Back to the Woods

After a week of stormy weather I took advantage of the pleasant evening to hike back into the woods. Most of the spring flowers are gone, but the wild roses are still blooming.

The light was low and filtering through the trees making for great accent light. I hope you enjoy the images.

Wild Rose

Creek Light

Nikon D7000, rose image with Tokina 100mm f/2.8 macro, stream image with Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8

Dewy Morning

We woke to a beautiful morning. It was cool, clear, and dewy. I headed for the woods to see what was new today !

Photogeek info: D7000, 35-70mm in Macro mode. Conversion in ACR & CS5

Spring in the Woods

Spring is busting out all over here in KC. The wildflowers in the woods are just starting to pop. The redbuds will peak in the next few days. The dogwoods will come soon. I took a walk through a wild area near our neighborhood and found these blooms. Enjoy!

Hidden Treasures & A Happy New Year !

Friends,

With the end of the year I have been reviewing the past year's images. Here at the holidays it is a good time to pare away the duplicates and the question marks.

When you do this sort of review there always seems to be an image or two that didn't seem like much at the time of the capture, but grabs you now. This bud was one of my hidden finds from 2010. My hope is that 2011 brings you hidden treasures! Happy New Year !

Image taken with Nikon D90, PP with ACR and CS5

Fall Meadow

We have had another wet summer here in western Missouri. For the second straight year we have great fall wildflowers. These images come from a wild corner of a nearby city park.

Fall Yellows

Spreading Seeds

Milkweed Pod

Grasshopper

This is another image from our foggy morning in the upper pastures. This big grasshopper was resting on the goat's beard bloom. He was covered in dew like everything else.

Nikon D90, 35-70mm f/2.8. PP with CS5

Prickly Poppy

We've been busy with harvest chores and wedding preparations. This has kept us busy and we haven't been able to shoot and post as much as we would like.

This morning dawned with a heavy fog. We had already planned a trip to one of the upland pastures to shoot. When we arrived the view of the rising sun across the valley was no where to be found. But summer blooms and jewels from the fog were in abundance.

This bloom is called a Prickly Poppy. The blooms only last a day or two in the heat of summer. Prickly is an understated description for this plant. You can see the spines on the buds and edges of the leaves. It is so spiny that the cattle won't eat it.

Image taken with Nikon D90 / 35-70mm. PP with ACR & CS5

Wildflowers in the Lane

I made a nice visit to the town of Hay on Wye, a small town on the River Wye at the Herefordshire - Wales border.

I followed one of the local circular walks, which included a footpath along a small brook. The wildflowers were a bright and attractive feature of my hike. I hope that you enjoy them as well.

Photo of the Week - Fall Colors

On this final weekend of the summer, the hints of fall are definitely in the air. This morning was cool, and we have had several foggy mornings recently. The 'traditional' fall colors of the trees are just starting to hint at what might be coming. This evening I explored an undeveloped area of some local parkland, and I discovered this early set of 'fall colors'.

I found a meadow that was bright yellow with blooming goldenrod. As you worked through the grasses there are many flowering plants that are making a last show. The cool and wet summer has kept these plants flowering late into the summer. There are other interesting forms and colors, such as the foxtails. Enjoy this end of summer display.

Photo of the Week - Gift of the Sun

I went out looking to take advantage of the high contrast that the mid-day sun was offering to shoot B/W.



The day lilies and the statuette made a nice combination. I generated more darkness in the image by spot metering the bright spots in the background and using that exposure to capture the foreground image.