I found this daylily growing just outside the Grenadier Restaurant in High Park (map). The morning sun was reflecting off the sidewalk to provide this wonderful soft light and rich colours.
Taken on June 11. Nikon D80 with 105mm macro lens; 1/125 sec @ f6.3.
Family: Hemarocalis Species?
16 White Oaks, sitting in our back yard, waiting for a good home. Not a great photo but it helps to explain the ones below.
It’s been about 6 weeks since we transplanted the acorns. Most are doing very well. The 14″ deep containers will hopefully allow them to develop a deep tap root. The whole thing gets covered with a wooden frame and wire mesh to keep the squirrels and racoons away.
Here’s #15 as of today, July 4. The second, shorter sprout seems to be doing OK.
This shot also with the 105mm lens; 1/125 sec @ f25.
I used two speedlights inside a white box, with some white paper in the lower foreground to bounce back some light to the leaves.
The same day we dug up the acorns we transplanted them into individual tubes. These are 4″ diameter x 14″ long pieces of vent pipe with a plywood bottom. Our plan is to give them plenty of room for their long tap roots. When it comes time to put them in their final home, we will remove the plywood bottom and slide the whole plug of soil & oak tree into the ground, without disturbing the roots. That’s the plan anyway; stay tuned.
This shot was taken on June 13. Nikon D80; 105mm macro lens; 1/30 sec @ f29.
Here’s #15 on May 21, the day we transplanted all of those which had survived the winter. The double tap root structure was common to many of the seedlings we dug up.
This is Oak seedling #15 on May 20. My wife found about 20 White Oak acorns in High Park last fall and wanted to see if they would grow. Over the winter we kept them in our back yard covered with oak leaves and chicken wire. Squirrels can smell the good acorns and eat most of them. Even if they do manage to survive and take root, they are very difficult to transplant, due to their extremely long and delicate tap root.
We found this happy beaver on the same morning that I took the shot below (both at Mizzy Lake in July 2009). We actually heard him chewing a long time before we got close enough to take a good look. There was a partially submerged tree that he was using as a breakfast chair and I think he probably felt quite safe surrounded by water.
We sat down on the bank about 15 ft from him and watched him for about half an hour, laughing at his methodical chewing pattern; just like typewriters of pre-70s vintage: crunch, crunch, crunch…left to right, then a quick return to start the next line. As you can see from the skinned branch on the right, the method is effective!
Amazing creatures. Their role in shaping the development of Canada is astounding.
Nikon D80; 200mm zoom; 1/250 sec @ f5.6.
(double click the image for a more detailed view)
Here’s my wife standing at the head of the Mizzy Lake Trail in Algonquin. We went out just before dawn with hopes of meeting some of the wildlife and were richly rewarded. I remember the mist flowing over the lake; the dense cool air that permeated the entire landscape. It seemed to carry a reminder of ancient daily cycles that started with the dawn of our planet, and will continue (I hope) long after we’re gone.
The beveled top of the tree on the right is actually the trail head marker. I love the way it mirrors my wife’s upward gaze and baseball cap.
Nikon D80; zoomed to a focal length of 34mm; 1/100 sec @ f5.
I found this ladybug in High Park. The photo is one of my first using lens mounted speedlights. I think the flash is a bit harsh in this shot. For most things it seems a bounced, softer light is better. I used a 105mm macro lens; exposure was 1/60 sec @ f/18.
And yes, they really do have 7 spots. The Coccinellidae family has over 5,000 species; sometimes referred to as Ladybirds.
The following is some interesting info from the Wikipedia article…
“The name “ladybird” originated in the Middle Ages when the insects were known as the “beetle of Our Lady” . They were named after The Virgin Mary, who in early religious paintings was often shown wearing a red cloak. The spots of the seven spot ladybird were said to symbolise seven joys and seven sorrows.”
And, of course, they are insects, not bugs.
This is one of about 20 seedlings I photographed for my wife. She’s working on a series of botanical paintings to document the life cycle of the White Oak, Quercus alba.
The photo was taken May 21, 2010, the day we transplanted the seedlings to their separate pots. Digging them up gently allowed for a rare view of their root structure, and the process by which the outer shell of the acorn splits away.
The set up was: Nikon D80 with 105mm macro lens, 1/200 sec @ f36. I used two bounced speedlights inside a box made of foamcore mounting board. On some of the other photos (to be posted later on) I added a sheet of white paper in the lower foreground which helped a lot to reflect some light to the underside of the seedlings. I used a fresh sheet of paper under each new specimen and supported them with a paper clip pushed through the mounting board. They were all very muddy, but changing the paper really helped to make them look professional.
Another part of this set up was that I had my camera tethered to my laptop, and used a free software called Sofortbild to view the images full screen immediately after tripping the shutter. This is a huge help when small details are critical, and you can’t repeat the set up a second time. The software even provides a remote shutter release using your mouse/touchpad. Very neat.
Photos, Poems and Prose 