Backgrounds and light

No blog last week?  Two words.  Jury duty.  This week, I was given the wonderful opportunity to photograph our friends' beautiful gardens.  More on that later, but the process brought me back to our vegetables, particularly a number of varieties of lettuce.  The colors and veins spreading from the main ribs across the leaves like arroyos across the land always lead to my camera.

What would be the best background to capture the intricate structure?  Is the "front" or the "back" of the leaf more interesting or is each simply different?  

I began with a linen background thinking it would give more of a "botanical print" look.  Lighting was furnished by nature from the southern exposure as well as a fill disc to bounce light on to the top of the leaf. 

Then, I held up a leaf to the sky, with white clouds.  This might work!

More back lighting reveals structure

The subjects then became lunch!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

 

August recess

President Obama is on holiday this week at Martha's Vineyard, members of Congress are on their August recess, and many are headed to the mountains or beach.  But some students are already preparing for the school year, and the plant world takes no holiday.  Some plants are just now joining the color parade.  Sunflowers line the highways, along with skyrocket gilia and assorted penstemons, and gaillardia.  Everyone who is growing greens and lettuce knows that this is their season in the high country.

So kudos this week to the miracle of nature and the edibles that seemingly pop out of the ground to nourish us and add beauty to the world.

Flashy trout's back lettuce

Sunflower

Basil

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

new litter

Time passes so rapidly, especially when the yard stick for measuring time is a child, or for that matter, a puppy.

In this particular case, I am referring to coyote puppies.  By the time they are brought to our water dishes by their parents, they are basically tweens or near-teenagers, with behavior to match.  In this year of rare water and slim resources, only one puppy has graced us with its presence.

The only thing to do now is grow into those paws!

Thanks for all of you who have come and supported the La Tienda art exhibit in Eldorado.  If you have not been able to visit yet, it runs through 10 August, this Saturday, and I will be "sitting" once again this Friday from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

flying circus

It was bound to happen.  If nothing else, I am persistent and a bit too predictable, so it won't surprise any of you that the camera came out of its bag to be pointed in the direction of the flying circus of hummingbirds at our feeders.  These amazing birds arrive around income tax filing time, with male broad-tailed hummers leading the pack.  The rufous are the last to depart for points south, in mid to late September.

Comparing notes with friends, we realized that there weren't as many anywhere in northern New Mexico this year, and their presence seemed to fluctuate.  On the 4th of July, just in time to represent the orange-red part of the color spectrum, the Rufous hummingbirds arrived, but it was not until the last two weeks that we saw a dramatic increase.  The population blasted from around 250 birds to roughly 360.

How do we know the number of birds?  Here is the formula -  8 ounces or one cup of liquid consumed in a 24 hour period represents 40 birds.  According to a documentary film on hummingbirds, they need to feed every fifteen minutes.  Imagine the traffic surrounding four, one quart feeders.  It is a non-stop flying circus, with creatures relentless in their pursuit of C&H (California and Hawaiian Sugar Company with the added irony that the chemical composition of sugar is C12H22O11).  After the rufous join the mix of broad-tailed, black-chinned, and calliopes, one feeder is guarded by the ultra-territorial rufous, making it more difficult for the other birds to get to it.  Occasionally, the numbers of others are so great that it becomes impossible to guard, but the rufous don't let it happen too often.

ever diligent...

...and in action!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image