At a recent trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland I was attracted to the wildflowers as well as the birds. I loved the color of this plant which I think is milkweed (I would appreciate corrections). I took several pictures with and without beetles. This one caught my eye because the beetle was in flight not just sitting on the flowers.
Shot with a Canon 80D: 18-200 mm lens at 187 mm, f/5.3, ISO 500, 1/640 sec.
Last Sunday we took our out-of-town guests to Sarasota Polo. I wanted to practice taking motion shots by panning. The one player in focus seemed an interesting counter to the blur of the other two and the ball.
This shot was made with a Canon EOS 80D, 18-200 mm lens at 160 mm zoom, f/13, ISO 100, 1/25 sec.
I saw this pair at the Venice Rookery and immediately thought of the Lewis Carroll’s characters.
I am always fascinated by reflections. Usually we photograph the object as well as its reflection in a stream or pool. Sometimes I like to take pictures of just the reflection as this photo of Spanish moss on Live Oaks at Circle B Bar Reserve. These images always reminds me of Debussy’s piano piece (Reflections in the Water) and Monet’s water lily paintings. The article “Strange Reflections” in the March 2019 National Geographic shows the work of Jodi Cobb photographing reflections of Venice in the canals.
I took this picture at the Red Bug Slough in Sarasota. Viceroy butterflies (Limenitis archippus) are commonly seen going about their business of feeding on nectar and pollinating flowers. Recently several news stories have circulated about an upcoming insect Armageddon due to loss of habitat, climate change, and pesticides. An excellent article in the Atlantic provides a good analysis of how complicated the story really is. Check out “Is the Insect Apocalypse Really Upon Us?”. In framing this picture I tried to use the Golden Ration grid for cropping rather than the usual Rule of Thirds grid.
I saw this mosaic as part of the exterior decorations on the Safety Harbor Public Library. A series of mosaics were created by local artist Heather Richardson. She described her project as “ 100 volunteers, 72 panels, 3 days to grout and 6 hours to install.”
I have been playing with the concept of photographing through plants. For this technique a telephoto lens is held next to a flower or leaf and the photographer focuses on a flower further away. By using a wide open shutter the foreground is blurred creating a soft effect. This photograph of the stamen and pistil of a hibiscus was made using a Canon 18-200mm lens at full extension and f5.6, ISO 250, 1/800 sec.
