Here's another photo of sun-ripened crops - this time a seemingly endless field of sunflowers. Sunflowers are a bit of a paradox in that I don't know if there is a crop in South Dakota that is more beautiful when it is in its prime or more ugly when it is ready to be harvested.
Here's a close-up of one of the flowers. (Click here)
1/320s f/6.3 ISO400 300mm Canon 1DII
Our hens and chicks have decided to bloom this year and this is what the flower looks like. It measures 3/4" from tip to tip. Each of the round ball-like structures ringing the center of the flower will be a smaller bloom. Without a macro lens, all of this would be easy for the camera and the eye to miss.
But here's something interesting: I am struck by symmetry in nature and so I counted the two most obvious elements in this flower. And I discovered 11 petals and 22 little balls. I also discovered that if you count the red and black dots in the center of the flower, there are 11. And now I'm wondering where else the number "11" and its multiples occur in nature. . . .
Canon 5DII 1/50s f/8.0 ISO800 100mm
The wheat is a not yet ready to harvest in our state but I noticed that it is getting close. This photo was taken a few years ago north of Watertown on a dewy morning just as the sun was coming up.
Canon 1DII 1/125s f/5.0 ISO400 70mm
This is my third cemetery post in less than a month. I hadn't planned on posting this particular photo because it really has no meaning outside of the context it was taken in. But people looking at my Croatia pictures have commented on it so I've decided to post it.
To help provide you with the context for this photo, you need to click here and then click here.
Now imagine strolling down the long arcade lined with family crypts (as seen in the first link) and coming to a crypt decorated with a skeleton with strange hands reaching out from the wall. Creepy. The cemetery is Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb, Croatia.
What are the hands for? Votive candles? Flowers? Who knows.
1/50s f/4.0 ISO400 105mm
I was in Denver a few years ago and as I wandered around looking for photos, I encountered a beautiful baby blue Vespa motor scooter. There was something about the two-layered mirror and the reflection of the building that struck me. I didn't take any photos of the whole motorcycle and I wish I had.
1/250s f/8.0 ISO400 135mm
This is a tree that lives in the park in front of the Colorado state capitol building. I like the apparently random nature of the lines and angles in a tree. But in this photo, I also like the texture of the bark.
1/125s f/7.1 ISO400 60mm
I was done taking pictures on this particular morning and was heading back to our cabin. As I drove down the road along a small lake, I noticed a single deer along a path that paralleled the road. I thought, "I may have my next 'Picture of the Day.'" My concern was that if I got out of the car and started taking photos, the deer would run off. Instead, he/she struck a pose.
1/60s f/5.6 ISO320 105mm
To honor Independence Day. . . (Though if you look closely, there is a little snow under Teddy's chin.)
Talk of Michael Jackson's final resting place inspired this post. This is one of many notable musicians buried in Vienna's Central Cemetery. To name a few: Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Strauss and (who could forget) Falco, the Vienna-born musician whose biggest hit was "Rock Me Amadeus," are buried in this cemetery. Mozart, unfortunately, is buried elsewhere in Vienna.
There is nothing in this palm leaf that identifies with the Greek island of Corfu. But that's where I took the photo. I like the random stringy threads that seem to contrast with the regular fan of the palm fronds.
There are too many tourists in Venice, which is an irony I think I've expressed before - since I'm a tourist, too, when I visit the amazing city. The crowds and summer heat will wear you out but one of the particular charms of this place is that if you wander aimlessly away from the crowds, you can encounter streets like the one pictured here. And often at the end of the street, you will find one of the many canals that aren't subject to heavy boat or gondola traffic.
1/15s f/4.5 ISO400 30mm
