Into Winter

Just into winter I will submit a bit of color from the summer months.  We all know I like flowers.  I like them far too much as subjects.

The scrumptious color, the sensual shape of the petal, the golden light of late afternoon all make them an irresistible target.

To Summer

William Blake

O thou who passest thro’ our valleys in
Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat
That flames from their large nostrils! thou, O Summer,
Oft pitched’st here thy goldent tent, and oft
Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld
With joy thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair.

Beneath our thickest shades we oft have heard
Thy voice, when noon upon his fervid car
Rode o’er the deep of heaven; beside our springs
Sit down, and in our mossy valleys, on
Some bank beside a river clear, throw thy
Silk draperies off, and rush into the stream:
Our valleys love the Summer in his pride.

Our bards are fam’d who strike the silver wire:
Our youth are bolder than the southern swains:
Our maidens fairer in the sprightly dance:
We lack not songs, nor instruments of joy,
Nor echoes sweet, nor waters clear as heaven,
Nor laurel wreaths against the sultry heat.

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No Stranger

Chic chic chicory….

Floral shots are too easy, I think.  I know people who will not shoot flowers because they are too easy.  But, flowers have all of that scrumptious color, those sensual shapes and while they are too easy, they are just too wonderful to pass by.

 

I have spent the better part of a week looking for some chicory to photograph.  It normally “grows like weeds” around here, but for some reason, maybe the drought conditions, it has not been so abundant.  Today on the way to church, I spotted a few stalky stems and the distinctive color of the flower, bookmarked the spot in my mind and headed back out at the wrong time of day to shoot anything outside – 3:00 pm with the sun glaring overhead.  I ended up having to adjust every setting I could adjust on my camera to get a decent shot and some pretty largish curve adjustments in raw.  Stupid girl, you know the optimum hours for shooting!

The sweet peas were a bonus while driving home on the back roads.  I spotted two huge patches of them on each side of the road and, of course, even with the excessively bright sun overhead, I pulled over to get a few shots.  Tomorrow I may post the shots I took a couple of days ago at my auntie’s house – again, flowers.

  

Yep, flowers are too easy to shoot, but not easy enough to pass by.  I wonder when the Bonneyville dahlias will be blooming?