Hornet on teasel

07Feb10

To give you some relief from all the ice images, here’s a bug from last summer:

From a meadow near where I was staying in Ithaca, NY last summer. It was pretty early, not long after sunrise, and this hornet was slowly warming up. It was motionless for a while, then began crawling around and flew off.

Filed under: Insects, Photography   |  1 Comment
Tags: bugs, Insects, Macro, Nature

Cool blue

30Jan10

Some stream ice in a shady spot:

Usually I prefer a black and white conversion for ice, but I like the indigo look the dark tones take on. Real cold out there this morning – 2 degF, brrr. I was hoping for feathery ice, but there wasn’t any.

Filed under: Uncategorized   |  4 Comments

Stream ice crystals

24Jan10

These are ice crystals growing in the cracks of a flat layer of  ice over a stream:

This size doesn’t really show the detail very well – a print will, though!

Filed under: Macro, Nature, Photography   |  1 Comment
Tags: ice, ice crystals, Macro, Photography, winter

Ice feathers

15Jan10

From my first encounter this season with feathery ice crystals:

My observation in the past was I needed single-digit deg F temperatures before this sort of crystal forms next to a brook. It was warmer this time, in the lower teens (12 to 14 deg F). They’re amazingly delicate and beautful. This was taken with 2x magnification.

Filed under: Macro, Nature, Photography, Uncategorized   |  4 Comments
Tags: ice, ice crystals, Macro, winter

Icy brook

04Jan10

I’ve been waiting for the ice to come, and it’s here:

A small cascade in a brook with icy trimmings, converted to black and white.

Filed under: Nature, Photography   |  3 Comments
Tags: ice, Photography, waterfall, winter

Twelve from 2009

26Dec09

Here’s a list of favorite images from this year. Click a thumbnail to see a larger version of an image. On each page showing larger image, you can browse by clicking the thumbnails at the page bottom.

Besides the high magnification images from all seasons, I’ve had some wonderful moments at waterfalls in upstate NY and California. It’s been a challenge to learn what I can and cannot do at 5x magnification, but I’ve getting more comfortable with it. It’s a new way of seeing the world.

I’ve always loved landscape photography, but I haven’t done much of it in the last few years. This year’s waterfall encounters were a bounty of opportunities.

Butterflies and flowers are at the core of my love of nature. This year I’ve refined my visual approach to these favorites – I can’t wait until spring to have another look at them. In the meantime, I’m happily waiting for more cold weather and ice to photograph.

Thanks to everyone who stops in and takes a look and a special thanks to people who leave comments.

Filed under: Butterflies, Flowers, Nature, Photography, art   |  6 Comments
Tags: abstract, art, best, Butterflies, Flowers, ice crystals, Macro, waterfall

Leaf Edge

24Dec09

A high magnification image of the edge of a leaf:

The background is out of focus leaves. The blue/purple hues are a gift, I don’t know what in the scene contributed them. Taken a couple of weeks back, as we began settling into winter. The first substantial snows here were last weekend, but it hasn’t been cold enough for interesting ice. Soon, maybe!

Filed under: Macro, Nature, art   |  3 Comments
Tags: art, leaves, Macro, Nature

Cascade trail again

21Dec09

I was in California again last week and made another visit to the Cascade Falls Trail. The winter rains made a big difference in the flow in the stream – it was pretty before, but spectacular in this visit. The canyon is getting greener as well. This was in a spot off the trail that I missed last time:

The climate difference between Marin and the Boston area is amazing. In Marin, there are flowers are blooming, it’s cool (50 to 60 F), I saw fall colors on some ornamental maples. Here in Boston we just got 6 inches of snow.

Filed under: Nature, Photography   |  1 Comment
Tags: green, Nature, Photography, waterfall, woods

Orbs

02Dec09

This is a highly magnified image of a grass stem that has spikes or hairs. It was a foggy day, dew formed on each spike. With the lens wide open for a minimum depth of field, the spikes and the stem fade, and the dew drops almost float free.

Filed under: Macro, Photography   |  11 Comments
Tags: abstract, art, Macro, Nature, water

Frost

28Nov09

The season in eastern Massachusetts is still in transition between fall and winter. Leaves are down for the most part, with pockets of greenery here and there. The asters are pretty much gone, but I’ve seen a few late goldenrod and evening primrose blooming. The late fall cricket chorus is over, only a few hardier bugs remain.

Last week was our first hard frost. This is a view of frost on a small blackberry leaf:

Filed under: Macro, Photography, nature study   |  9 Comments
Tags: ice, ice crystals, Macro, Nature, winter