Things...

It’s been a funny week, weather-wise; hot and sunny at times, but often too windy for any flower photography, so on Tuesday I decided to bring a couple of subjects indoors from the garden.

The Knapweed is from our mini-meadow, and although I love the colour and form of these flowers, close up they give me the heebee-jeebees, because it looks like they’re covered in ticks.






The Teasels are up in force in the garden, so I didn’t think they’d mind losing one head for a photo.  I love the structure of these plants, and take their picture every year in various ways, one of which can be seen in black and white on my Twitter page.




Yesterday the wife and I went for a nice long walk around Thorndon Country Park, looking for toadstools that have been brought on by all the warm, damp weather.  Crickets were everywhere in the meadows, but very elusive.




When we were heading back towards the Visitor Centre I remembered a tiny Silver Birch sapling that was growing on a rotting fallen birch, found by one of the participants of a workshop some months ago.  Various experiments with composition, and modifying the light by shielding the background ensued, with the final result below.  One of the beauties of photographing in the evening is that the wind often drops and allows long exposures like this (4 seconds), with soft lighting ideal for this sort of subject.




Sometimes I feel I don’t take enough photos for myself; doing so much tuition now means that a lot of my time out with the camera is spent teaching others.  It’s good to tackle something a little different in a spare hour, like the ‘studio’ shots of the Knapweed and Teasel, and also to make time to take a walk with your (patient) other half.  Sharing your experiences of nature is one of the best ways to appreciate it.