A Freak Of Nature. May 3, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.Tags: Catamount State Forest, Colrain MA, macro photography, Sigma 50mm lens, slugs, trillium, yellow trillium
4 comments
Here’s a wildflower which I at first thought was a Yellow Trillium, but now believe to be an uncommon variation on our standard local red trillium:
…as witness its intergrowing with the more common red variety.
True “Yellow trilliums” are pure yellow, while this variant has reddish veins throughout:
Regardless, it’s beautiful, and apparently popular with the local invertibrates as well:
These I found up at McLeod Pond up in Colrain, MA and captured with Ziggy, my 50mm Sigma macro lens.
Woodland Beauties. April 10, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.Tags: Dutchman's breeches, Spring Beauty, Trailing Arbutus, trillium, Trouy Lily, woodland wildflowers
4 comments
In the chill, dappled light of our New England woodlands, the pageant of Spring begins with tiny bits of color amongst last Autumn’s composting leaves.
Walk slowly through the striped landscape of slanting sun and tree trunk shadows. Stop frequently, and if you have the time, wait for those shadows to sun-dial across the scene; you might be surprised at how quickly this happens, with the cool darkness thrown by treetops moving perceptibly while you hold your breath.
It’s in those shifting slivers of perpetual sunrise that little fires of white and yellow and incongruous maroon twinkle to life, ignited by the warmth and light like waking embers in a rising breeze.
The shy blossoms of Trailing Arbutus peek from beneath inauspicious leaves:
Newly tailored Dutchman’s Breeches flutter on the lines of their still-short racemes:
Spring Beauty ( a Claytonia, in the Purslane family) is abundant just now, but its tiny blossoms close tightly and nod demurely in the early morning cold. Trout Lily will blanket this area in a couple of weeks, but for now they’re just pairs of fingerling leaves.
And Trillium is about to make its blood-red entrance to the Woodland Ball, though I haven’t yet seen any fully opened flowers:
I actually went to this spot to look for an uncommon Yellow Trillium, expecting to be early, but remembering that I was a bit late last year and not wanting to miss it twice in a row. These sorts of woodland flowers last only until the leaves above them unfurl – then the show will move to the fields and meadows and roadside spaces.
Look for more woodland wonders in the next few weeks, and I will, too. 
The Rest Of The Orchids… March 1, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.Tags: Amherst, Amherst Orchid Show, flowers, orchids
4 comments
…at the Amherst Orchid Show.
The images:
Well, that’s most of ‘em. The rest are either redundant or of lesser quality (!) so I won’t burden you with them.
My next flowers are likely to be the Smith and Mount Holyoke Bulb Shows, hopefully with something else in between for a breather.
Amherst Orchid Show 2012, Part 1. February 26, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.Tags: Amherst Orchid Show, dust farters with time on their hands, macro photos, orchids, Sogma 50mm macro lens
7 comments
The end of February is usually a time for us New Englanders to long for an escape from the grip of winter – her harsh winds and interminable whiteness have by this point lost the pristine magic they possessed in December.
This year it would be disingenuous to martyr ourselves on the cross of a harsh season stoically endured, but still, a little color is welcomed amidst the dismal browns of this Un-Winter, and with that in mind Susan and I headed down to Northampton for our yearly visit to the Amherst Orchid Show:
What good fortune it is that many varieties of orchids bloom in what is our winter season! Their vibrant variety is a marvel of form and color, functionality disguised as flamboyance.
Here are a double handful of shots from our day:
(That one’s way too scrotal for polite company, but if you’re here I’ll assume you’re looser than that.)
And no, I didn’t get their names; I was too busy feasting my eyes to work that hard. My apologies to the growers who deserve more respect than that, but hey, I’m just looking and loving the fruits of their considerable labors.
All of these are courtesy of Ziggy, my 50mm Sigma macro lens. He’s fast at f2.8 (though I didn’t open him up that far, opting instead for a little more depth of field,) but I worried about his lack of Image Stabilization technology. Most of these shots were very slow for the shaky hands of this old dust-farter. As a consequence of my concern for slow shutter speeds, I shot most everything here at two stops under what my on-board exposure meter told me to do (Hey, I’m the boss here!) and brought the levels up in Photoshop post-processing. The resulting images have a lot less background noise than they otherwise might, which I think is an improvement over last year’s effort.
All-in-all, I’m pleased with the results.
If I get to them, there will be another rack of shots coming. We’ll see what happens between now and their appearance and adjust things accordingly.
Stream Details. February 1, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.Tags: Beartown State Forest, Canon 24-105mm f/4 L US ISM lens, Ice photos, icy streams, Lee MA, macro-zoom photos
add a comment
This winter has been ugly here in Western Massachusetts, brown and dirty and lacking the cleansing effect proffered by copious new snow. I’d looked forward to this all year, but have thus far been denied, fed instead a daily diet of the reality of Winter 2012.
But if one looks closely at the details, the coarser whole can be divided into its many beautiful parts. Look towards the light, look around the uninvited complications, and there’s surely something worth seeing.
Along a stream tumbling down from the heights of Beartown State Forest in Lee, Massachusetts, truncated icicles depend from a birch log:
The spray from the roiling waters alternately douses anything close to its surface and washes away its frozen creations, leaving art in its place:
The cold, cold waters reminded me of a pretty little slurry with a fringe on the top:
It was a balm to me to get close to these ethereal forms, and I thanked the combination of the right lens (Ollie) and the right boots (waders) which allowed me to take these photos and share them with you
You Can Tell I’m Unfulfilled… January 10, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.Tags: peacock feather
4 comments
…when I start taking pictures of things around the house to augment my paltry Daily Haul.
A peacock feather decorating the window above our kitchen sink:
They say, “It gets better,” and I’m fully invested in believing that.
Thanks to Ziggy for bailing me out here.
When It’s Ugly Outside… December 7, 2011
Posted by littlebangtheory in macro photos.Tags: impending snowfall, macro photography, sexy bits, ugly season, violets
7 comments
I know, it’s un-citizenly to think of Mother Nature as serving up The Big Ugly, but you know, sometimes She just does.
November and December can be temporal proof of that. Gone are the colors, out comes the mud. It ain’t pretty.
Like today, with a thick pall weighing down the world, a pervasive grayness gripping every view. I didn’t see any reason to break out the camera at work, and afterward it went from gray to black in half an hour.
Then, as these things happen, I came home to a cold house with this little potted violet sitting over the kitchen sink, doing its mating dance for no one in particular, unless it’s you:
She’s plump and expectant, thrusting her sexy bits upward from creamy sheets of crystalline bliss:
This was a nice find on an otherwise uninspiring day.
Tonight the rain is supposed to turn to snow, and depending on when and where the transition takes place, we could have a reprieve from Teh Ugly by morning.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, eh?
Thanks to Ziggy for these macro shots. They were a nice counterpoint to the larger-world details of getting the wood stove up and running so I can get scantily clad and relax before bedtime.
Which is happening right about now.
G’Night. 
Frosted Moss. December 4, 2011
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.Tags: frost, moss
6 comments
Early December has its moments. Like its frosty mornings gilding the still-exposed Little Things:
…and:
Before long the snows of winter will bury this stuff ’till spring. For now, though, I’ll be trying to get shots of it to share here at LBT.
Hope your weekend was relaxing.
Now, get back to work!
Bull Thistle. August 18, 2011
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.Tags: Bull thistle, bumble bee, Canon 24mmL TS-T II, tilt-shift photography, Williamstown
5 comments
Summer is bloom-time for Bull thistle in these parts:
This is the largest of our common thistles, with robust shaving-brush-size flowers atop stalks reaching five or six feet in height:
Despite the gnarliness of its spiny foliage (a thicket of this stuff would be impenetrable; thankfully, it isn’t that gregarious) I love this stuff for its bold color and I-Dare-You attitude.
Bumble bees love it, too!
These last two shots were taken with Ziggy; the first was courtesy of Elliot.
The Quick, The Slow and The Tiny. August 12, 2011
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, macro photos.Tags: aphids, hawk, little snapper, trolling for hits
4 comments
The Quick:
…The Slow:
…and The Tiny:
Aphids on a milkweed plant. Creepy if you’re a plant.
Some fellow travelers to break my e-fast.
