spring in a parking lot

After spending much of my time in my home garden this spring cultivating new ground for a vegetable garden and building a protective fence of harvested bamboo from the edge of the property, I am getting back to posting new images taken this spring. Although it doesn’t feel much like spring today in Pennsylvania with temperatures reaching 91F today.  But the tomatoes are enjoying the heat and I am hoping for a nice crop of heirlooms later this summer.

I’ve seen several posts from fellow photographers on the west coast of dogwoods in bloom, so I thought I might also post a dogwood I found this spring, Cornus florida ‘Cherokee Chief’ in a parking lot.  The amazing red bracts caught my attention from over 200ft away as they popped against the fresh green lawn on the hill behind it.  This was one of those moments when I know I’ve found something special. Maybe not a spectacular image, but something that resonates with my creative spirit that will influence my life and my art.

gratitude

Today I found myself grateful… grateful for the flowing water from the tap of my bathroom sink; grateful for this gift from nature that landed on the leaf of an evergreen tree in the mountains, nourished the land and travelled through a myriad of her waterways and human plumbing systems to allow me to splash some tepid water on my face as a greeting to the day.  I found myself grateful for sunshine… solar radiation to warm my body while working in the below average temperatures today. And grateful that even though the weather has been chilly, spring is continuing to push forward with new delights for our senses most every day.  The Puschkinia scilloides, or striped squill, popped open today; they bloom shortly after Scilla siberica and Scilla mischtschenkoana in southeastern Pennsylvania.  And while I enjoy all the spring bulbs and the way they cheerfully greet spring and attract the early season pollinators, I especially enjoy the striped squill.  It’s a little less abundant, a little more delicate, and requires a little more attention to notice it’s unique morphology from Chionodoxa sp. and Scilla sp.  Tomorrow will bring another day to be grateful and surely more sings of spring…

gentle inspiration

As you might already know from following my blog, I’ve been patiently waiting on new eyeglasses for several weeks now. And I’ve been using this excuse for not getting out and shooting some macro work; I almost always focus manually since the auto-focus jumps around so much.  But I was gently inspired by a friend of mine who is taking beautiful images with a dislocated shoulder… So I needed to figure out a way to keep shooting too.  Last Friday the weather was unbelievable… nearly 70F here in Pennsylvania and luckily I had scheduled a half day off from my day job.  So I got out my camera and shot all my macro work hand held and with auto-focus.  Surprisingly, I came home with eight or more keepers in two hours of shooting.  I found the expected witch hazel and winter aconites.  But I also found some other marvelous signs of spring including this Turkish filbert, Corylus corluna, sending forth these catkins.

the soul can not think without a picture

Cercis canadensis ‘Tennessee Pink’ -

I found a great quote by Aristotle this week, “The soul can not think without a picture.”  And it made me wonder how much of my own soul is revealed through my photography.  I hope part of the reason for my photography is to share a piece of  humanity and connect with others on a deeper level than just isn’t this pretty.  I have yet to figure out the true purpose of my work and in time and at the right time I believe it will be revealed to me.  But for now, the process of photography is personal, a sort of meditation, a sort of spiritual connection with the larger forces at work in our world.  I just hope I am effectively sharing this with you and anyone else I am supposed to connect with.

Fleeting moments

In honor of the beautiful magnolias that were frosted two nights ago, I decided to post this first image of Magnolia ‘Candy Cane’, one of my favorites at the Scott Arboretum.

Spring has been incredibly fast this year and even with the fleeting nature of these moments I’m amazed at how many people don’t notice the details of the magic that is unfolding before them.  And unless I have my camera set up in front of an obvious subject, they walk right past me often gazing in bewilderment at what I could possibly be photographing.  I just don’t understand the lack of interest and knowledge in the natural environment that’s happening all across the western world.  But after watching Jamie Oliver on ABC Friday night trying to reform a school lunch program here in the US, I shouldn’t be so surprised.  During part of the episode, he was quizzing young children on the names of vegetables; NONE of the children recognized ANY of the vegetables and they didn’t even know that french fries were made from potatoes!  From my own experience, most clerks in grocery stores don’t even know how to ring up produce by name. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had to tell them what something is and how to prepare it!.  And I’m almost always helping people identify ornamental plants wherever I am.  So if people don’t care about how we sustain ourselves as part of life on this planet in regards to food, how can people possibly be interested in the bigger picture?

Back to more photos… they calm my spirit and keep me hopeful that somehow we will reconnect.  We have to.

Trillium erectum our native wake-robin

yellow crocus in a field of Scilla siberica

Aralia spinosa emerging from a snowy winter

red maple flowers

spring hopeful

Just when I’m starting to get tired of all the dirty snow in this urban landscape around me, Polypodium virginianum (or rock polypody) shares spring hopeful with me.  I found this little gem of an evergreen fern on a rock outcrop in Smedly Park… not on any trail, but just visible enough from one to draw me in to take a closer look.  This is a very common fern in southestern Pennsylvania, but it couldn’t be more special to me today.