For a drippy, languid gray Friday afternoon, a meditation on green: A water droplet clings to the stem of a sweetgum leaf.
Jun 132014
May 262014
The late-day sun glows brightly beneath a young sweetgum leaf along Piney Woods Church Road.
Apr 172014
Today’s featured photograph is another image in a category that has become a series now, roadbed still lifes. I turned the corner from Rico Road onto Piney Woods Church Road, and was immediately captivated by this fallen sweetgum leaf, in a found composition with a catkin (probably oak). The title of this image refers to the star-shaped leaves of the sweetgum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua).
Apr 142014
Not long after I set out for Piney Woods Church Road, the rains began. I was ill-equipped for a deluge, having left my camera bag at home (trusting too much in Doppler radar maps which showed precipitation still an hour away). I quickly focused my attention on certain shots — mostly particular wildflowers I noticed in bloom. Fortunately, the rainfall remained fairly gentle, though it didn’t prevent me from getting fairly soaked. Toward the end of my walk, my camera still functioning and my body rather drenched, I eased up a bit and began letting images find me. This is one of the products of that last part of my walk. Droplets cover a new sweetgum leaf that hangs like a curtain in front of the road I have just walked.
Jan 142014
After a light rain yesterday evening, today was a clear-blue sky day. I set off late in the afternoon to see what I might discover along Piney Woods Church Road. I took quite a few stand-by photographs, and also found an unopened cocoon — probably belonging to a saturniid moth — suspended from the top of a winter weed. While intriguing from a natural history perspective, the cocoon simply would not yield a good photo. Indeed, it was a day of many shots coming close, but not quite working out. As usual, the principle of taking lots of images and trusting the odds came to my rescue. Near Rico Road, I photographed a sweetgum seed pod hanging from its stem about ten feet above the ground. Since it was well out of my reach, I photographed it with my zoom lens, not the macro +4 I have been using of late. I love the deep blue sky in this photo.
