Print of the Week

I take a lot of reflection photos. Most of them don't look like much of anything. I like how this one turned out after processing to bring out the color and detail. In the morning after our stay at the Creekside Inn in Bishop we took a quick walk through the hotel grounds beside the creek. Out of habit, I took a few shots of reflections. In hindsight it was the right kind of conditions - the water was in the shade but colorful scenery around it was in the sun. As well as the color, I like the fine detail (which may not be visible on a small screen).

Here's how it looked before adjusting it.

Prints of the Week

Spring on the west coast is all about the flowers.

I was going to make this one black and white, but I decided I liked the little bit of color in the center.

One of the first California Poppies of the year. I love their bright color and the curves of their petals.

Prints of the Week

This first one was from Butchart Gardens. While there may not have been many hummingbirds attracted to the flowers, there were a lot of bees. They are tough to photograph because they're constantly on the move, usually facing the wrong way, and hard to get enough depth of focus. This was one of the lucky shots. The flower color is a little too much, but it does make the bee stand out.

I think this next one is a Cross Orb-Weaver. There seems to be a lot of them around right now. This is one of the largest I've seen. You can judge its size from its prey which looks like a wasp or honeybee. I saw another one today with its prey similarly wrapped up. One in our yard that I nudged to try to get into a better position went into the "vibrating" motion that Wikipedia describes. I can see how this would throw off predators, it made it impossible to see it clearly.

Print of the Week

A sea anemone in a tide pool just below our place. As a kid I was fascinated by tide pools whenever I got a chance to visit the ocean. Of course, now that I have them so close, I don't appreciate them as much as I should.

I'm pretty sure this is an aggregating anemone, the most common kind on the Pacific coast, normally green with pink tipped tentacles. Curiously, they host photosynthesizing algae - a bit like coral. This one was in a shaded spot which might explain why it wasn't very green. They can reproduce both sexually and by fission (producing clones). Colonies that expand into each other's territory fight each other with specialized tentacles.

Print of the Week

This is Prairie Smoke or Three-flowered Avens near where we camped on the Blackfoot River in Montana. After pollination (by bumblebees that push their way in), the flowers turn upwards and open up. They then develop seeds with long fuzzy hairs which are the origin of the "prairie smoke" name.

We finally have our picture hanging system set up so I can get back to printing regularly. Viewing photos on the computer just isn't the same as a big print up on the wall.

Print of the Week

We were leaving the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park when I spotted this coyote beside the road. We stopped and I got out to take some photos. The coyote cooperated by not leaving as soon as I got out my camera (as so often happens). I had a few minutes before another car showed up and instead of stopping across the road as we had, it pulled up right in front of the coyote, at which point we and the coyote departed.

We had seen signs around Stanley Park warning about coyotes. I searched on the web and it sounds like there was some conflict last year with "aggressive" coyotes. As usual in conflicts between humans and the rest of nature, the humans "won". Many coyotes were "culled". I hate these euphemisms. If you're going to kill them, have the guts to say so.

Native Flowers

As much as I love nature and living things, I've never been attracted to gardening. But over the years we've accumulated a few native plants around the house and I always enjoy seeing them flower.

 Prairie Coneflower:

 

Purple Prairie Clover (I love the gaudy purple and orange)

 

Anise Hyssop (not really anise or hyssop, but good for pollinators)

Wild Bergamot flowers develop in an interesting way.

I printed them as a group:

Print of the Week

I was looking around the yard for something to photograph and I spotted this Harvestman (Daddy Longlegs). It was further down the stem but I nudged it up to the top. It could have picked a flower that was in better shape! I used a flash to help get a sharp shot, which is why the background is black. It was missing one of its eight legs, which is common.

Most people put photos of family or pets on the fridge. Shelley gets a closeup of an arachnid :-)

Prints of the Week

My prints this week were a couple of photos from our recent trip to Waskesiu. I think the butterfly is a Northern Crescent (on a dandelion) and the big beetle is a Flower Longhorn Beetle (on a wild rose). I'm not sure what the smaller black beetle is.

These were taken on the Waskesiu river trail with the Olympus EM-1 and 12-200mm lens.

Print of the Week

This is from a few years ago near Big Bend National Park in Texas, at the start of the Santa Elena Canyon. That's Mexico on the other side of the river.

Print of the Week

Prints of the Week

These were from Mexico in February. I take the majority of my photos when I'm traveling. But with no travel since Covid, I'm running out of 2020 photos I want to print. Of course, I've got plenty from other years I can use.

Black & White

My prints from the last few weeks (my usual one per week) have been black and white versions of photos from this last year. So for a little while I have a b&w wall with these three photos (17x22"). Between being b&w and somewhat abstract they won't be most people's cup of tea. I generally prefer color, but it's interesting to see how much of a photo is in the color, and how much in the shapes, forms, and texture.

Print of the Week

A combination of favorite subjects - nature and abstracts. This is an unusual angle on a Crowned Crane from a zoo in Colima, Mexico last spring. I can't remember why the background was so dark. Probably just deep shadow versus sun on the bird's crest.

I recently replaced my old Epson 3880 with a new Epson P900. So far I'm really happy with the results. One of the benefits of age is that you're actually amazed by technology, rather than just taking it for granted.

Prints of the Week

I love the colors on the male Wood ducks. (Stanley Park, Vancouver)

And very different, but also colorful, one of the amazing variety of color and pattern found in reflections. (Granville Island, Vancouver)



See the whole album

Print of the Week

Not only a cute duckling, but interesting reflections too :-)

And a few more from the same batch.







It's the wrong time of year for ducklings and goslings, but if you're in Saskatchewan it'll help take your mind off the snow outside.

Print of the Week

Back to my spring BC trip. After a walk on the beach at Patricia Bay (where we used to go as kids), my sister Clare and I stopped at Deep Cove Market for refreshments. The lilacs were blooming and this hummingbird was busy feeding. I took a ton of photos and a few of them came out fairly well. It helped to have a cooperative (or at least not uncooperative) subject.











In some of the photos, if you zoom in you can see the pollen on its beak.

Nikon 7200 with Tamron 18-400 lens at 400mm

Print of the Week

Golden hour under the dock (Saltspring Island again)

I haven't made any new prints for a while. Time to change up the walls.

Print of the Week

I love the details on these lotus flowers. Rather unusual plants.

Print of the Week

One of the few sharp ones out of many attempts. Busy bees don't sit still!