theme

Once, a while back when I thought that I should try to make some money from my photography, I started to make a set of photo greeting cards. This was one of them. I may have posted this aspen grove before but not with the Photoshop filters. Frankly, I use very little "effects" in my photography. I suppose I still think like I'm shooting film and I try to create the effects with the camera.My "card project" is dormant. The aspen grove is flourishing.

A Hint of Things To Come

Summer comes, and, some time in late July or early August, so does exceptionally warm weather. And we complain. But soon fall and winter come. And we complain. Thus, I have concluded, the weather we experience in South Dakota gives us something to talk about all year.Imagine living in Kona, Hawaii, where it gets into the 80s every day and slips into the high sixties almost every night. What do they talk about? Vog? Tsunamis? Coffee?

The Underside of Life

Who looks at the back sides of lilly leaves? I do. Once again, I am photographing Stargazer lilies - but this time I was trying to see what I hadn't seen before.Incidentally, here's a photo I posted almost a year ago that also gives a slightly different view of this flower.