Orchids are so elegant . This is a close up of a wild orchid growing in a bog on the San Juan ridge, on Vancouver Island.
I believe it is a fragrant white rein orchid (Platanthera dilatata …hey, I checked here: E-Flora BC!)
I added some filter play, to give it a painterly look… and to camouflage – almost successfully – the fact that one of the blossoms is out of focus. I have to work on my depth of field adjustments. Learning every day.
January morning in 2015, the sun rises on the horizon. Days are short, but the light is magical.
Contemplez du matin la pureté divine…
Ce prodigieux sourire, le soleil.
Le soleil, cette fleur des splendeurs infinies…
—Victor Hugo
Today’s picture is from my old files of things that live around here…
During a walk on the beach at low tide in the summertime, quite a few lion’s mane jellyfish were trapped at low tide, and dried up. Some of them can be quite sizable, and if you try to lift them (not with your hands, but with a stick, say, or a paddle if you are in a kayak), you find out how heavy these creatures are…
This one was high up on the beach, blown there by wind and wave action, dead and drying up. It looked like a fine glass object. Abstract art. I am guessing that this is the pattern of what passes for “muscles” in a jelly.
Taking an ordinary photo and turning it into a black and white version is a great way to start looking at how you compose a shot with value in mind. Value and contrast become the main actors.
So here is a water view of the Unique Brilliance, a cargo ship anchored on Plumper Sound, between Saturna and Pender Islands, for several weeks this summer.
Seen from the water level, a cargo ship is a veritable wall of rusty steel. In the late afternoon, I like the contrast of the anchor chain, and even rows of rivets show up.
I liked this exercise of translating my pics to black and white – to check out whether they remain “interesting” minus the colour – so much that I worked on a few pictures last weekend, and created a new Black and White photo gallery with the ones that “passed the B&W test”. Have a look!
November is a windy and grey month on the Gulf Islands of BC. The wind topples trees and causes power outages. This is sort of expected, and means that we rely on generators and fireplaces or wood stoves to stay warm, keep the fridge going, and have a light or two to read. And a purring cat never hurts.
All that rain produces all sorts of blossomings in the mosses on the forest floor.
The moss, which had gone “brittle” over the dry summer months, has now regained its emerald green lush and springy thickness. And some version of it are blooming.
Then, mushrooms are also making an appearance. On my morning walk, a couple of days ago, here is what I found next to the path…
I have to admit that I don’t know the name of the cup-shape mushroom (although it could possibly be the brown-clustered ear cup…), nor of the little one that is poking up in the mosses, in the lower left corner of this photo. Obviously, I will have to start carrying the mushroom identification book, and highlight the ones I recognize.
