Chicago Flower and Garden Show - 3.06.11 - Post 3/3

So this is my last post on the flower show.  Just a few more shots I thought were interesting but didn't fit into my other themes.

The Geometry of Plants

 Fun with macros/Annoyance with macros.  I really wanted to get both of these cactus 'fingers' in focus, but my camera was having none of it.  Even on manual-focus.  I could get one or the other, but not both.  This may have had to do with the limited options I have for focal length when shooting in macro.  I also wonder if I had known then what I learned last week about spot-metering if I could have gotten them to both look better. As you can see, despite being two parts of one plant, the lighting on each was different.  That was how bad the lighting was at this place.  All that said, there are some very cool aspects of this shot.  Look at the piece in focus.  I love the geometric pattern the spines make as your eyes travel from the far left edge up the cactus.  There's hexagons and triangles and rhombi.  I love it.  This is when macro photography is fun.

Jewelweed in Ruby and Emerald

These jewelweed leaves were gorgeous but I'm learning that Red is Hard.  On my LCD screen, on my computer screen... red is hard to reproduce.  This is as close as I could get, and my mind's eye still tells me it's not saturated enough, but when I try to turn up the saturation, even a little, the red becomes magenta and that's not right either.

Arctur African Attempts to Stretch

 My awesome little daisies again.  These are African daisies and I find it amazing how many varieties of African daisies there are out there - all of these have white petals and purple centers.  My best guess, given the pointed petals is that this is an Arctur African Daisy.  But if someone out there is a better horticulturist, feel free to correct me.

Pretty, Purple and a Total Mystery.

I have no earthly clue what these are, but they're really pretty.  Like I said in an earlier post, very few flowers in the show beds were actually labeled.  And because these are cultured flowers, I can't even use my normal tricks of looking for websites that feature the wildflowers of a given area and then look at everything in the 'purple' category.  I can't even use the identifier programs because they want things like native location and when they bloom.  Guess what?  Who knows?  It was an indoor show where the flowers were forced, so... *shrug*  If you've got an idea, please holler!

Shades of Blue

These are blue hyacinth.  The blue can be seen best where the flower attaches to the stem.  They're bulb flowers like tulips and daffodils, but have many flowers on a stalk, which always makes me think they're something else.

On First Reflection

And, of course, my (sort of) first water lily of the year.  Water lilies are one of my favorite flowers.  I only count this as 'sort of' because it's in a garden show.  But I suspect that when I start getting out the the Lincoln Park Lily Pond in the next month or so or the Botanical Garden when the tulips start coming up, I'll start finding some that are working their natural cycle.




Okay, that's it for that show.  Last week I was in Nashville, Tennessee and we took my 15 month old nephew to the zoo.  Nashville, like most other zoos, has some brilliant set-ups for some of their animals - like the outdoor meerkat exhibit with a cluster of babies! - and some that are just awful and unshootable - like the red panda who spent most of her time pressed up against the corner of the glass grooming.  Those shots and a discussion of metering coming soon!

Volo Bog - 9.04.10 - Post 4

Continuing on with Volo Bog...

Goldenrod Dragon

Goldenrod is pretty much everywhere in Northern Illinois wildlife areas.  This particular branch caught my eye, because it looks very much like a dragon to me.  I am the sort of person who likes to anthropomorphize this sort of thing, sure, but this just looked cool to me.

Still Blooming - Better Late Than Never

New flower!  Great Blue Lobelia.  The sharp folds and points in the flower petals make them stand out.

'Phyll-less Flower

I was sure these were mushrooms or some other sort of fungus when I found them, but while looking up something else entirely, I discovered that they are, in fact, a plant - the Indian Pipe.  Very weirdly for a plant, this plant obviously has no chlorophyll (the stuff that makes plants green); instead it gets its energy from being a parasite of the trees it grows under.  It's also called the Ghost Plant or Corpse Plant.  Creepy, eh?

Turning Red for the Winter

I'm pretty sure these are Winterberries, ripening from their initial pink into the bright red that will stay with them through the winter.

Two Sacks of Gold

Another bee on yet another flower.  But I like this one because you can see the pollen sacks on both legs in this case.  And he's still busily gathering.  I also really like how clearly you can see the joints in that front right leg.

Stripes on the Eastern Tailed Blue

I really hate that it was so windy the day I went up there.    This shot would have been so much better if the grass hadn't been getting blown to Kingdom Come.  Of course, if this Eastern Tail wasn't worried about getting blown into the next zip code, he might not have sat still at all.  It's not a great shot, but you can see the stripes on his antennae and on his legs.

White Face, Red Body, Green Weeds

Another White-Faced Meadowhhawk, with his White Face being very obvious. :)

Hairy Skipper

I was just inches away from this Fiery Skipper.  What a hairy little butterfly!

Wild Swan, All Bogged Down

Now this was one of the coolest things about being on the observation deck I was talking about in the last post.  I never did see the swans from the ground (there were two, but one was in and out of the rushes so much I never did catch him.)  If you look at the prairie grasses in the back, you can see how windy it was as I was shooting.  But hey, wild swans in Illinois!  I had no idea we had wild swans.

Spotted Jewelweed Hanging Out

This is a Jewelweed flower - Specifically, the Spotted Jewelweed.  Also called a Touch-Me-Not because the seed pods (not pictured) tend to explode when touched - not because it's hazardous for you to touch them.  In fact these plants are used as a common cure for the itch of poison ivy and other skin irritations.





Okay, one more card of pictures to go through for this trip. :)