photos from the past 40 years
This image for Monochrome Monday was taken on a walk around the neighborhood last week.
The original was monochromatic before doing the conversion but I tried to bring out the imprints in the snow when doing the conversion. They were formed by ice from the overhead branches falling into the snow.
This is my contribution to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Silhouettes.
I had a couple of ideas for the challenge, the first was a selection of silhouettes spanning the decades followed by a selection of bird silhouettes.
In the end I went with a selection of silhouettes from the South Bruce Peninsula over the past few years.
Silhouetted wood piles sticking out of Colpoy’s Bay at sunrise.
Silhouetted shoreline at Berford Lake at sunrise.
Silhouetted plant remains in the snow.
Silhouetted birds on Colpoy’s Bay at sunrise.
Silhouetted wood piles sticking out of Colpoy’s Bay at dawn.
Silhouetted sailboat on Colpoy’s Bay at sunrise.
The new Cosmic Photo Challenge is How Does Your Garden Grow.
When I was living in a rural part of Cheshire, England I turned a corner of the garden into a wildlife garden. It became a wildflower meadow and somewhere to photograph plants, insects and birds. I didn’t have to drive anywhere and could set up a hide anywhere for as long as I wanted.
A Dandelion seed head (clock) growing in the meadow.
This male Common Pheasant in hoarfrost one winter morning was a fairly regular visitor at certain times of the year.
This pair of Soldier Beetles are mating on Ragwort flowers.
This male Eurasian Bullfinch liked the fresh grass seed heads.
One of the plant species growing in the meadow.
There was Teasels growing along the edge of the meadow to attract European Goldfinches.
I picked up the windfall apples from under the trees in the vegetable garden and put them in the grass on the meadow for birds such as this Common Starling.
Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire in the 1980s.
This is an extreme close up of the hooks on a seed head of Lesser Burdock (Arctium minus). Alternative English names include Little Burdock, Louse-Bur and Common Burdock.
The hooks allow the seed heads to attach themselves to humans and animals for seed dispersal. The hooks gave the inventor of Velcro the idea for the product.
The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #34 is Close-Up.
After giving the challenge some thought I decided to concentrate on a single species, in this case the annual herb Borage. Traditionally a garden plant in Britain, it is now being grown commercially to produce Borage seed oil.
A Borage flower bud.
A Borage flower.
A stalk of Borage flower buds and a flower.
Borage seeds.
Taken on a walk one morning last week. It was the star shape of the remains of the flowers or seed heads that caught my eye.
This is a monochrome conversion although with the overcast sky the original was monochromatic when I took it.
Taken on a walk last week, the title is because I don’t know what they are remains of.
As I was on one of my regular routes I must have walked past the plant lots of times without noticing it. I suspect that it is a combination of the light and the snow on the plant that caught my attention this time.
I was in a retro mood and had gone out with a manual focus telephoto on the camera which meant walking over some snow covered boulders to get the framing I wanted. Sometimes it pays to use a zoom when out for a walk.
