Some situations, as we all know, are easier to get into than out of. This ant evidently found out too late. If you’ve seen those pictures of insects encased in amber (or even the real thing) then you can imagine how such things occurred, a very long time ago.
I found this scene on the side of a pine tree in my garden. The resin is seeping from a small side branch that was recently cut off. There were, in fact, many more ants running about, and they seemed to keep well clear of the resin!
This week, I wanted something that said something about my day on Saturday. Well, where I was, on 30 July 2016, nothing amazing happened. But, if we look at nature and the world around us, life need never be boring. So in this shot, I used the concept of ‘negative space’ to symbolise summer – the top branch of an apple tree, reaching into a vast clear sky, with just a few smeary clouds at high altitude. Looking up at cloudscapes of all kinds is a marvellous way to relax, yet sharpen your power of observation at the same time!
‘Filling the frame’ – the opposite photo technique – is also one I use and love a lot, but the ‘message’ is different, yes?
I took this photo only yesterday. It seems to show how I was feeling; it’s as if summer is already flying by. For many schoolchildren, the holidays have only just begun, yet many flowers are almost over. Thankfully, there are more following! The ‘bell’ of this campanula flower seems to be looking outwards at the two seed-heads. But hopefully there are still many good things to come.
OK… My usual theme, but with a variation: to find pretty patterns that repeat, you don’t have to go to a colouring book. They occur all around us! I took this picture of a hebe plant in full bloom just this morning. Nature got there before pop-art, yes?
When I found this yesterday, the inherent patterns and shapes arrested me. I usually post flower pictures, which this one is, in a way, but with one important difference: the flower, as such, is dead. But never-the-less, it seemed to have both a visual and a symbolic beauty; visual beauty from shape and line, and symbolic beauty in that, here in death, we see the potential for so much more life, because of all those seeds.
I hope you won’t just get bored, when I keep posting pictures that fit the same theme! But this morning, I only had to step outside to find this – it’s actually part of a blueberry plant. That awesome and paradoxical combination of complexity, simplicity, and beauty in nature just absolutely stunned me, once again. Click on the image to enlarge it, and maybe, you’ll see what I mean.
I’m not going to post about Britmums Live, today, because a) lots of people will – and better than I could – and b) I need to get my breath back, so to speak, after such a blast!
One evening last week, I just felt the need to unwind in natural surroundings. Fortunately, I had the opportunity. I find there’s something very stabilising about looking at things in nature that are so much older than myself. This picture is, of course, once again a part of Wollaton Park, Nottingham. One or two of the original cedar trees, planted in 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, still survive. To stand underneath one on a hot summer day and breathe the scent is truly inspiring, and makes me think about all sorts of things.
We tend to get wrapped up in ourselves (maybe I can speak for others along with myself.) Surely, it’s always good to welcome what lifts us out of this. Oh… perhaps there is a connection with Britmums, after all.
It's kind to share!
Looking round my garden yesterday (June 18) I was glad to find these baby apples starting to swell. I’m hopeful of a good crop this year. From a photographic point of view, though, I love it when I can successfully capture some sense of the texture of something – in this case, that slight furriness, left from when the flower dies back to leave the beginnings of a fruit. Try clicking on the picture to enlarge it, and I think you’ll see what I mean. I’m not always successful, mind!
I was just taking a breather yesterday afternoon (11 June) and having a go at a spot of macro flower photography (as one does) when this little insect came by and dropped in of a few moments. I’d be most grateful for help in identifying both the flower and the insect!
This shot of raspberry flowers is something of an experiment; I was testing out a new acquisition – a 50mm lens. I purposely used a wide aperture setting to keep the depth of field small, as something of an art form. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see that only certain parts are in focus, giving a rather delicate effect. So I’m giving you, not what I saw exactly, but what I want you to see. A kind of impressionism, if you like.
In passing, I’ll explain a couple of terms that often get mixed up: this lens is both a prime lens and a marque lens. A prime lens has a fixed focal length (i.e. does not have a zoom function.) Generally, they have better optical performance than zoom lenses (at similar price points) but are more challenging to use – composition becomes more of an art! A marque lens is simply one made (or, at any rate, branded) by the camera manufacturer – in this case a Pentax lens for a Pentax camera – as distinct from one from an independent lens maker, such as Sigma or Tamron, for instance.
