Late one April afternoon these backlit Hepatica on the gorge wall above the South Rim Trail of Treman Gorge posed for their portraits.
Personable Wildflowers
With wishes for a Blessed Easter 2021
Category: Macro
Hepatica
Early Spring Beauties
Most every year since 2002 I’ve photographed these personable beauties, the first wildflowers to bloom as early as late February through the snows.
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Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Hepatica, Fillmore Glen
Hepatica from April 2007
Back in 2007 I used a 100 mm Canon Macro lens on a Kodak slr along with a Sony DSC-F828 variable lens for this mix of macro and habitat captures presented as a gallery so you can flip back and forth among the larger images. Click any image to bring up a larger version.
Click for my “Finger Lakes Memories” Fine Art Photography Gallery.
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Wildflowers Late Winter / Early Spring 3
With the thermometer in the 40’s on March 12 these crocus were open, under the same magnolia tree as the buttercups from the 10th. The blooms close during cold snaps much as you see in the first post.
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A tripod held the composition steady and the timer was set to 2 seconds for extra stability. With the leaf body worn away by time, the remaining veining turns the form lacy.
Here is a slideshow today’s and previous wildflowers.
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Wildflowers Late Winter / Early Spring 2
With the thermometer in the 60’s on March 10 the “buttercups” of yesterday are open. We we first moved here, the plants were much thinner. I used fertilizer spikes on the Magnolia tree around which they grow. Each early the flowers pollinate, forming seeds and spreading.
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A tripod held the composition steady and the timer was set to 2 seconds for extra stability at the f25 setting.
Here is a slideshow of yesterday and today’s shots.
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
A fellow blogger, Audrey Driscoll’s Blog, provided the correct and exact species name Eranthis hyemalis. The latin name proclaims the early nature of its flowering both in the genus, “Eranthis” – “spring flower”, and species, “hyemalis” – winter flowering. The genus encompasses eight species, all early flowering winter aconite.
Reference: Wikipedia “Eranthis hyemalis” and “Eranthis.”
Wildflowers Late Winter / Early Spring 1
February 2020 I upgraded to the Canon 5D Mark IV dslr. These are the first images. These flowers are the first to bloom on our property, around a magnolia tree. Each year these “buttercups” grow thicker and spread. A fellow blogger, Audrey Driscoll’s Blog, provided the correct and exact species name Eranthis hyemalis. The latin name proclaims the early nature of its flowering both in the genus, “Eranthis” – “spring flower”, and species, “hyemalis” – winter flowering. The genus encompasses eight species, all early flowering winter aconite.
Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.
A macro lens was mounted, Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 Macro USB. A characteristic of this lens is to underexpose, so I set two stops higher. All these are f25.
With the thermometer hovering above freezing, these blooms did not open today. The calendar says “late winter”, these buttercups are singing “early spring.”
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Reference: Wikipedia “Eranthis hyemalis” and “Eranthis.”
Frozen Fall Creek II
Natural Ice Sculpture
My last post, “Frozen Fall Creek I”, ended with macros of Ice Crystals on a bed of frost over creek ice within sight of our former home, a restored water mill. I continued on the ice, following the creek to this spot were the stream bed turns 90 degrees, changing from a southerly to a western flow.
Here I encountered an open course where constant water motion resisted freezing. A few frigid days later, the course had an amazing transformation.
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The transparent ice of the now frozen space retained the impression of movement, the surface rippled by current. In the following photograph, motionless ice crystals reveal the truth.
In the intervening days, the constant motion resisted freezing while the water temperature dropped well past freezing to achieve a supercooled state. As the water temperature continued to drop, a fast transition from fluid to solid happened so quickly the movement of the water surface was preserved.
Here is the matching “after” photograph to the “before” that started this post.
Click me for “Fall Creek Winter,” another stunning scene.
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Frozen Fall Creek I
Ice Crystals
Click any photograph for a larger version.
Click me for the next post in this series, “Frozen Fall Creek II.”
Click me for another Winter Series starting with “The Fang?”
Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills
Ice Bells
Noticing small miracles, taking the time and effort to capture them…..
These icicles were formed along Fall Creek during the coldest months of February in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State.
The transient nature of these forms is suggested by the thinness of the pedicle joining each bell to the ice lobe of the ledge. Note the golden crystals in the ice lobe.
A visualization of the symbolic power of the numeral three, reflected on itself. Question: what do “threes” mean to you?
Captured with the Sony DSLR-A700, DT 16-105mm F3.5-5.6 lens, hoya circular polarizing filter, mounted on the Manfrotto tripod with ball head.
Click the photograph for my online gallery Ice Bells listing.
Ireland on the Mind at Christmas
Irish Christmas Spirit
Where would we be without Saint Patrick? He was a force, to be sure. A favorite story, is the landing of his return to the island 432 AD. The tides on the eastern coast of the Irish Sea can be strong. His plan was to sail up to coast further north than what we call today Strangford Lough. On passing this inlet the boat was swept into the lough tidal narrows. Circumstances called for a landing, rather than wait for the tide. Patrick came ashore where the Slaney River enter the lough and “quickly converted” the local chieftan, Dichu, who provided a barn for holding services. The name of the town “Saul” in Irish is Sabhall Phádraig, translated as “Patrick’s Barn.”
In this posting I’ll go lighter on descriptions of technique. Leave it to say I held to the Canon fixed lens EF 50mm f1.2L USM throughout. Some, like the photograph of Saint Patrick, used a tripod. Others, like the latter two of the following Irish Themed Cross set were handheld. Generally a flash was used to supplement ambient sunlight from a large north-facing bay window.
Here the “celtic” cross is converted to an Irish theme through a substitution of a shamrock with golden decoration inspired by pagan neolithic petroglyphs for the nimbus (circle) intersecting the central intersection of arms and stem.
For the first three I played with aperture, taking advantage of the stability of a tripod. The final two of the set are handheld.
Note the fanciful leprechaun snowman with pot o’ gold, on the left.
Blown glass Irish dancers.
“Travel memories”
- the suitcase for our 2014 tour of the island and re-connection with family. Also a symbol of our ancestors travel across the Atlantic ocean to North America.
- a cruise ship for our tour of South America. I have many stories from that trip. Here is the first of a series about the Chilean fjords and glaciers.
Lets’s finish up with a resin cast Santa Claus in hiking garb. Hiking is a favorite activity of ours. Featuring a stout staff and Aran Island sweater.
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
