Seven Spots Sipping

I found this butterfly in the secret valley my dad and I found. I think it had never seen a person before, because it never flinched when I got up close to it. I laid down on the ground as close as i could get. The camera focused at 9 inches away, and made a great depth of field effect. What I think is the most interesting about this butterfly is that it is sitting down. I have never seen a butterfly do that. It was using it's long curly 'tongue,' technically a proboscis, to drink water from the waterlogged soil.

Tired

I found this along a riverside in the mountains of south Virginia, along the creeper trail. It's a wheel hub for a car, rusted almost beyond recognition. It was probably carried down the mountain by the river and left on the bank after a flood.

Hockney: Elk River Falls

This is an example of the photography style of Hockney. It is made by taking multiple pictures and then arranging them so that they fit together, like a patchwork panoramic. You may recognise this waterfall from one of my first posts. I put this together using the collage feature on Picasa, which is free,simple, and downloadable from Google.

Mountain Daffodil

I found this flower in the middle of a field in the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina. My dad and I walked along a trail for maintenance vehicles almost to the Tennessee state line. Suddenly, the trail opened up into a valley hidden away in the trees. It was about 30 acres of cleared grassland and the river ran along the right side. I found this solitary daffodil by itself in the grass.

I Wish...

After a very VERY long break between posts, I finally have loads of new material from spring break up at the cabin. I've been experimenting with Hockney style photography, but for now, here's another installation in the macro category.

Magnolia Matchsticks

Shreds of Summer

It's preposterously cold outside. I miss the warmth of summer; the feeling of your skin drying out from laying out in the sun for too long, sweating from the heat when you're not doing anything, forgetting what day of the week it is, not wearing shoes.