Saturday, 22 September 2007

Bird of Paradise Flower - The Onset of Spring

Bird of Paradise Flower - Spring has come!
Spring is now in full bloom here in Australia. The grass is growing, the trees are blossoming with flowers, and the cicadas chirp at night. The Mozzies are biting, the flies are invading our homes, and a large portion of every Saturday is spent mowing the lawn. Everything is on the move. And, of course, all this life and activity comes with a host of new photographic opportunities.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a visit to one of the local parks. The flowers there are in full bloom and provide great opportunities for macro shots. In that 2-hour session alone I took nearly 200 photos! Thankfully the era of digital cameras has alleviated the need for film, otherwise that session would have cost quite a bit.

This bird of paradise flower is one of the hugely diverse species of flora to be found in the park I visited yesterday. I took this photo just before sunset, when the sun's rays shining through the flower give it a bright and intense colour, and highlight the "flame-like" crest of the flower. In the background, you can see another dead flower, which mirrors this one, starkly contrasting with its vigorous life.

So far the photos I've got of this Spring have been mostly close-up, or macro shots, as the landscapes aren't quite out of Winter yet. But never fear, as soon as the landscapes come you'll be seeing them. At the moment I'm working on a photo-sequence showing the opening of flowers, so expect to see the results of that soon. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy Spring - mozzies and all!
(N.B. For the majority of my readers who are American, I'll be posting some more Spring-ish photos soon, so don't worry, you can enjoy it too, but without the mozzies (or mosquitoes in your language!))

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.
Shutter speed 1/124, F4.9, ISO 200

Related Photos:
After the Rain - Jasmine Flowers
The Blossom of the Pond (Water Lily Flower)
Sunflower close-up
Balloon Vine Flower (with water droplets)
Balloon Vine Flower (without water droplets)
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

13 comments:

  1. moggie24 September 2007 at 12:39 am

    beautiful shot of the bird of paradise, david. love this flower. lots of character, vibrant colors....makes a great subject.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jessica's Creative Corner24 September 2007 at 1:57 am

    You HAVE BEEN TAGGED...view my blog to read more details!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. RBChallenger24 September 2007 at 8:20 am

    Nice, one of my favorites so far... great lighting!!!
    Regards,
    Richard Jones
    http://www.lightning-alley.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown25 September 2007 at 6:17 pm

    Hi moggie,

    These flowers are a great one for a photo. They actually remind me of the symbol for World Youth Day, happening here in Australia in 2008.

    Cheers,

    David

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown25 September 2007 at 6:27 pm

    Hi life's little reflections,

    Ah! This is actually the second time I've been tagged, but the first time I didn't actually get around to posting my part of it. Well, it seems I can't get out of it!

    Will try to respond to the tag this time though! :)

    Thanks,

    David

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unknown25 September 2007 at 6:31 pm

    Hi Richard,

    Thanks for your compliments. I'll have to remember this as a favourite - the 5,000 visits mark is rapidly approaching and I suppose I should get together a "favourite photos" list again.

    Cheers,

    David

    ReplyDelete
  7. Josiah Friberg25 September 2007 at 10:34 pm

    Love the way the back lit light shines through the flower and the bird's head. You did a great job capturing that image, and from a nice low angle.
    Keep up the good work. God bless you,
    Josiah Friberg
    http://fineartinspirationalphotography.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Unknown29 September 2007 at 9:09 pm

    Hi Josiah,

    Yes, the lighting is one of the best aspects of this photo. I checked out your blog, you've got some great fine art there, and it's good to see a Christian showing their faith openly.

    God bless you too,

    David

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous2 October 2007 at 12:36 am

    Very nice colors. I'm coming to your blog for my spring/summer fix, because over here in the other hemisphere all of my plants are going dormant for winter.

    ReplyDelete
  10. ExcedenteDeForça4 October 2007 at 8:39 pm

    http://ultraside.blogspot.com/2007/10/make-money-selling-your-photos.html

    read more in my blog (link above) if you want to make some serious money with your photos, they have enough quality, I love them !

    ps: I would also like to blogroll with you, so if you can, email me, ricardo.mustra@gmail.com

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  11. ExcedenteDeForça4 October 2007 at 8:41 pm

    ps, the link

    ReplyDelete
  12. Unknown11 October 2007 at 5:33 pm

    Hi peteej,

    Certainly are very vibrant colours. Look forward to seeing you 'round later this Spring, hope you enjoy the change of the weather!

    David

    ReplyDelete
  13. Unknown11 October 2007 at 8:02 pm

    Hi jmus,

    Thanks for telling me about this one, I'll check it out. Seems like it could be a good way to earn money, while sharing your work with people.

    I'll have a look at a blogroll and get back to you soon....

    Cheers,

    David

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for commenting. I will try to reply to every comment, so if you want to view the response you can come back to this post later. If you have a blogger account, you can also tick the "Email follow-up comments to....." box to have the reply emailed to you.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Related Posts