Food for Flies

I found myself getting frustrated trying to get a picture perfect lily last week. When I looked closely these flies were the villains. When I thought about it later, maybe the lily was there for the flies and not my perfect image. Another reminder for me to photograph what I see instead of what I wish was in front of the lens.

Dutchman's Breeches

I love the common names of flowers. I'm sure there are a variety of regional names but I can see the upside down Dutchman's pants (ala Dutch Boy Paints) on a line that were seen by pioneers when looking at this flower. A related flower has the name squirrel corn, bleeding hearts also have a similar shape.

Technical: This flower is one of those tough to photograph ephemerals because of its constant motion and a relatively deep depth of field needed to show them well.

Dutchman's Breeches

I love the descriptive names of wildflowers, they are so much more elegant than scientific names. Spring gives me a chance to get reacquainted with my 20+ year old 100 mm macro lens. It takes several seconds to gain auto focus and complains with a grinding noise while it searches for focus, like my knees when getting up after shooting these guys.

Crab Spider on Lady Slipper

Continuing the exploration of the this lady slipper.  The spider is what originally attracted my attention with its white body on the green petal.  I would have expected it to be more camouflaged on the flower while waiting for lunch to land. The challenge of the composition was showing both the spider and flower but keeping the spider as the subject of the image.

Trout Lily

My first love in photography is wildflowers and finding a little color at my feet is a joy.  If you are wondering about the blue, it is the sky.  I'll let your imagination determine the camera position.  Technical: 100 macro, f 7.1, late morning light.

Ephemeral

May 1st, 3 inches of new snow.
May 6th, peak bloom.
May 9th, it's over.
Ephemeral.

Bloodroot Close Up

The wind was blowing and the petals were falling yesterday when I was out looking for my second favorite spring flower to photograph, the bloodroot.  This fascination started when we would pick the flowers and smear the red juice on ourselves.  Technical: handheld, f 2.8, 100 mm Macro lens.

A rough spring

Robins were briefly here in January with bright sun and warm temperatures.  Now that they are here for the season life has been tough for them. This guy is fluffing up to stay as warm as possible in the heavy snow on Thursday.  The temperature was 22 degrees this morning, let's hope for some serious melting later in the day.

The Second Shot

The first decision is choosing the subject.  This is the most important decision in photography, a carefully considered decision can immensely improve the quality of your work. The second decision is easy.  Do you shoot a vertical or horizontal frame?  Shoot both and decide later which one works best.  When shooting wildlife there is an indeterminate length of time with the subject.  Shoot, shoot, shoot, and review later.

The Power of One

I briefly stopped in Monticello during the swan feeding since I didn't have the ambition to get -18 degree steam shots earlier in the morning.  The visit reminded me of Shirley and her single minded purpose to feed the swans.  I looked to my left and realized Jim Brandenburg was photographing the swans, a photographer who changed the world with his one shot a day project.  Although this link is for an international organization, I think each of us can make a difference.

iLcp

Rattlesnake Master

This uncommon flower on southern Minnesota prairies has leaves that look like the yucca plant of the western prairies.  The name implies treatment of rattlesnake bites and apparently it worked about 75% of the time.  However, I've been told only 25% of their bites inject venom.  The flowers are covered with insects during August.  Photographed on Tauer Prairie SNA, Brown Co., MN