Tag: nature

Wednesday Wonderment – pt 6

Leaf power

Today, I am going back to Nature for this installment of Wednesday Wonderment, as she is a source of immeasurable variety, beauty and amazement.

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Structural Integrity

This amazing leaf was in a tropical greenhouse at the Botanical Garden of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.  This botanical garden is both a fantastic exhibit to visit and see plants from a variety of biomes, and a research facility for the students of the University of Technology.  During our visit, a group of students was working with a professor to study soil characteristics, which was interesting to watch.

One of the aspects of Nature that continually grabs my attention are the structures that make up plants, leaves and trees; the distribution of strength in support of the energy production machinery is sheer perfection.  Even today, when I look at this image, there are little details such as the feathering of the lamina between the lateral veins; it might be indicative of the flow of energy and fluid through the leaf.

Each of these details have evolved over the ages, as successful function edged out other variants by the thinnest of margins.  It would be amazing to see the entire book of variations over the ages, as that would provide insight beyond anything that we have ever possessed.

Technical Details

This image was captured with a Canon EOS 5D Mk III and a 24-105 f/4L lens.  Settings were  f/5.6 at 1/320 second with ISO 1000.  The image was processed using the camera’s HDR capability.

Hope you enjoy this leaf, as much as I do.

Kryptomorphaics #10 – Rose Particle

A rose is a rose full of energy

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Rose Particle

Image Description

As the title ‘Rose Particle’ suggests, this image centers on the streams of energy emanating from the singularity presented by the dark pink rose.  The rose becomes at once the object of beauty, to which our eyes are drawn, and the center of energetic particles radiating outward from the forces contained within it.  As each object within the universe holds latent energy, so does the rose, as it demonstrates here.  The counter play between beauty and strength is as the yin and yang, the duality that resides within each of us.  This duality is held together through the cosmic vibrations, which can be ascertained in moments of great quietude of mind and body, such as achieved during meditation.

Whereas the rose has revealed its cryptic energies through this image, one may find that the image enables the centering of similar energies.  If the image is studied while directing focus on the process of breathing, as one does in meditation, the rose may become a guide.

Technical Details

This image was captured at 100 ISO, F/22 at 0.3 second shutter speed.  The bright white streams originate from the sun’s reflection on the shiny leaves that surround the rose.

WPC – Seasons (Autumn)

Autumnal beauty peeks through

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Steeped in Color

Autumn is the season of beauty in New England, as color abounds across the landscape and cool days provide a reprieve from the Summer heat.  Skies bring restorative rains, as the final bit of growth occurs in the fields that are readying for harvest time.

The Yoga Tree is not one for garish displays, as she prefers the subtle muted tones that she is beginning to display here.  Over the following weeks, she will shed her remaining leaves and retreat into the inner strength that servers her well for the upcoming season of Winter.

Hope you enjoy this final image in the set of seasons.

In response to Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge – Seasons

WPC – Seasons (Summer)

Protectress of the Fields

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Stately in Summer

During the hot days of Summer, this proud Lady of the Fields stands coolly among the verdant landscape that surrounds her.  The fields are full of vibrant energy, as the corn is beginning to come up, and the trees in the distance are full of green life.

The Yoga Tree may disguise her form during these months, as she uses the abundance of the Sun’s energy to replenish her stores for the upcoming seasons, but her spirit radiates from every fiber of her being.  She stands as a proud protectress of the fields, where the farmers toil to produce the season’s crop.

Hope you enjoy… tomorrow, we go toward Autumn!

In response to Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge – Seasons

The Forest Path

Staying in the moment

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The Path
You cannot travel the path
until you have become the path itself.

*****

Gautama Buddha

Technical Details

This is a scene in Baxter State Park in northern Maine that I captured back in 2006 during a weekend filled with moose!  The weather was pouring rain most of the time and densely overcast on this day.  I wound up shooting this at 1/40 sec, f/5.6 at 800 ISO (handheld).

The camera was a Canon EOS 1D MkII with a Sigma 50-500mm lens attached (it’s a beast!).

Wednesday Wonderment – pt 4

A strange kind of magic

This week, we are travelling a bit to the north to touch the arctic circle.  Last year, I had the pleasure to spend 4 days in Iceland, which were not nearly enough to take in its beauty, but gave me a taste for more.

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Lake Mývatn

For 3 of the 4 days, I stayed in Akureyri, which is on the northern coast of Iceland; it is the second largest population center in Iceland with around 18,000 people.  Through AirBnB, I had found a lovely farm where I had a room overlooking a fjord, and wonderful hosts.

I did my exploring in the area around Akureyri and found some amazing sights, such as the Mývatn area, where I found this rather surreal landscape.  Lesser known than the Blue Lagoon in southern Iceland, Lake Mývatn is also the beneficiary of a geothermal plant.  The light blue hue is due to the rich mineral content of the silica sediment that settles on the bottom; think lots of sulphur!

Hope you enjoy this image!

Every leaf has a halo

Simple beauty on a cold day

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Leafy halo

During the same day that I captured the images in yesterday’s post, Another shot of cold, I grabbed the opportunity to catch these leaves backlit by the sun.

I had just finished shooting some shoreline details and was walking back along the water’s edge to climb up the embankment and trudge through the snow.  The clouds were beginning to look more interesting, which caused me to look up and notice the small cluster of leaves still attached in this hard winter.

Positioning the leaves in front of the sun gave me exactly the look that spoke to me, with a bit of drama in the clouds and the structure of tree from above.  The way it is presented here is without any touchup in postprocessing, as I like the little bit of warmth that flows forth in this mostly black&white image.

Technical Details

I captured this with a Canon EOS 5D MkIII using an EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II.  The settings I used were a bit unusual, as I wanted a shallow depth of field, so I used f5.6 at 1/8000 second (probably the first time I’ve ever used that shutter speed).

The answer is…

Turning over an old leaf

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Shot before ‘Destruction of the Maiden’

As you can see in this shot of the subject matter in Destruction of the Maiden that I discarded, they were leaves…

I was not happy with this shot, but knew that there was something in these leaves that needed to be told.  So, I wound up combining zoom blur and a bit of twist to get the effect that I was looking for.

In post processing, I did adjust the levels and dropped a bit of saturation to push the color palette a bit more toward the redder end of the spectrum.

Thanks to all of you who checked this out and particularly those who put forth their guesses.

Hope you enjoyed it!!

Searching for Tranquility

A bit of an eye twister

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Searching for tranquility

This image is one that I captured about 3-1/2 years ago during a walk through the gardens of Gillette Castle in East Haddam, CT, which is a great site to visit year round.  My eye was caught by the multitudinousness of the water lilies; to a degree, I found the view of this pond slightly less than tranquil, which gave me the idea of creating this image, where the eye will never rest.

I am curious to find out how you perceive this image… let me know!

Technical Details

Shot with a Canon 5D MkII using a 24-105 L lens.  I pushed the shutter speed to about 1/3 second to be able to get the zoom blur at this level.  As the camera was handheld, the tricky part was to ensure that something would stay still.

Wednesday Wonderment – pt. 2

Folded right, we can turn over a new leaf…

The Wednesday Wonderment series examines some of the things that amaze and inspire me; lots will be in nature, but there may be some surprises.

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Perfect Folds

“What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.”
― Albert Einstein

Today’s image is all about structure.  Nature provides us with a dazzling array of structures that are optimized for the function that they perform.  Such is the case here with this palm leaf, which is perfectly folded to provide the strength needed to support its size, which allows it to capture as many of the sun’s vital rays as possible.

Structure that lends strength is seen in many places in nature, maybe none more dramatic than the giant sequoias.

There is also beauty in these forms beyond just the functional aspect; this beauty has us coming back time and again to appreciate a level of perfection that is rarely achieved in human endeavors.

What structure in nature is your favorite?  What draws you in when you look at it?

Thank you for reading this post; I hope you enjoyed it!

Technical Details

This image was captured with a Canon EOS 5D MkIII with a 17-40mm F4 lens.  F-stop used was f/8 at 1/25 second, ISO 640.