Papaver
At Deer Hollow Farm in the park on Sunday, there was a small garden with this Papaver poppy growing. The delicate red paper-thin wrinkled petals and how they catch the light are just wonderful. The white anthers and purple filaments combined with the bright yellow pistil that looks like a fancy pat of butter work so well for this large flower.
Thistle and Honeybee
One of my new recent favorites! Today, I took the kids hiking through the hills in San Antonio Park with some friends to visit Deer Hollow Farm. The flowering thistles were drawing my attention but not delivering in any shots, no matter how much I encouraged them. Along the hike, my friend mentioned the bee on a nearby thistle. Needless to say, that was followed by several clicking sounds coming from my camera.
I love the pollen on this bee, the colors, clarity, aphids and spider web.
Alyssum
I love being close enough to walk to farmer’s market. When the weather is nice it makes for a good Sunday morning event. One house along the way has a wonderful flower garden in the front yard. I stopped to take a few shots, and let my girls try their hand at some as well.
These Alyssum Flowers are my work but it won’t be long until I’m featuring the kids stuff. They love taking flower pictures. But the rule apparently is, one photo per flower please. No more. No duplicates, no matter if it is from one location or another. That means one poppy photo, one daisy photo. I guess this means we either need a bigger garden or we’ll have to start traveling soon. 🙂
Spring Colors
This is lavender in the foreground and broom bush providing the nice backdrop in the background. I love the contrast here, and the evening light added just that little bit more. The little spider web in the top completes the overall look for me.
That Was Bitter!
I am finding that I enjoy taking photos of the bees in the front yard. They don’t mind me being there and they are great subjects. This little guy was hanging on to the lavender with just his hind legs while cleaning his tongue.
Fun with Reversed Lens Macro
Now that the weather is nice, and spring is in full swing why not try to get up close to the flowers and show some of the colorful personality? This series of photos was taken with my 28 – 135mm lens while inverted and handheld. It was fun to experiment with the shallow DOF and different ways to have the focus come-and-go. To make things even better, I was able to use each of these for my Daily Shoot project to try and catch up as I am woefully behind.
Paraguay Nightshade – Solanum rantonnetii
#ds116 – “Rules” can be stifling if taken to extremes. Break the rules today with focus, composition, etc, and see what happens.
California Lilac – Ceanothus impressus
#ds113 – Take care of the Monday blues by picking up your camera. Make a photograph dominated by the color blue.
Dandelion – Taraxacum officinale
#ds120 – Trees and plants are great photographic subjects. Make a photograph of a tree or plant today.
Holdouts
#ds121 – Today’s theme is “3”. Make a photograph that features the number itself or otherwise represents 3 items.
Cars, Bridge, Camera and Purple Haze – Daily Shoot 65,66,68,70
A wide range of shot types today. I fell behind last week on my Daily Shoot assignments so I spent some time this weekend to catch up.
Foot Bridge Over Freeway at Night (ds70 - Sunday challenge: Experiment with shutter speed today by making a photo with a long exposure.)
Camera Self Portrait - Canon DS50 (ds66 - Make your camera the star of the show today. Use another camera or mirror to put your camera in a photo of its own.)
Coming and Going on Highway 101 (ds65 - Make an interesting photo of a mode of transportation today: car, plane, bicycle, subway, or whatever you like!)
Purple Haze (ds68 - Let's have some fun on a Friday. Make a photo that goes with the title (or lyrics) of a song. Interpret away!)
Catching up in photo assignments
Starting from later in the game doesn’t make it easy to do all of the Daily Shoot assignments. I took some time over the holiday to try and catch up on a photo-walk around town. Here is what I came up with for a few of the assignments.
Clockwise from the top left:
#ds9: “You might not be next to an ocean, but surely you can find some water around you to take a photo of.”
#ds14: “Sunday challenge time! Pattern is built on repetition, like a rhythm. Make a photo of a regular or irregular pattern.”
#ds16: “Doors can have a lot of character, be it in the hinges, knob, or style. Make a photo of a door you pass through today.”
#ds17: “Let’s play around with contrast today, to help train the eye for it. Make a photo that has contrasting colors.”
Daily Shoot #20: The Wheel – Jamis Miss Daisy
A photo to highlight the wheel portion of the Jamis Miss Daisy kid’s bike. Overall I don’t think this is bad, but the lighting could be improved. Some of the other shots, with inferior framing had cloud-cover which really softened the purples in the frame.
#DS20: “Where would civilization be without the wheel? They’re all around. Make a photograph of a wheel near you.”
Sean Kane 
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