I’m craving color in these days of black and white beauty, so here’s my entry for this week’s nature theme at Sally’s D’s Mobile Photography Challenge. Ahhh, I do love my iPhone 5s, not only for ease of carry, but for the excellence of its camera! Now I’m never without a camera.
This is also my mom’s birthday as well as Pearl Harbor Day in the U.S. My mom lived in California, so I know that wasn’t her best birthday ever. But I hope this one is.
Fuzzy bee jacket
Snagging bright yellow pollen
Brings nature new life
I walk for exercise three mornings a week, carrying my iPhone because photo ops happen all the time at the park. I keep track of my walks on Map My Walk and was relieved to discover the “Pause workout” button, enabling me to stop for photos without having my pace impacted. But every so often, I take a photo walk, carrying my Nikon with telephoto lens as well as my iPhone. I don’t map those walks, as a distance that takes about 30 min. on an exercise day may take as long as an hour and a half on a photography day!
Last week, my photo walk day turned out to be cloudy with the threat of rain. I packed a plastic bag in my fanny pack to cover my camera if necessary. I wasn’t sure if I should expect much in the way of animal life, but perhaps because it still seemed like night or because there were hardly any other people, it was an excellent day, as you’ll see from the following photos. This is true soul food.
Sunday afternoon, we drove to Whalen Lake, part of an extensive park system in the Chicago metropolitan area. The heat and humidity were beating down, but my husband had mentioned that there were lots of egrets the last time he rode his bike there. Although we did spot some, most were too far away, probably due to the noise of a large group of picnickers under the shelter. However, we did spot a number of birds and butterflies in the area, including a rare miniature dragon sighting.
I do not care what comes after; I have seen the dragons on the wind of morning.
~Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore
I desired dragons with a profound desire. Of course, I in my timid body did not wish to have them in the neighborhood. But the world that contained even the imagination of Fáfnir was richer and more beautiful, at whatever the cost of peril.
~J.R.R. Tolkien
After wiffle-waffling for some weeks, I’m joining the talented group of photographers, the Photo Rehab group at Lucile’s blog. My understanding is that PhotoRehab is a place not to rehab from photography addiction, but to wallow in it. 🙂 I’m good with that! Photography’s an addiction I indulge in as often as possible.
I rarely shoot photos of people for a variety of reasons. First, I remember “back in the day” when we photographers were told that if we wanted to use a photo of a person, they’d need to sign a permission slip. Maybe that was only if the photo was to be published a/o sold, but that stuck with me. Second, I feel intrusive pointing a camera at someone. Last, but not least, many of the places I’m taking photos are out in nature, not around people. But…
This, that and the other thing 