Wander Photo: April 2009

Monday, April 13, 2009

Spring Comes to Oakdale

Spring celebrations take place at my house, Oakdale, while wildflowers and bulbs set forth blooms.

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First anemone in my garden to flower! The brilliance of the red dominates the picture.

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My cat, Caramia, becomes interested in my efforts and becomes part of the composition.

Fairy Bells

A grape hyacinth begins to bloom with all it's might.

Hunter

You know it's spring when the cats start to bud on the trees... I tried to capture Caramia's edginess as she peers around the side of a branch, enjoying her climb.

Weeds

A weed is only a weed if it is not wanted. This wildflower was taken from directly above letting the other flowers below it blur slightly to make a pretty canvas.

Nathrach in the Grass

My other cat, Nathrach, whose name means serpent. Despite the connotations of his name, I think he was just pretending to be an Easter egg. His black sleek fur stands out in contrast to the fluffy green plants.

Easter Metaphor I
This one in a series of photos I took of a particular wildflower.

Easter Metaphor II

Here you see three brown speckled eggs at the base of the wildflower.

Easter Metaphor III

The eggs have become obscured to the sharply in focus wildflower. The entire picture is now in black and white - it has lost the impermanence of color.

Hunter

This photo bares the same title as the above photo of Caramia, but the meaning is much different here. You can just see the basket behind the subject.

Mushroom

A decorated egg upon a decorated cloth. This egg bares the face of a familiar video game mushroom. Shot with a telephoto lens, the depth of focus brings your eye is straight to the egg without losing the marvelous texture of the cloth up close.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Snow in Birmingham

February 28, 2009

Snow is a rare thing in Birmingham, Alabama. This small snowfall made the news. It barely lasted out the day before melting, but it was beautiful while it lasted.

Over the Garden Gate

The view from my backyard looking out. The snowy yard is framed by the lines of the gate and the nearby bushes.

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A chickadee checks out the feeder and is grateful for the carbs.

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Meanwhile, a yellow-rumped warbler looks on. Concealing behind him the yellow spot that gives him his name.

Frost

His yellow is echoed in these early blooming forsythia bushes. They weren't at all put off by the chill.

Where the Road Ends

The end of the road leading into our driveway. Birmingham's traffic ways were seriously hampered when the interstate was added on top of the city. In this picture the strangeness of the road adds interest to an otherwise plain snowy woods.

Patiently Waiting

This was my dog, Zakuro's first snowfall and at first she was terrified. In this picture she is waiting for me to let her back inside. Her black coat makes an excellent contrast to the snow-covered deck and you can see the tenseness in her face. Don't worry, I opened the door a second after snapping this shot.

Snowball

She has a love of balls, though, and as soon as she found out balls could be made out of the white stuff, she was sold. I tried to capture her great reserves of energy and excitement in this photo.

Fetch

You can see her body straining and she bursts into action, ears flying forward, going after the snowball just thrown by her partner in the picture.

Snowday

Zakuro, loving a minute of her play. The focus is more on the dog in this photo as she readies herself for another run, although we get a glimpse of the action of the human from his raised leg.

Glimpse

Valentine's Cards

For Valentine's Day I did a photo-shoot with some of my assistants. These were to make small 2x3 cards the perfect size to hand out to a lot of kids. Here are a few of my favorites.