Little Bang Theory

Weekend Wildflower Report. May 2, 2011

I got up pre-dawn on Saturday (“Dat boy’s nuts! “) to run out to the river with my photo-mentor Lizz in search of a nice sunrise.

Well, shoot,  we needn’t have bothered – the sun rose, but unspectacularly.  I snagged a consolation shot of this riverside pool reflecting a little stand of Phragmites,  but it was too breezy for the length of the exposure and will probably never get printed:

It’s ok to look at, particularly at this resolution, thanks to one degree of tilt and some graduated filtering.

Lizz suggested we hit Bear Swamp Nature Preserve in Buckland, where she’s found some really nice early-season wildflowers in the past.

So we went there, and while we were a tad early for some things, we found a nice selection to share with you.

There were Red Trilliums:

…and some wild Violets which refused to shrink at the feet of a majestic maple:

There were Dutchman’s Britches and Trout Lilies:

…though those Trout Lilies were just beginning to open.

Lizz pointed out that Dutchman’s Breeches are easily confused with Squirrel Corn; their foliage is very similar, and the spray of whte flowers looks similar from a distance, but the Breeches have a yellow waist-band:

(I actually think it looks like the little guy is in there, being strung up by his, um, gusset  )

…while Squirrel Corn has luscious lavender lips:

I guess they’re not that similar if you get close enough!

I also found a nice clump of Marsh Marigolds down by the, how you say, marsh :

I had to bring the sky light down with a two-stop soft step grad filter to get the Marigolds to pop, but I was satisfied with the result (except for a filter mishap which I’ll tell you about sometime.)

Most of these shots were taken with Elliot, my TS-E II buddy, but that last one was with a 24-105 zoom, which I’m finding to be very versatile.

Anyway, there are a few other shots worth sharing from that outing, but it’s late, so I’ll drag them out another time.

Hope you enjoyed these.  G’night.