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To
be sure, the water flowed lavishly from the chill rains. Living things
responded as they do to the lengthening light and the rat-a-tat quickening
pace of Spring, but the coldness of some days slowed them somewhat.
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I had a hard time choosing
which of four shots taken at this scene to post here. This won out narrowly
to one showing the hen and her mate in the midst of all the wetness, so amazingly
at ease with the bone-chilling weather. But this shot shows the same
relaxed air in the spattering rain.
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During the beautiful
time of early flowering, it was often rainy and the colors were muted in
the wet atmosphere.
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Later this drake will
molt wing feathers and develop strange blotchy colors on his back and chest,
but this day, even the moisure-laden air could not dim the colors of the male
Mallard in good health. The need to contribute to the next generation
is strong at this time, and probably it would not do to step out in any but
the finest of raiment.
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When other birds are
not yet arrived, or busy beyond the next hill, the house sparrow is often
busily present -- sometimes it seems as if whole bushes vibrate to their intense
socializing and freeform self-expression. Here, though, was a brief
quiet moment atop a house for this bird who perhaps was mapping a strategy
for the next few minutes.
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I had never seen this
before, which no doubt is a testimony to my poor observation, so I stopped
in mid-step and photographed this. It is a complete maple tree, with
all of root, branch and leaf it needs to establish itself as an independent
being in the world. Many species are like this maple in producing possibilities
by the thousands for one or two successes. Here, the possibility is
lustily giving a good try in a bid for existence and participation in future
generations.
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While visiting in a
nearby county, I tried some telephoto shots of a homeowner's birdfeeder and
was fortunate to have these goldfinches approach with their undulating flight.
The colorings of some of our birds are a match for the bright hues of
tropical birds.
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While I usually focus
on the birds, mammals, insects, and plants of my area, sometimes people are
interesting too. Of three young actors and cinematographers shooting
scenes in the park, this natty fellow stood out.
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If you have ever wondered
what Mallard eggs look like, this will be of interest. The eggs were
laid in a deep hollow in an old tree, about 4 feet above the ground. How
the eggs fared, I don't know, but I hope they are swimming around somewhere,
fat, featherful, and feisty.
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Capturing insects in
flight is one of the hoped-for results, but it is definitely not easy. In
warm weather, bumblebees come and go in and around an old building that I
pass They stop in mid-air just long enough to let me get half-ready
to take their portraits, then off they go, sometimes spiraling up in the air
with another bumblebee, or shooting away at speed for another inspection of
the flowers.
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In a break of the rain,
the sun came out and its light vividly
painted the colors of this pretty pansy.
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While it is true that
many, if not most, birds sit and sleep on one leg sometimes, I have not seen
ducks do that very often. On land, they generally they just plunk themselves
down and nod off, with or without tucking their beaks under a wing. Yet
with their superb balance, and handy self-locking leg joints, they nap on
one leg quite well if they have a mind to do so.
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This shot, and the
next, go together. The sun was just right to capture this pigeon at
rest...
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...and in flight.
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So many visual flower
treats in springtime, it is difficult not to just focus on the flowers. In
fact, it would not be hard to fill my allotment of storage on my web site
with flowers alone. Of these flowers, I was taken with the beauty of
the sepals and receptacles, which rival the petals in delighting the eye.
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Old dead industrial
buildings and equipment, windows sealed, bricks enduring, steel rusting, time
passing -- even here is beauty, a beauty with overtones of regret and
loss within the ebb and flow of economic ecology. Yet in this rare case,
the flow of money is coming back to this compound, though it will probably
never again manufacture anything. Windows will become eyes again, power
will flow, jobs will blossom, people will come and go. I suppose it
is a good argument for building solidly, in case a future ebb tide reverses
itself.
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I suppose you know
by now that if you don't care for ducks, you are on the wrong web site. This
shot was taken late in the day into deep shadow. Nudging the image back
to a wider tonal range, I discovered what I felt was an exceptional shot
that had been mostly hidden. Photography, like all art, is often a
process of discovery, rather than artisanship, though it helps to know one's
stuff. Expertise does not guarantee, it only increases one's chances.
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More so than in the
previous shot, I anticipated the result in taking this shot. The image
you see here was in my mind as I positioned myself and raised the camera.
Hope is not only a thing with feathers, as Emily Dickinson said, but
a thing with image-making paraphenalia festooned about the person, and an
unreasonable desire to not only kiss the joy as it flies, but to take its
picture too.
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Sometimes the misty
air harmonizes the discrete elements of a scene and works with the photographer
to create something that, while still and silent, seems to occupy a space
and time beyond the moment when you first see it
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