Louisiana Wildflowers

                       
                                    

Lanceleaf Indian Blanket (Gaillardia aestivalis var. flavovirens)

Indian Blanket (Gaillardia) is widespread in Louisiana, but most varieties have varying amounts of red in the center and petals. Some petals are mostly red with a yellow tip, and some are mostly yellow with just a bit of red at the center. The particular variety in this photograph is the only one with solid yellow petals and a yellow center. All Gaillardia have the distinctive lobed petals you see here.

Lanceleaf Indian Blanket prefers sandier soil than other varieties, so it is not surprising that I find it plentiful at my beloved quarry. You'll find many photos from the quarry on this blog, but I probably have not properly labeled them all. Guess I really need to come up with a name for my beloved quarry and use it consistently! Suggestions anyone?

 

Things Unseen

                       
                         

Home of the Wounded Healer

This is my beloved quarry. I began photographing this place in February 2010 when it was a fresh, raw gash on the face of the earth. It draws me back again and again. It reminds me that all of creation bears seeds of reconciliation with and within The Creator.

    

Photographer's Journal

                         
                             

In Memorium

Although I love photographing flowers and landscapes and machinery and more, things that fill my viewfinder with colors and shapes and so forth, I also enjoy challenging myself to put as little in the frame as possible and still have an interesting photo. It's called "minimalism," and minimalist images are often--not always--rather abstract. By my definition, "abstract" means the viewer is not quite sure what it is. An online photographer acquaintance coined the term "ministract" for those images that succeed at both. I think this one does! What do you think?

       

Summer Solstice Safari

                                      
                                     

Spider Butt Surprise

One of the most fun things about doing macro photography in natural habitats is what you do not know is in your image until you see it big on the computer screen.

This surprise came from a photo hike in the Kisatchie National Forest with friends from the Louisiana Native Plant Society. I should be able to identify the flower, but right now I'm not sure where my notes are!

       

New England Adventure

                   
                                

Untitled (Pink)

After a day and a half of hiking in the Berkshire's, I needed an easier photo assignment! So I went to the Berkshire Botanical Gardens, where I walked on wide, gravel paths and mowed grass, mosied through greenhouses, stood in the shade and never once broke a sweat or saw a mosquito. It was great. And this lovely being was in a greenhouse full of amazine cacti, most of which I had never seen the likes of before.

    

New England Adventure

                             
                                        

Rain Approaching Monument Mountain

                         
I just returned from several days in New England. My first stop was Enders State Forest, just west if Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, and my last stop was my grad school friend Lisa's wedding in Amherst, Massachusetts.

In between, I spent a day hiking with a photographer friend and his family. I met Chris online through the Google+ photography community; he's the third photographer from the G+ community I have met in real life through my travels. Chris' wife and two of his teenagers joined us and we had a fabulous time. As I told Chris, I don't think I would agree to meet anyone I have met only online through any other social network than the G+ photography community--which is really quite special.

So..., here we are at the top of Monument Mountain near Stockbridge, Mass. when a rain storm approaches across the valley. It had been a serious climb and it was a hot, humid day so getting rained on was a pleasant prospect. However, the storm broke up in the valley and did not reach us. Indeed, seconds before this photo, it had been much darker and more threatening in appearance. By the time I got the proper lens on my camera and had framed and focused, it was already fading and breaking up.
                     
          

Photographer's Journal

                           
                                 

Quilted Steel

Yes, I love to photograph butterflies, dragonflies, wildflowers and more. But I'm also fascinated by the work of human hands. We too are gifted creators.

Grain elevators dot the Louisiana landscape. This one is in Winnsboro. I shot this for a project I'm involved in on Google+. A group of photographers shoots photos on a theme, then gets together in live, online "hangouts" to share and discuss their two best images on that theme.

This was one of my submissions on the theme "Industrial." The group liked it a lot, but one person suggested I make the blacks a little more intensely black--which I did, just a little bit, and I think it an improvement.

Many complain that online social networking is a waste of time. I disagree. It certainly can be used in productive ways while still being great fun.