Vigilance

Little Fuzzy Balls

I'm on a "fuzzy" kick and, for two days, a "fuzzy ball" kick. From a distance these cacti are cute. But seen close up we learn that looks are deceiving.

Big Fuzzy Balls

Fuzzy Leaf

Leopard Leaves

Towering

Three tall palms trees enjoying the southern California breeze. My only thought is that sometimes you have to go a long ways from the palm tree's trunk to sit in the palm tree's shade.

No Devil In These Details

I was out with my lighting lab group today leading them on a photo walk. We had ventured into a back ally and while I was waiting for my students to take photos I noticed this interesting detail in the brickwork. Elsa, one of my students, said it looked "Celtic" and I agree.

Photographers At Work

The photographer is present in the photograph, which shows other photographers from my Lighting for Photographers class on an outing in Watertown.

Serration

Sooner or later I will run out of plants I photographed last week. Or I will clairvoyantly sense your boredom. But until then, here's another plant.I will tell you that the photographic challenge with this plant was trying to establish a focal point. I was shooting at 2.8 so I would get fairly narrow depth of field. The thinking was that rather than have the you look at the whole plant, I wanted you to see the serrations, the texture and the soft purples and greens.

Candid Camera

I didn't take many photos of people while Deb and I were in California recently. But I couldn't help taking this one. The photographer was "in the zone" and seemed oblivious to my presence.The setting is in the Mexican garden at the San Diego Botanic Gardens near Carlsbad, California. If you are wondering about the brown figures, they are what I would call "plant people." They are made of metal and moss and then implanted with a variety vegetation. Here's a close-up of of the dancing couple, who are almost too camouflaged in this photo.

Congregation 2

Yesterday's photo was a macro close-up of a plant I could have held in the cupped palms of my hands. Today's plant is a likely relative of yesterday's, though this is no macro. These leaves could be measured in feet, not inches, and would need a small room to occupy.Everything about the cactus and succulent section of the Sherman Gardens in Corona del Mar, California, was captivating when I was there with Deb recently. But I was especially struck by the beautiful, strong southwestern light. These leaves are almost glowing - in part because of the reflected light bouncing off of the leaves and also because the leaves are slightly translucent. But it was soft blues and greens of this plant that attracted me to this scene. The sun was warm but the hues were cool.Incidentally, I am experimenting with a new app on my iPad and iPhone called iPhoto. To Mac users, it is nothing new. But it is new for our portable devices. One of the things it allows is the publication of something called "journals." Here's a link to my California journal.

Congregation

This is another macro photograph taken on my recent trip to California. The place is the Sherman Gardens in Corona del Mar. Sorry, but I don't know the name of the plant.