Friday, August 3, 2012

Large Milkweed Bug

Large Milkweed Bug
This bug is common right now.  It is easy to spot because of its color contrast.

Large milkweed Bug
They mate in the open.

Large Milkweed Bug
Sometimes there is drama associated with the mating.

Large Milkweed Bug Nymphs

The result is small large milkweed bugs.  Their species seems healthy at Gorman Nature Center.


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Thursday, August 2, 2012

Swamp Milkweed

Swamp Milkweed
I visited the same plant the other morning.  The blossoms have progressed to another stage.  The petals are gone on the early bloomers.  Also, the mining bee stayed over night and was covered with dew.  It was motionless at the time of my visit. 


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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Common Buckeye Butterfly

Common Buckeye Butterfly

I have been seeing many of these this year.

Although present throughout the US, except the northwest, they tend to migrate south in the winter and then move north again in the summer.  They don't overwinter in the north.  They tend to change colors slightly from fall to summer. 

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Monday, July 30, 2012

Swamp Milkweed

Swamp Milkweed
I am sure that you will notice the blossoms in three stages.  The unopened, the opening and the open.  They are all on the same plant.  I went back this morning, two days later, to see that the petals were gone from the open blossoms.  The opening buds are open now and the unopened are in the the opening stage.  I was drawn by the symmetry of each group.  They remind me of fireworks in a way.  

I used a Sigma 105 mm, f/2.8 lens at f/4.  I used the shallow DOF, depth-of-field, to keep the lower foliage out of focus.  I shot a Helicon Focus series of eight captures.  I also placed a piece of black velvet cloth on the ground around much of the foliage to simplify the background.


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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Van Gogh The Life

Prairie Dock
I am presently finishing Van Gogh, The Life by Steven Naifen and Gregory White Smith.  It is not an easy book to read.  The family was probably what we would call today dysfunctional.  I chose to read it because I had heard of Vincent van Gogh.  I knew he had been a painter.  That is about all.  

The authors have included much quoted text from his letters.  In one passage I read the other night, Vincent is describing how he feels when he looks at sunflowers with the blue sky behind.  The image his discourse brought to my mind stuck.  I commented to myself that I feel similar feels when I look at the yellow flowers with the sky in the background.

The next morning I saw a prairie dock in bloom.  One of the blossoms faced the right way for me and I photographed it.  I got that feeling again.  As usual, I try to be there when I am set up on a subject.  While I was there, a honey bee flew into the scene and was included on one of the shots.  The other insects appeared to be ants that day.  Upon closer examination on the computer, I saw that they were tiny bees.  They also had pollen on their rear legs.  

Prairie Dock
I have been told that yellow is not a color with which people like to decorate their houses, BUT I like this.  I feel joy when I look at it.  According to the biography, some of the painters in the late 19th century, including Vincent, used complementary colors in their paintings.  It conjures feelings of summers, the beach, warm weather; not hot; soft breezes and youth.  How do you feel when you look at it?  

I almost forgot!  While "being there" with this flower, I shot video.  The Prairie Dock is at the bottom of the page.

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