Last year I was delighted to have a a potted zinnia gracing my deck. I shared it here. Since that post, winter came and the zinnia plant died.
Or so I thought. Eventually a stalk grew along with green leaves. And then … look, Ally!
July 2
July 3
July 4
July 5
July 7
Oh, well. It’s been hot so I don’t blame the zinnia for calling it a week.
Here’s a two-fer even though it’s not a macro photo.
Y’all take care.
A Gulf Fritillary chrysalis, from a few days ago. We didn’t get to see this guy emerge but we have had a lot of butterflies, including Gulf Fritillaries, in our garden so far this season.
This week, Sofia at Photographias invites us to “go Floral”: Let’s see Nature in all its glory and enjoy this beautiful time of the year. Let’s find different angles, play with post editing, get closer or further afield, find strange and unknown flowers and if you want to get some flower friends on the shot, that is allowed too. But mainly, have fun and look for the awesomeness that is all around us.
I am all about having fun when it comes to flowers and photography. For this challenge, I’m focusing on the flowers in my gardens.
First up, roses. Small, pink roses that were gifted to me in 1997 by a friend who was moving to Australia. I’ve come to call them “Kay’s roses” since no one can figure out exactly what they are, and because I always think of my friend Kay when I see the roses blooming.
The next two photos are of Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) taken roughly three weeks apart. I thought this plant had died from the freezes we had over the winter. But, thankfully, it’s a hardy plant.
The next three photos are of Bolivian Salvia (Salvia oxyphora). A couple of years ago, I had stopped to admire and photograph a large bush of these flowers at a neighbor’s house. The neighbor came out and offered me a “stalk” (it was at least two feet tall) that I then had to carry three blocks home because I was on foot. I planted the stalk in a pot and the blooms soon fell off. My instincts told me it would be happier in the ground than in a pot, so the following spring, I planted it in my little garden around our mailbox. It did not bloom at all last year, although it start to self-propagate. This year, to my delight, it’s blooming in earnest.
This next fun little flower is known to some as Batchelor Button or Globe Amaranth (Gomphrena globosa). Another plant that I thought I had lost to winter freezes, but, obviously, it’s doing quite well right now. It seems to enjoy the light on our patio. Dragonflies seem to enjoy using this flower as a perch.
Who would not recognize a Gerbera Daisy aka Barberton Daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)? It’s another flowering plant that is flourishing on our patio.
I love the pink and orange of this Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). I bought this plant a few years ago and while in a pot, it rarely produced more than one bloom. Planted in our garden, it’s now sporting a couple of blooms and a few buds.
Last but not least, this morning (this very morning of May 28, 2024), our Scarlet Rosemallow (Hibiscus coccineus) greeted me with two blooms. These flowers open and close often within a day or two so I wasted no time in capturing the moment. As you can see, though, we expect a few more blooms soon.
I do love challenges like this as I’m often taking photos of flowering plants (even at garden centers).
Last week, Ann-Christine challenged us to think in terms of Delicate, setting the challenge with her wonderful photos from Japan. It was great fun to see all the different interpretations of that deceptively simple word.
If you’re interested in participating in this week’s Lens-Artist, please remember to link back to Sofia’s original post and to include Lens-Artists as a tag so others can find you. If you want to learn more about the Lens-Artists challenges, please see Johnbo’s post.
Thank you for reading! Here’s a photo of Raji in action, playing with a shoelace.
Anne Sandler from Slow Shutter Speed leads this week’s photography challenge with “what’s your photographic groove?” What a great question!
At heart, I’m a minimalist … although if you saw my bedroom/workroom, such a thought would have you laughing your arse off. By minimalist, I mean I don’t like having a lot of gear, which is why I really regret attending the going-out-of-business sales of a local quilting shop several years ago. I still have a lot of that stuff! But back to photography …
I still play around with a Canon Rebel T3i that I bought over ten years ago. My husband (who does love gear) provides me with nice macro and zoom lenses, and I can neatly fit the camera with the two lenses in a small case … which then weighs a ton. I fantasize about taking the camera and lenses with me on my morning walks, but I always have an excuse not to. One excuse is that it might be picking-up-litter morning, in which case I’ll also be carrying my gripper and a 13-gallon bag, which, in all likelihood, will be full by the time I get home. Another excuse–the more common one–is that I have my phone if I feel compelled to take photos. Besides, isn’t it more important to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature without always trying to “capture” it?
I try to do both.
Here’s where we get to my groove. My iPhone 8 Plus suits my minimalist nature. While I might have gotten better photos with my Canon, I feel satisfied for now with what my iPhone can capture. Case in point: the Pleated Inkcap (Parasola plicatilis), a fungus I found on a recent morning walk.
Dainty little things, aren’t they? One of the things I enjoy about photography in general and macro photography, in particular, is that I “see” more. These fungi sit close to the ground, and there was just one bunch of them. Still, to my delight, my eye caught them.
So I guess my photographic groove is macro with an iPhone 8 Plus. For now, anyway. I’ve heard that the iPhone 14 is supposed to break new ground in iPhone photography. We’ll see …
If you want to participate in this challenge, please link to Anne’s original post (click here) and use the Lens Artists tag. As the LAPC team resumes rotation, Patti will present next week’s challenge. Be looking for her post. In the meantime have fun and stay safe.
If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, just click this link and join us: https://photobyjohnbo.wordpress.com/about-lens-artists/
Psst … I’m alive, as busy as a bumblebee on a thistle.
As many of you know, I’m rather challenged when it comes to challenges. Since I retired, I no longer have a calendar on my wall. I’ve been using my cat Maxine’s pill dispenser to tell me what day it is. Such is the life of a procrastinator.
But after coming across a couple of Lens-Artists photography challenges, I’ve decided to turn up the heat on myself. Seems all I need to do is post within the proper week, note the proper references, and show off my photos. For this week, I’m responding to Patti Moed’s “Focus on the Details” photography challenge.
When I think of details, I think of macro photography. Currently I use an iPhone 8 Plus which has some macro capability but not a lot. Most of the following photos were cropped so you could best see the detail that caught my eye.
My husband is a macro photographer, focusing primarily on flies. He’s developed a keen eye and I can count on him to find interesting insects. He pointed out this long-legged fly (Dolichopodidae, dolis for short) for me to photograph. Green on green on green rather blend in together, and the fly itself is only the size of my littlest fingernail.
I lose some detail with cropping, but in the above photo you can still see clearly the green of the fly and its delicate wings.
This handsome insect is a lightening bug or firefly, depending on what part of the U.S. you reside in. He’s hanging out on the leaf of a Georgia Aster I have on my deck. Currently I have 15 potted plants on my deck. Not only do I enjoy watching them grow and bloom, I love inspecting them and seeing what new visitors we have.
On a visit to one of our favorite trails, we were entertained by two damselflies that followed us, dancing around our heads and landing on leaves as if ready for their photo op. Again, the photo above is seriously cropped so it’s a bit fuzzy, but you can see the beauty of this damselfly with its turquoise and dark blue colors, and what appears to be white spots on its wings. Frankly, I did not even notice these spots until I cropped the photo. The second damselfly, which managed to evade my camera, was black with white spots on its wings. Maybe they’re siblings.
Flowers were my first focus when I started photography, and I hardly miss an opportunity to get up close and personal with them. Above and below are photographs of irises, the above being a Walking iris (indeed!) and the below being a African Iris (Dietes vegeta), per my limited knowledge. (I’m hesitant to name plants if I can only rely on Google and not my field guides.) You can tell right away that they are both irises, but they have intriguing differences in their colors and markings. I’m fortunate that both of these irises reside in my neighborhood.
I hope you enjoyed this photo gallery. If you care to participate in the challenge, please include a link to Patti’s original post, and use the Lens-Artists Tag so others can find you in the Reader.
Ciao for now!
Marie at 1 Write Way 