I've been going through my 2015 photos, planning on a retrospective of the year to brighten up this colder, often grayer season. I found that the pictures that caught my eye varied depending on the theme or title I had in mind. So we may have several retrospectives in the weeks ahead. Today is the first installment on the theme of Catching the Light, mostly taken during the first quarter of the year.
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More sparks of light from early June. It seems odd to be posting about my Indiana garden while I am enjoying the beauties of a Virginia garden in full summer bloom, but its time will come. I'm working on a borrowed laptop here, so revisiting my Virginia photos won't happen until I'm home again.
For now, I'm enjoying it in the moment -- the interaction of light and flowers, and of light,clouds, and mountains, and I look forward to a second reading of it all later. And in this moment, I am also enjoying the memories of spring at home -- bursts of sunshiny flowers, pink columbine, blueberries just starting to blush, bees buzzing, and the light/shadow patterns of ferns. I don't know where bees go for the winter or how they know when it's time to come out. One warm, sunny day this week the crocus in my window well opened, joining the snowdrops in sending out enticing signals. The bees buzzed in by the dozens and dove in.
This was the same day that ended in a fiery blaze of glory. This one is for my friend Josh, who loves studying insects. I haven't a clue what some of these are, though I'm fascinated by the different patterns on the bees. Is this normal variation, or several different varieties? I'll have to check with Josh.
Fall is here, hard as it is to believe that today, with the temperature hitting a high of 97. It may feel summer-hot, but we've made the turn into fall. Everything seems to be going to seed, or doing its best to soak up all the sunlight in can. Autumn is in the air -- and so are the geese. And harvestman and daddy longlegs are both delightful names for the same creature, which is not actually a spider, despite appearances.
On warm, sunny afternoons, the bees have been busy buzzing around the flowers in my garden. Even sometimes on wet, cloudy days -- I see one out my study window right now, checking out the salvia. I'm intrigued by the variety I see -- honey bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, sweat bees, and the occasional wasp. I prefer not to get close, since I'd rather not get stung, so some of the detail only shows up when I crop and create a close up thanks to the computer. Look for tattered wings, light reflected in wings, the shadow of wings, and yellow jodhpurs full of pollen, And all the variations in color and pattern. Coneflower, bee balm, daisies, foxglove, butterfly weed, grasses -- the summer prairie is at its most colorful. The bees and the finches are loving it, as am I.
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My approach to contemplative photography --
"Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." Mary Oliver in "Sometimes" Archives
August 2020
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