Here’s another view of the path we took through the rookery area of Willow Lake. If you look very closely you can glimpse the Dells across the lake- way in the background.
At the Rookery
Last week in my photo class I overheard someone mentioning a path by the rookery- and I interjected, “What rookery? Where?” It turns out that deep in a grove of cottonwoods at Willow Lake there are huge old trees containing enormous heron, egret, and cormorant nests. Although I am sadly lacking in bird knowledge, I love to take photos of them- and the idea of a rookery close by was impossible to resist. A few days later, Lonnie and I found the right path at the lake- and we were there!
As we entered the area, we could hear wingbeats and gutteral squawks overhead before we even saw the nests- which are impossible to miss. I don’t think I managed to convey the enormity of the nests in the photo below, but you can get an idea of how numerous and high up they were.
In the first tree, there were 10 or 12 herons perched on nests or branches and occasionally flying around. The next tree was packed with cormorants actively nest-building. We didn’t see egrets, although we heard they were around. It was an amazing sight!
I think this is the first time I’ve ever photographed herons from below- probably not a wise place to be.
Stay tuned for more rookery photos tomorrow!
Flowers for Friday
Just some ranunculus in a Mason jar- have a good weekend!
Orange and Pink
I think it was last year at this time that I discovered that Trader Joe’s sold ranunculus, my favorite childhood flower. I went looking for them the other day and discovered just a few almost wilted bunches. I picked one in shades of hot pink and orange to take home to enjoy for a few days. I took them outside for the sidelit, golden hour shot above.
I love how tightly the petals are nestled on this dark pink beauty.
I’m no longer a child, but I still love these beautiful flowers.
By the Gate
This little gate caught my eye as we were walking to the petroglyph site the other day.
Petroglyphs
Yesterday, I spent the morning with some friends at the V Bar V Heritage site near the Verde Valley, about an hour from home, and saw some spectacular petroglyphs. These petroglyphs were made by the Sinaguan people in what has been termed the Beaver Creek Rock Art style (dating from about 1100 AD). What was fascinating to me was that they have discovered sunbeams hitting certain parts of a stair-step type design on certain days of the years, which experts believe are signs of when planting should occur. There is also a small area that has been carved out that casts a shadow resembling the San Francisco peaks, a sacred site to local native populations.
If you look closely at the upper right part of the photo above, you can see the stair step (zigzag) glyph, each step of which is lit by sunbeams on a specific day during the growing season. Early calendar!
Pussy Willow Two Ways
My friend, Debbie gave me some pussy willow branches, which I placed in water in the kitchen window. The buds are starting to open, so I took a few minutes to capture this one with my Lensbaby Velvet 56 in macro mode.
It’s Spring. . .
… at the Desert Botanical Garden!
Sonoran Light, Part 3
Even in the day time the water towers in the Sonoran Light exhibit at Phoenix’s DBG were impressive.
Sonoran Light, Part 2
There were other light installations besides the wonderful water towers. Here’s that bejeweled hill again- this time with cacti in the foreground.
The lights continually changed colors, making an ever-changing display.
Here’s what the lights at the bottom of the hill look like up close. Notice that they have changed color!
And last, but not least, here is one of several beautiful hanging light sculptures, which rotated slowly as we walked by:
Sonoran Light
Sunday night we visited Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden for the Sonoran Light exhibit by Bruce Munro. We got there around 5pm, before sunset to see the plants and to preview the installation before it got dark. We stopped for snacks after the sun went down- and then ventured back out on the now dim and crowded garden paths.
This post could easily be titled “Stumbling Around in the Dark.” I have new appreciation for my photo buddy, Carol, of In Focus Daily as she walks along jungle paths at night lugging all her camera gear. At one point I simply lost my balance and fell over! And then there was the problem of attaching my camera to the tripod and adjusting my settings in the dark! Lonnie learned how to work the flashlight on his new iPhone finally which helped- but didn’t save me from accidentally changing from RAW to jpg file format in the dark.
Below are some images of Water Towers, a huge installation of water bottles that lit up and changed color. Using a long exposure was a bit tricky as people continually walked in front of the lens- sometimes not even showing up in the photo. I am not very experienced in night photography, so I just went with the flow- and it was fun!
Here is a view of the general scene- note the lights on the hill in the background!
A closer look:
And even closer:
I’ll be posting more photos from Sonoran Light as the week goes by. By the way- these were all jpgs.
Flower and Sticks Times Two
I was somehow compelled to stick a sunflower in with my branches and kind of liked the contrast between the shapes (and of course the lensbaby blur). So here is the result- two ways.
Vintage
Just a book and a rose. . .
Playing with Sticks
More branches in a jar. This was shot with the Lensbaby Edge 80 again, but then I used an oil painting filter in Topaz Impression and a Flypaper texture after that. Yup- just playing with sticks. . .
The Berries- again
I found a couple other shots I took when I was taking my berry still life for my class. These were taken before or after- without a tripod, because I couldn’t get high enough with the tripod. I used a shallow depth of field for fun- and I guess I wasn’t very steady on the stepstool, because these would definitely not pass the sharpness test! I like them anyway.
BTW, my hummingbird passed muster yesterday in my new photo class. I wondered how people (especially the instructor) would respond to the background, which had been edited using Topaz Impression- but they were fine with it. If you read my blog regularly, you’ll recognize this photo from last summer. The only critiques were some thought the little twig under the hummingbird could be cloned out, and one person would have liked a closed beak. One thing I’m learning is that people have differing opinions of each other’s work- and it’s all ok. It’s a very nice group of people, which makes it all easier.
melinda anderson photography 