Flowers and reflections -- and some bees

Over the last 2 months I have been going out and about quite a bit just capturing the beauty of mother nature and working with the natural light. I really do loose myself in it -- so much so that I have been spending more of my free time in the great out doors than I have on the computer or sharing things on this blog. This post is some of the flowers and reflections that I have taken on my adventures .... 

These were so beautiful and I loved how the light made them glow ....

Loved this shot for the contrast that is created by the lighter leaves behinid them. I loved the shapes and the colors and the way the light added dimension

very proud of this shot. I took this on an overcast day between 5 and 6 pm and just loved the way the light affected the water-- and also that the water was so smooth that you could see the reflection.  also love how the lighting makes the flower glow ... 

and another one from that same overcast day. just love the colors and the reflection .... 

These are from a more recent trip to the same lily pond -- not quite as overcast so a few more colors in the  leaves. -- love the different types of reflection here and the matching leaves around the flower..

I love this one for the simplicity of the flower and the reflection and also the fact that you can see some of the clouds in the water... 

Love this one for the clarity of the reflection and the shimmer in the water. Can you tell I love going to this pond ? 

and this one is a favorite because of the shapes and patterns of the flowers  especially the one in front

I love how contrasty the reflection of the flower in this one is compared to the actual flower and the patterns are just perfet -- I also love the yellow in the center

Something a little different from the same pond. I love how these leaves are curved -- if I was frog or fairy sized I would be sitting in the middle or leaping between them :D 

And one more reflection photo -- I love the matching colors in this -- the pink flowers on the shore and then the pink flower -- plus all the different water lilies that I captured 

I had to capture this as soon as I saw it. The was the light was hitting it made it glow and the color was just so striking -- and then the shape makes it look like a jaw 

The bees were loving these flowers too 

This bee was definitely enjoying it -- the flower made the perfect platform and I caught it :D 

Again loving the light -- it was so perfect that it made this flower glow. The twisting pattern of the vine was an added bonus.

I like this one because the angle of the flower was pretty fun to begin with and then being able to see the ball of pollen on the bees leg -- pretty awesome and not something I see everyday ...

 

loved the shape and different colors in this flower-- the curl reminded me of a snail shell..   

And had to include some sunflowers because they are big and beautiful. Took this one at my sister's house mid morning. Again the way the light was hitting it made the petals glow ...

And another bee photo -- they have also become a favorite subject. I loved how close I was able to get t this one and also love that you can see the sunflower seeds too 

I love this cluster of sunflowers because of the orange that runs through adding color and contrast. I also like how I was able to catch the buds and the bee flying in from the left 

loved the combination of the orangey flowers, the blue sky and then the bee on the lower flower ...

And last but not least some reflections of the night sky -- i love the colors and textures in this -- the moving water the pink and the rocks -- makes me just want to sit there ...

I love how this is a strip of color because the water was moving. It adds a dreamy quality to it ... 

and love this one because of how still this pool is. It has color, clouds and a perfect silouette of the plant. As soon as I saw this I new I had to take a picture... 

Thanks as always for sharing my photos with me. I am having a lot of fun taking the camera out at different times and in different light and seeing what different and beautiful things I can find. The peacefinding and practice will continue. For my next post (which I hope to post in the next few days) I will share some photos of the animals that have been part of my journey ....

The beauty of timing and patience

One of my favorite aspects of photography is seeing and finding things that other people miss. A lot of that can rely on being in the right place at the right time and also from researching your surroundings and waiting for that perfect moment. In some cases you get the picture in one take, in others you take several to get the favorite shot or happy accident. Since my last blog post, a lot of my photography has included all of those elements. I am sharing some of my favorites from the last week

This one is all about the light. I really love how it is falling on the leaves

This was about being in the right spot. I had to shoot from above and very close to these flowers to get this look ....

This one is about waiting for the light to be just right. I was watching the shadows and moved so I could see the reflection in the middle and the slight glow to the background..

This combines both light and position. I waited to get the perfect light on the leaf and wanted to highlight the buds... 

This is one of my favorite trees close to my apartment. I love the shape of it already and when I saw the way the light was streaming across it made me really like this image..

and a step or two back to catch the whole scene. I love how it is lighted and framed by the green

For any of you that follow my blog you know I love being at the duck pond. The ducks are always moving about and its hard to catch them being still and perfectly lit like this one. I also love the color of the water behind it..

This one is also about right place right time. As many times as I have gone to the duck pond, I have never seen the ducks on the rocks in the middle. I also like this one because of the way the ducks on the left look like they are having a conversation, while the one on the right is hiding ...

I found this scene so beautiful and it was capped by the duck swimming across the middle. 

and another photo just to show how beautiful it was. I moved so I could see the recflection perfectly in the water... 

There is lots of wildlife around the pond. I like to sit on one of the benches down below. It was so quiet that this chipmunk decided to run out on the rocks not to far from me. I was lucky enough to have my camera close enough that I could get this shot. Soon after it noticed me and ran away....

there are many times when I am sitting there, that the ducks take a nose dive and stick their butts up in the air. Its hard to get these shots because they are moving so much. I particulry love this one because of the speckles and little leaves in the water around it

In addition to ducks and chipmunks there are also bunnies around the pond. I saw this bunny and quietly snuck up on it. I watched and waited for it to get comfortable with me being there and then got this shot and the few that follow. 

At this point it was noticing my presence, but I remained calm and still long enough to get this shot without scaring it 

and this one. The bunny was actually eating the leaves off the branch around it. This is right before it stretched up for a leaf... 

and after it had gotten the leaf and was happily eating it

there are turtles in the pond too. I saw this one peeking its head out of the water and waited long enough for it to start swimming -- so I could see its arms - and got this shot

I've never seen the chipmunks stop and take a drink before and am soo thrilled I got this shot. Again the result of a lot of waiting and watching. and being a little bit farther away and using the zoom...

it was clearly watching me trying to decide if I was a threat or not, but totatlly worth it for this series of photos. I was across the water for these 

it was still watching me ... 

and right before it ran away

This is taken as it was starting to get a little darker. I just love the color/ richness of the reflection and had to be at the right angle to be able to see it. 

This was taken at sunset and the light/ color in the water was so pretty ...

More waiting for the light and angle. I love how it is rippled because the water was moving

and trying different angles.. 

I stepped back and waited for the water to be still to capture these colors and reflections...

And this again -- I had to wait until it was just dark enough for the duck to be in silouette and still be able to see the colors in the water. I also love that the duck was moving fast enough to see the trail in the water...

what I really like about this one is the water drop right on the duck's bill

one more attempt at a silouette -- what I like about this one is the dusky color of the background and the shadow and that there was enough light on the duck itself to see the feathers...

That's all for now. I have been practicing a lot and am really enjoying what waiting and watching is allowing me to do with my photography. I love having the time to be able to spend hours in a place to get the photos I want. Makes me happy and is definitely paying off. Thanks as always for sharing my photos with me.