Yes, it’s that time of year again! I don’t ever get sick of views like this. Here, I have deliberately under-exposed this shot in order to convey the effect of the early evening light.The whole scene had an almost enchanting atmosphere…
I love the challenge of portraying textures in a photo – it isn’t always easy! Here, yesterday, I spotted these beech leaves. This hedge is made more interesting by the presence of one copper beech among all the other ordinary ones, which only augments the contrast between the glossy flat upper surfaces, and the fluffy, hairy edges of the youngest leaves. Nature is fascinating.
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!
I found this scene a few evenings ago. It seemed to make a powerful statement about how new life comes, despite death surrounding us. Symbolic, if you like. I love bluebells anyway, but this just added to the effect. What do you think?
Back to a real flower again, this week! On a short but pleasant walk yesterday (Saturday) I came across this red campion bud in the sunshine, which I thought epitomised spring.
Walking (once again!) through my beloved Wollaton Park, on a dull, uninspiring day, I was almost slipping into a ‘nothing to see, here’ kind of mood, when I found this leaf on a shrub. I’ve cropped this picture a little, but left plenty of background, so as to show the contrast. For a moment, I had to think which season it was supposed to be – but it was a beautiful scene, none the less. I needed to be reminded that their is so much beauty in nature, all around us, all the time.
Xanthophylls are a family of natural yellow substances found in nature. The yellow colouring in various types of tagetes (marigold) is a spectacular example. Many leaves contain xanthophyll, which shows up in the autumn, when the amount of chlorophyll present decreases, so that its green colour no longer predominates.
