Hooray! Pansy Time for Cats Again!
October 26, 2014 - It was the most wonderful day of the year! Our cats got their first taste of pansies this fall...
Garden
I love to garden – if you don’t believe me, go read about my Garden Craze! The garden yields good photo opportunities, too…
Gardening for the Birds – 2014 Update
July 12, 2014 - I did a 2014 update to my Gardening for the Birds post, detailing plants that I grow to attract birds. The hummers are starting to notice!
More Lightpad Flowers and Post-Processing Fun
February 7, 2014 - Poor Squirt – it wasn’t enough that I withheld pansies for lightpad photography once, but I had such a good time that I did it again! I took some pansies and some small petunias and played more with my new ArtOGraph Lightpad. Then I spent a rainy afternoon having fun with the post-processing. A few of […]
Fun with my New Lightpad
February 4, 2014 - Rich got me an ArtOGraph Lightpad for Christmas, after seeing me drool over some of Denise Ippolito’s flower shots. I infuriated Squirt by photographing some pansies on the Lightpad out on his porch, where he sat waiting to devour my subjects as soon as I finished photographing them. Whiskey was right there, too! At our […]
Frozen Orchids
December 16, 2013 - My mom’s neighbors (hi Dick and Connie!) recently gave her a branch from a flowering orchid, and my mom was sweet and froze it for me! I guess she wanted to see more frozen flowers on my blog. :) Then she was nice enough to keep it in the freezer for me for a few […]
Photographing Pansies in Rain
December 5, 2013 - I have a secret. Don’t tell Squirt. The last time we bought him pansies, I didn’t give them to him right away. I took them to the backyard and photographed them. Then he got to devour them. I have another secret. I wanted to try photographing pansies in rain, but there was no rain in […]
Around the Backyard
October 5, 2013 - I’ve been working every weekend since I returned from Maine, and I need to start making time to get back out with my camera. I’m hearing warblers chip-chip in the treetops in the evenings, and the sunrises this week have been gorgeous! In the meantime, I took a page from Herman‘s book and played with […]
Fall Mums
October 1, 2013 - Can you believe it’s October already? Seems like it was just yesterday that I was photographing baby Sandhill Cranes and newborn cygnets! And now the fall breeze is in the air and the days are getting shorter, quickly. That means it’s time for fall mums and pumpkins! Chrysanthemums are some of my favorite flowers. They […]
Pentas in our Neighborhood
September 27, 2013 - We took a walk around the neighborhood the other night and I had to take my camera. Our community flower beds are full of colorful pentas right now, and they call my name every time I drive by them! The mass of colors made me want to experiment with some intentional blurs… First I tried […]
African Irises
August 2, 2013 - Ever since my first frozen flower experiments, Rich whispers “Freeze me!” in my ear every time we pass a clump of African Irises. On a recent rainy day (we’ve had plenty of those!), I took a flower inside and did some more experimentation. This time I didn’t freeze the flower. I set it up in […]
Hummingbird Alert!
July 29, 2013 - Last week we had a hummingbird in our backyard! We were eating dinner on our back porch with the cats when I noticed the hummer nectaring on my hummingbird bush. By the time I grabbed my camera, the bird had gone. I couldn’t tell if it was a male or female. But it was a […]
Backyard Rainbow
June 28, 2013 - It’s been raining cats and dogs around Central Florida lately! And my cats are not particularly happy about it. They are not fans of lightning and thunder, and even the gentle rains often leave the porch too wet for feline usage. But on the bright side, there’s a decent chance of catching a rainbow after […]
My New Toy :)
June 26, 2013 - The little brown truck brought me a new toy this summer! It’s a Canon 5D Mark III camera body. I’m so excited about it, as it has much improved autofocus, even better than my 1D Mark IV. It also does in-camera HDR and in-camera multiple exposures. It’s a full-frame camera, which will be fun for […]
Freeze Me!
May 31, 2013 - A while back I read a fun blog entry by Denise Ippolito where she froze flowers to photograph. It sounds weird, but she got some amazing results. Then my friend Kathy Urbach started experimenting with the same technique. I liked their images and decided to try the technique myself. It’s not as easy as it […]
An Hour and a Daylily
May 21, 2013 - The other day we got home from work and Squirt really, really wanted to go out on the porch. So did Whiskey. How to say no to two adorable cats? So I grabbed my macro lens and extension tubes and we all went outside. While the boys sniffed the breeze and chased lizards, I photographed […]
Flower Power!
April 29, 2013 - My daylilies in the backyard are starting to bloom, and they are so colorful. I’ve been having fun with my macro lens, Photoshop, the Nik filters, and some Fractalius. (Rich loves to tease me that I have Windows running on my Mac for almost the sole purpose of the Fractalius Photoshop filter!) It’s fun to […]
Azalea Fun on a Rainy Day
February 27, 2013 - This past weekend I was feeling well enough to get out and shoot, but it was windy and rainy. Yuck! So I got out the camera and headed for my own backyard. My azaleas are in full bloom, and they are just gorgeous. Luckily the rain didn’t blow all the azalea blooms away like last […]
Backyard Signs of Spring
February 2, 2013 - Today is Groundhog Day, and Punxsutawney Phil says that we’re in for an early spring. Thank goodness — I’m tired of the cold! I didn’t need a groundhog to tell me that spring is coming, though. My backyard plants are telling me all about it. The oaks are putting out their new leaves already, my […]
Fun with Gerber Daisies, Photoshop, and Filters
January 27, 2013 - You know you’ve been bitten by the photography bug when you’re in a garden center, and you see a display of flowering Gerber Daisies, and you purchase it thinking, “oooh, that one would look good with the Fractalius filter applied!” You can have lots of fun with a pot of Gerber Daisies, Photoshop, and filters… […]
Squirt’s Delight
December 22, 2012 - It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! Work is done for the year, the cats are enjoying the cold front breezes out on the porch, and I got to photograph Squirt’s favorite holiday treat. Well, one of Squirt’s favorite holiday treats. :)
Drops of Purple
November 17, 2012 - I keep playing with water droplet experiments, and I think I’m getting better. I still haven’t quite captured the image that’s in my mind’s eye, but this one comes the closest. This is one of Squirt’s first-of-fall pansies, photographed through water droplets scattered on my porch glass-top table. I dragged a lamp out on the […]
Red and Gold
November 5, 2012 - A few days ago I posted a picture of a pansy called Purple and Gold. Well, today’s is Red and Gold. This is one of my zinnias from the backyard before they were killed by the recent cold snap. I was having fun focusing on the detail in the middle of the flower. Then I […]
Orange Reflections
November 2, 2012 - With this week’s cold snap, my summer flowers are dying off, including my clumps of Mexican Sunflowers. I photographed these a while ago playing again with water droplets. I liked this attempt better than my last one, when I had very little light. This latest attempt was at sunset with lots of light – and […]
Purple and Gold
October 28, 2012 - Before I let the cats devour their first-of-fall pansies, I claimed the six-packs for myself and had some fun with my macro lens. I love the colors of pansies – purples and reds with great yellow centers. They are my favorite wintertime flower and I’ll have to take advantage of this week’s cold snap to […]
Afternoon Sunshine
October 18, 2012 - We had fun watching for migrants and hummers in my parents’ backyard on Saturday afternoon. Right after I left, my mom reported that about 50 Palm Warblers came to visit Missy! Goldy is jealous. I had my wide-angle lens with me, and while we waited for the birds, I took pictures of the flowers in […]
Rainy Day Fun
October 8, 2012 - It was a gray, icky day yesterday, so I had fun playing with my camera and flowers in my own backyard. I had read about a technique for water droplet images on Denise Ippolito’s blog, and I decided to experiment and see what I could do. This is a zinnia flower taken through a sheet […]
Up Close
October 4, 2012 - I had another fun afternoon photographing flowers in my backyard. Here’s another one of the pretty pink flowers.
A Hummer’s Perspective
September 30, 2012 - Last night after work I went out into the backyard with my wide-angle lens and extension tubes. A lot of hummingbird flowers are blooming right now, and I wanted to capture the “hummer’s-eye view”. This is a close-up of one of the giant Coral Porterweed blooms.
Pink Flowers
September 25, 2012 - We haven’t seen any hummingbirds in the backyard recently. :( My Coral Porterweed and Compton’s Salvias are about to burst into bloom. Hopefully that will help to attract some. In the meantime, we have a lot of bee activity. This plant is a real insect-pleaser.
My Backyard is A-Buzz
September 20, 2012 - I keep watching for hummingbirds in our backyard. Our neighbors finally saw their first hummer, but it’s been a few weeks. Don’t the birds know how long I worked to plant those nice red flowers for them? Maybe it’s not too late to hope for a winter guest. Or maybe they’ll find me next spring. […]
Gardening for the Birds
July 21, 2012 - It’s been really hot out, and the bird photography just isn’t as intense in July. So I’ve been spending more time in my own backyard garden. I’m trying to get the birds to come to me! Especially the hummingbirds, my absolute favorite little birds. I can get hummers in both summer and winter here in […]
From the Garden
July 17, 2012 - I’ve been spending more time in my garden in the past few weeks. I’m trying to bring the birds to me–more about that in an upcoming post. I was surprised to find my hydrangea bushes putting on a few late blooms. They are especially pretty after rain! I played with a few Nik Color Efex […]
Orange Bulbine
July 10, 2012 - My hummingbird garden is growing nicely with all the rain we’ve been having! If only the hummer numbers grew as quickly. We’ve had a couple this summer, but no regular customers. Yet. I’ll keep the nectar coming!
Pineapples
May 27, 2012 - We have two pineapples growing in our pineapple patch this year. They are getting bigger. I can’t wait to taste them!
Azalea Blur
March 10, 2012 - I went out to take my traditional azalea picture of the bushes in our front yard. They are in full bloom right now, and they are so pretty! Then I realized that I’ve been blogging for over five years now, and I think I have a “first azalea of spring” shot from each year. So […]
Spring is in the Air
February 4, 2012 - A flock of Cedar Waxwings was in the backyard last night. Why is it that you never have a camera outside with you when the good birds come to town? Of course they left before I got back. So I turned the camera on the orange blooms that are covering our little tree right now…
Fun Moths
September 15, 2011 - The cats and I were both surprised the other day when we went outside and found this moth clinging to our porch screen. I’m not sure what kind of moth it is, but it’s kinda pretty (in a mothy way!)
Around the Backyard
September 3, 2011 - We’ve had a couple of new visitors to the backyard lately, including the following: A Ruby-Throated Hummingbird! He was hovering around my firecracker plant. Rich saw him and I didn’t. Not fair! Barn Swallows. They swoop in and out of the yard in the evenings. I wish I could get a picture. Their feathers are […]
Bugs
August 23, 2011 - I’ve been noticing many more bugs in the backyard since I stopped spraying my roses with pesticides on a regular basis. I have no idea what this bug is, but he was quite happy to hang out on my Indigo Spires salvia.
Here, Little Hummer!
August 15, 2011 - These are blooms of my Coral Nymph salvia, a plant that provides good nectar for hummingbirds. It’s not one of the bright red flowers that typically attracts hummers, but the flowers have the long tubular shape that is well adapted for long beaks and tongues. Now I just need to get a few hummers to […]
Rain is good for catnip
August 12, 2011 - Squirt was dismayed when I took his potted catnip plant outside a few weeks ago. But after a few good rains, the plant has quadrupled in size. Now Squirt gets to teach Whiskey the joys of playing with catnip… Now this is cool…this post was brought to you via my iPhone. I took the picture […]
Rain Lilies
June 28, 2011 - We’ve been getting some much-needed rain. We got four inches in about half an hour a few days ago! The rain lilies are blooming now as a result…
Hip! Hip! Hoo-rain!
June 8, 2011 - It rained last week! Finally! My rain lilies burst into bloom a day or two later…
It’s Beginning to Feel a lot like Summer
May 12, 2011 - We had a Swallow-Tailed Kite fly through our yard this evening! It banked and showed off its pretty underwings, then flew off before I could get a picture. But we saw it! Our hydrangeas are blooming and they are gorgeous. I love the mixture of pinks, purples, and blues. (Hydrangeas are supposed to be pink […]
Where are the Spring Migrants?
April 20, 2011 - Mum-mum had a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird migrant in her yard a few weeks ago. We haven’t had any interesting migrants. We have the hummingbird feeders out, just in case! This bottlebrush shot would have been even better if there had been a nice hummer nectaring on it. :-p
Smells of Spring
March 10, 2011 - The yard has been full of the smell of citrus blossoms this week. It’s the first spring that our grapefruit tree is big enough to have lots of blossoms.
First Daylily of Spring
March 7, 2011 - I know Spring has arrived to stay when I see my ‘Yangtze’ daylily in bloom. It’s an early bloomer and the bright yellow adds some welcome color to the yard.
Pansy Dew
February 11, 2011 - There was quite a bit of dew on some of my pansies this morning. Squirt’s not sure if he approves of that.
Mmmm…Strawberries!
January 27, 2011 - Thanks to my papitos for the bare-root strawberry plants, which have weathered the cold nicely and are now starting to bear fruit!