Yellow hibiscus, the state flower of Hawaii was recorded in ancient Greece. In the photograph is captured several unopened buds, behind the flower, and a bee in the flower throat, attracted by nectar there. It is a small bee, of the Halictidae family, that lives alone in a ground nest and also called a “sweat bee,” from being attracted to perspiration.
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The pronounced cross-bedding (diagonal layering) of this Navajo Sandstone wall exposed by Virgin river erosion is the effect of wind drifting sands of the largest known sand desert formed in the Jurassic era lasting for 56 million years (185 million years ago). This photograph contrasts the ever new Virgin River with this ancient rock, deepening shadows suggest the depth of time.
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
My research for Zion Narrows I included a useful map. Perusing the the National Park Service web site I could find nothing for the Narrows. This week, while perfecting the three file merge, I kicked around in “google” and found this map hidden away in a section devoted to dedicated canyoneers planning multiple day backpacks through the entire canyon. These trips are from the “top down” and, I suppose, they do not want to expose the information to day trippers.
Anyway, I downloaded the map and present it here. You can either click on the hyperlink or click “download” to view the map. The file is a 2.5 MB pdf, if you want to download it. The trail accessible from the park proper starts from the bottom. Pam and I made it to just beyond where Ordway canyon joins, about 2 hours from the start. Note there are NO places to escape a flash flood beyond this point and, below, we learned from observation there are few places and many of these were for hikers more, lets say, nimble than Pam and myself.
Our first day was spent hiking up to the narrowest section of Zion Canyon, called “Wall Street,” where the gorge walls are 1,000 feet high. There, the river is 20 feet across in places and not much wider anywhere. There is NO high ground to escape flash floods, only the high, unforgiving canyon walls.
As we were planning to venture beyond the tame sidewalk of “The Riverside Walk”, our first stop was to an outdoor supply store in Springdale to rent canyoneering shoes, to wade the river comfortably and safely, a sturdy stick to improve stability and free advice on current conditions for the potential of flash floods. You can see the stick in this portrait, mid-narrows. This was July, with a danger of torrential downpours, and we were nervous about this; however, proceeded anyway.
Several miles in, I set up the Manfrotto 468Mg studio tripod with the Kodak DSC pro SLR-c (the “c” specifies compatibility with Canon lenses) and the Canon 50 mm f/1.4 USM lens. Here we look downstream, the way we came. I waited for a clear shot w/o fellow hikers coming up from behind. This was before investing in a wide-angle lens. My plan was to stitch the three shot together.
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Bottom
Middle
Top
Rough draft of the combination.
The work remaining on the rough draft are to match the edges as close as possible, smooth out the differences until the joins are indiscernible.
Here are the same photographs as a slide show. I enjoy how the long exposure blurred water lead the viewer into the gorge walls.
Captured with a Kodak DCS Pro SLE/c dslr and a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.4 lens stabilized with the Manfrotto Studio Tripod model 475 and the 468 Hydrostatic ball head.
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Presenting a macro of a Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) growing in our rose garden, in full bloom, a profusion of orchid flowers.
Helleborine, the scientific name species designation, means like a Hellebore. It must refer calyx, the outer leaves forming the flower bud, these open to reveal the flower. In this macro, the unopened buds are upper right. Bottom center the calyx, fully open, with the flower ready to accept pollination, fertilization. After opening, the calyx seems to be part of the flower, a characteristic of hellebore (see Helleborus argutifolius).
The flowers attract a variety of Hymenoptera. I observed wasps, yellow-jackets visiting. Today, each flower is a ripening fruit. I need to photograph is stage.
Click photograph for a larger view and use Ctrl-x to zoom in closer.
Photograph is from a 100mm “macro” lens, f6.3.
Thank You for visiting.
Copyright 2020 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Effects of these dual waterfalls is deeply refreshing for the people on the narrow walkway underneath.
ISO 160, 1.3 sec at f/ 8.0
Photograph two of this Hanging Garden series has the aspect shifted slightly to include the sheer cliff hovering over the waterfalls. A low ISO and tamped down diaphragm (f/8) resulting in longer exposure (1.3 sec) impart a presence for two low volume waterfalls.
Captured with a Kodak DCS Pro SLE/c dslr and a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.4 lens stabilized with the Manfrotto Studio Tripod model 475 and the 468 Hydrostatic ball head.
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Each flower produces a seed capsule with an uncountable profusion of minuscule seeds. Germination is only possible if a fungus is present, mycorrhizal symbiosis the scientific term from the root words myco (fungus) and rhiz- as in rhízōma “mass of roots.”
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This photograph minimizes the clutter of this rose garden site, lost in a beautiful bokeh, at a cost of much flower detail. Many of the numerous blooms are out of focus. F-stop is set to wide open, f1.2. The apparent image distortion, upper left hand quadrant, is the blurred arc of a juniper bush limb.
Today’s header image is from yesterday’s post, by way of comparison.
A few years back we fenced in the rose garden as protection against marauding deer. This orchid specimen thrived within the enclosure, possibly turbocharged by rose fertilization.
The number of tiny flowers on a single stalk give a freakish, monstrous impression.
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Here, the tripod is moved to the fully illuminated side, at f9 the details of the interesting leaves, entire flower stalk including the top bent toward the view, are in focus. The background fencing is a distraction.
Visitors to Zion on a narrow path beneath this vast overhanging cliff of Navajo sandstone.
ISO 160, 0.8 sec at f/ 8.0
Changing the camera angle from the last “Hanging Garden” photograph, with visitors, here the visitors are less apparent, overawed by the waterfall. A low ISO and tamped down diaphragm (f/8) resulting in longer exposure (0.8 sec) captures and blurs just enough the fine waterfalls.
Captured with a Kodak DCS Pro SLE/c dslr and a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.4 lens stabilized with the Manfrotto Studio Tripod model 475 and the 468 Hydrostatic ball head.
Copyright 2021 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Using this information, I found the plant growing in our yard as a persecuted weed, observed closely a specimen surviving in a neglected nook and discovered the tiny face of an orchid flower.
2020, on my request, germinating plants with the same leaf form were spared weeding, even allowed to grow among the roses were the specimen of today’s photographs thrived.
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I captured this and all following (posts) photographs of this orchid in late afternoon light, after the sun was behind the hemlock hedge to the west, mounting on a portable tripod made the shot possible in this light.
This specimen benefited from the ample fertilizer applied to the surrounding roses. Compare with the specimen photographed in Fillmore Glen, in post header. I needed to fit into a tight space, so the smaller tripod was used. The lens is a 50 mm, f-stop 5.6. I could open up the diaphragm to 1.2, though the additional blur would not improve the background very much (over f 5.6) at a cost of much of the plant out of focus. Each orchid is smaller than a “pinky” fingernail.
..to be continued.
Copyright 2019 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
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