Holiday Time Again!

Yellow Flower Macro

I'm going to be heading off on holidays shortly. I probably won't be posting anything here for the next 2 weeks at least. Hope you enjoy your Easter break, and feel free to browse the archives while I'm away. There are 256 posts to date - if you run out of pictures, let me know!

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Golden Flower - He is Risen! (Happy Easter)

Happy Easter!

(Yellow-Gold Flower Macro)

Happy Easter everyone! For anyone who's have been fasting throughout Lent, Easter is a double celebration - no more penance! Well, not quite. There's still plenty of opportunity for good works, but now is the time to rejoice in the Resurrection of The Lord.

I can tell you that one of the things I'm personally looking forward to is being able to eat chocolate! Of course, everyone eats chocolate. "Easter Eggs" are perhaps the best-known symbol of Easter, at least in Western society. But have you ever wondered why? Is there a reason for eggs on easter, or is it just a chance to eat lot's of chocolate without feeling guilty?

I mentioned this last year in my Easter post. Easter Eggs are firstly a symbol of new life, which is the key message of Easter. But they are also tied closely to the traditional observance of Lent. NewAdvent.org explains:

Because the use of eggs was forbidden during Lent, they were brought to the table on Easter Day, coloured red to symbolize the Easter joy.

So there is a reason for eating eggs at easter! It's meant to symbolize both joy, and new life. When somebody points out that you're eating too many eggs this year, you'll be able to tell them exactly why. Try it - you might surprise someone with your knowledge!

But most of all, I hope you will be able to spend this Easter with your family and friends, and experience a truly joyful season, for it is a season of joy.

Happy Easter!

More information:
Easter on Wikipedia
Easter on NewAdvent

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Dandelion Flowers

Dandelion Flowers

It's been quite rainy here recently. This has given the grass - and weeds - a chance to grow. Dandelions in particular have taken over our lawn. This picture shows two dandelion flowers - one open, and one closed. You might also like to check out my picture of the next stage in a dandelion's life.

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Spring has come!

We're well into Spring now. In the back yard the peach and apricot flowers are blossoming, and the sun's daily path is approaching the zenith again. The familiar sound of bees buzzing can be heard whenever you step out the door, and butterflies are floating everywhere on the warm breeze. As Wordsworth says in his "Lines written in early Spring":

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of Spring here, wherever you are in the world!

These photos taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

"A rose by any other name...." - Wordless Wednesday

"A rose by any other name...."
Pink rose flower blooming
Wordless Wednesday

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Mother's Day

"Happy Mother's Day!"
Native Australian Bee with White Flower
Mothers Day

Today is Mother's Day, as you probably already know. People across the globe are honouring the dedication and value of mothers by giving gifts and other signs of appreciation. And with good reason - after all, without mothers none of us would have ever been born!

I'd like to share with you today a little bit of history about Mother's Day that you might not have heard before.

Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia, whose mother had organized women’s groups to promote friendship and health, originated Mother’s Day. On May 12, 1907, she held a memorial service at her late mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia. Within five years virtually every state was observing the day, and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson made it a national holiday. Over time, what had originally been primarily a day of honour became associated with the sending of cards and the giving of gifts, however, and, in protest against its commercialization, Jarvis spent the last years of her life trying to abolish the holiday she had brought into being.

I'd also like to say a big "Thank you" and "Happy Mother's Day" to my own mother today. I know you are reading, so thanks for all you've done!

Information from Britannica Online: Mother’s Day
This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Pumpkin Flower - Wordless Wednesday

Yellow Pumpkin Flower with Radiating Spines
Wordless Wednesday

This Wordless Wednesday photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Purple Garden Flowers - Purple Sunday

Purple Garden Flowers

Here we are at the last Purple Sunday in Advent. It's now only two days until Christmas, and the celebrations are already beginning. These next few days are an exciting time, especially for children, and we reach a culmination point on Christmas day, when gifts are exchanged and presents unwrapped, and everyone can feel the joy of the season. Although we don't get to see Santa riding through the snow here in Australia, we do get to enjoy all the colours and life of Summer in full bloom.

The flowers in this picture are a garden variety grown in the Spring to add a bit of colour to the area. Right now they are flowering profusely, probably helped by the recent rain, allowing me to capture this shot of a group of them growing together. As always, I would greatly appreciate it if anyone can identify the flowers, as I bought these in a "colour mix" packet of seeds and therfore don't know what they're called.

And now, I would like to set a question to you:
What would you like to see a photo of on this blog for Christmas?
Keep in mind that it's Summer here, so I'm not going to be able to get and winter-like shots, but send in your suggestions and I'll try to get a photo as a Christmas present for you all!

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.
Shutter speed: 1/340, F5.7, ISO 100

Pink Tulip Flower - "Purple" Sunday

Pink "Purple Prince" Tulip Flower - "Purple" Sunday

Now for the surprise.......

Yes, you read it right. Pink Tulip flower. Not Purple. Well, I said I had a surprise in store for this Sunday. This Sunday is not actually Purple! As the wikipedia article about Advent says: "On the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, a rose [colour] is used since this Sunday takes on a more joyous tone." So, this being the 3rd "Purple" Sunday, I have a pink, or rose coloured picture for you today.

I got this photo of a pink Tulip blossom at a flower festival earlier this year. We were just entering Spring at the time, and you can see many other brightly coloured flowers in the background of this picture. I used a low aperture (F4.3) while taking this photo to ensure that the flower remained in focus while the background was blurred. I think this is actually a "Tulipa Purple Prince" flower, but it looks pink to me! Please tell me if you know the proper name of this flower, it would be a great help.

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.
Shutter speed: 1/120, F4.3, ISO 200

Purple Weed (Wildflower) - Purple Sunday

Purple Wild Flower - Purple Sunday

Well, it's come round to Sunday again, only 2 Sundays to go until Christmas. As some of you will remember I have started a "Purple Sunday" series of posts, where I choose a purple subject for each Sunday until Christmas (although I'll have a surprise for you next Sunday, check out the wikipedia article for a hint!) Today I've got a photo of some purple wildflowers. I spotted these as I was getting a photo of an Agapantha flower, and snapped a few quick shots as I was passing. I used a low aperture to get the flowers in focus, while blurring the background.

This picture has an interesting pattern of drawing your eyes between the flowers themselves, and the base of the stem. The radiating stems then send your eyes back to the top of the picture again. Try it - it's amazing how much these little things affect the composition of the picture.

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.
Shutter speed: 1/450, F3.7, ISO 100

Agapantha Flower - Purple Sunday

Agapantha Flower - Purple Sunday

Purple is the colour of royalty. As we approach Christmas, we enter the 4 week period traditionally known as "Advent" (from the Latin "to come"). The colour purple, or violet, is used to symbolize joy and expectant hope as we wait for the royal King to come at Christmas.

In keeping with this tradition, I have chosen the purple Agapantha (agapanthus africanus) flower for today's post. Last month you saw an unopened bud, but today the flower is fully open and blooming. The stamen are clearly visible, and the small yellow bunches of pollen at their tip are sharply in focus. The green stems in the background also provide a contrasting relief from the soft purple and white of the petals.

As we enter Summer here in Australia, and America enters Winter, everyone is preparing for Christmas. But I hope that amongst your shopping and decorating, you can also take time to experience the "joy" of the season, and have a look at the wonder of nature around you.

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.
Shutter speed: 1/89, F8.0, ISO 100

Daisy Flower Close Up - Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Close up photo of a Daisy Flower's Center

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.
Shutter speed 1/30, F8.0, ISO 200

Purple Agapantha Flower (Agapanthus africanus)

Purple Agapantha Flower Blooming

As it's Spring time here in Australia, all the flowers are blossoming and the trees are growing fruit. One of the variety of flowers blooming here at the moment is the Agapantha flower, properly called the Agapanthus africanus. These purple flowers are just starting to bud - when they have opened they will turn into a loosely hanging bunch of bright purple blossoms.

The photo shown above depicts an agapantha flower that is just beginning to blossom - the left half has started to unfold while the right section is still a bud. The green of the flower blend in with the green grass in the background, and contrasts nicely with the purple blossoms just beginning to peek out of the flower. A this photo was taken with an aperture of F4.9, the background remains out of focus, thus keeping the attention drawn to the flower itself.

It was overcast when I took this photo, so the picture has a very soft look to it. There was still enough sunlight available for me to avoid using a tripod, but there weren't any hard shadows on the underside of the flower - perfect lighting conditions. I'll try to track this flower for you and get some pictures of it when it's fully developed - in the meantime you might want to check out last Summer's agapantha shots.

This photo taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.
Shutter speed 1/280, F4.9, ISO 100

Bird of Paradise Flower - The Onset of Spring

Bird of Paradise Flower - Spring has come!

Bird of Paradise Flower

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)

After the Rain Part 1 - Jasmine Flowers

It's been raining here lately, so I though I might post a few of the photos I got just after the rain stopped.

These photos all show jasmine flowers at their various stages of development. The Fujifilm S9600's super macro mode helped here to get really close up shots. The two pictures on the left hand side show water droplets hanging off jasmine buds, while the photos on the right show fully opened jasmine flowers.

These photos taken with the Fujifilm S9600 digital camera.

Related Photos:
The Blossom of the Pond (Water Lily Flower)
Balloon Vine Flower with Water Droplets
Silverbeet Leaf with Water Droplets

Bumble Bees in Motion

Bumble Bee in Flight - Landing on Rocket Flower

The First Photos from the new Fujifilm S9600!

It's amazing how the best moments for photos seem to appear when you least expect them. Yesterday I was outside as soon as it stopped raining, taking pictures of the flowers & leaves all wet and bristling with dew drops. I got a few good photos which I'll get up here soon, but just as I was leaving I noticed some bees flying around the Pak Choy plants. I snapped some photos at a relatively high shutter speed, not expecting to get much out of them as the bees were moving very quickly. But it seems I had underestimated the new camera. The photos turned out quite well, even after I digitally cropped them to less than half their original size.

I've included two of the best bee photos here. The first one (above) shows a bee hovering in the air mid-flight, about to land on a yellow Pak Choy Flower. You can actually see the bee's wings as they flap through the air at top speed.

In the second photo (below) the bee has landed and is sucking the pollen from the flower. Notice the large yellow pollen sac at the middle of the bee's body. Again, the yellow flowers are from a Pak Choy plant.

Bumble Bee Feeding - Resting on Flower

So far my experiences with the Fujifilm S9600 have shown it to be well worth the money. It certainly has exceptional macro capabilities, and it's great to have full manual control over the shutter speed and aperture settings. I'm looking forward to lot's more great photos in the months to come, and I hope you too can share in the enjoyment of this "wonderland of nature".

Coming up: After the Rain....

These photos taken with the Fujifilm S9600 camera.
Shutter speed 1/399, F5.7 (#1) & f7.2 (#2), ISO 200

Related Photos:
Bee landing on Lavender Flower
Life on a smaller scale [Mushrooms in Grass]
Close-up of yellow Pak Choy Flowers

The Blossom of the Pond [Water Lily Flower]

Pink water lily with water droplets in pond

Water Lily

This Water Lily blossom is yet another example of nature's wondrous beauty. As with all flowers of this sort, the soft pink petals seem to serve as a showcase for the bright yellow center of the flower. Each petal has a delicate adornment of water droplets which help to bring time and depth to the photo. The background of lily-pads help show the close-up nature of the image. This photo was taken at Singleton, NSW, Australia. It shows a completely different aspect of Australia's natural heritage than the Dry Landscape shown before.

This photo is really just a point-and-shoot picture - there are no special compositional techniques used, no fancy aperture or shutter-speed adjustments, just a simple fill-the-frame photo from about 15cm away. The only noteworthy aspect of this photo's composition is the familiar "concentric focus" theme coming through again - the main curves in the picture converge on the central subject of the image.

This photo taken with the Kodak C330 digital camera.

Related Photos:
Sunflower Close-up
Balloon Vine Flower with Water Droplets
Soft-focus Flower

The Sunflower that's really a sunflower [Close-up of a Sunflower]

Close-up of a Sunflower

Sunflower Close-up

Since I posted the photo of a pumpkin flower under the title of "The Sunflower that's not a sunflower", I've had people ask whether I have any real sunflower photos. So I had a look through my archives and found this photo. I took this shot a few years ago, when I had just got a new 4.2MP digital camera (the Kodak C330). The level of detail is amazing - try viewing this photo full-size and you can even see the fine hairs on the leafy part. This would definitely do well as a desktop background.

This photo really seems to draw you into it with a sense of depth and perspective, even though it has a relatively "flat" subject. The circular center section with the stamen in it seems to bulge out, while the petals radiating from the center appear to bend inwards. The eye is particularly drawn to the center section, but this image has to be viewed as a whole to be fully appreciated.

An interesting thing to note is the fact that this photo does not actually portray the whole of the flower. The edge of the petals are cut of by the framing of the photo. This is another important photographic technique which is used often and does not, as one might think, detract from the photo's beauty.

This photo taken with the Kodak C330 camera.

Related Photos:
The Sunflower that's not a sunflower (Pumpkin Flower)
The Modest Blossom (Violet flower)
Balloon vine flower with water droplets
Balloon vine Flower

The sunflower that's not a Sunflower [Pumpkin Flower]

Bright yellow Pumpkin vine flower

Yellow Pumpkin Flower

Whenever I look at this flower I'm reminded of the sun. The vibrant yellow color and the flower's ray-like petals are like an ancient Greek portrayal of the sun, with it's flares of yellow shining out from the center orb. However, this flower is really only a humble Pumpkin flower, shown here in front of the Pumpkin vine's leaves.

This is very much a "standard" type of shot from a compositional standpoint - the main object of the photo is centered in the frame, and the background is very plain so as not to attract attention. This photo is an example of how you don't really need any fancy framing or exposure modes and settings to take a good photo - this photo was taken in point-and-shoot mode!

This photo taken with the Sony DSC-H1 camera.

Related Photos:
Balloon Vine flower with water droplets
The Egg Plant shows it's true colors... [Purple Egg Plant Flower]
The Modest Blossom [Violet Flower]

The Modest Blossom

The "modest" Violet Blossom

A Violet Flower

For this picture of a Violet Flower, I think I've found a poem which pretty much describes it:

The Violet
by Jane Taylor

Down in a green and shady bed
A modest violet grew,
It's stalk was bent, it hung it's head,
As if to hide from view.

And yet it was a lovely flower,
It's color bright and fair;
It might have graced a rosy bower
Instead of hiding there.

Yet there it was content to bloom,
In modest tints arrayed;
And there diffused it's sweet perfume,
Withing the silent shade.

Then let me to the valley go,
This pretty flower to see;
That I may also learn to grow
In sweet humility.