A single dried leaf lays on the ground, backlit by the afternoon sun. Glowing, reminding us of life that it used to hold, now fading like the sunlight itself. A little moment of beauty that’s easy to miss in the daily rush. A careless step and this bright little wonder would be ground underfoot. It…
In photography, it is often thought that we need better scenes in order to take better pictures. For example, National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson said “If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff.” This seems to reflect a common perspective. The implication is that there are places which…
This is a picture of a plant that, at first glance, seemed to be dead. Maybe it really was, I’m not sure. However, a closer look revealed these little tufted ends, probably some sort of flower, so I took this picture. I think it’s interesting, like a little unexpected bit of elegance. It’s also interesting…
This is an example of limited depth of field. Only a narrow band is clear, and things become fuzzy when we move away from it. The further we get from the band of focus, the less we can see what’s going on. In this simple case, it’s pretty easy to see that there’s not much…
This picture of weeds looks very different depending on how we see it. Looking closely at the plants, they seem spikey, forbidding, like they will break if touched. But looking at the overall arrangement, it evokes the graceful lines of ballet dancers — easy to imagine flowing movement. This is an example of how observing…
This scene caught my eye because of the way many strands of web all converged on the single leaf. This was taken on a foggy morning, and the strands stood out because they were covered in drops of water. I think the thing that seemed surprising was the sheer number of individual strands. Looking at…
This is a picture of fading flowers taken while looking upwards into a tree. Even though the flowers are fading, definitely past their prime, something about this scene still struck me as pretty, almost whimsical. I framed the flowers deliberately off center, I think because it added to the sense of whimsy or light-heartedness. The…
This is a simple picture of a tree in a field. Unremarkable, but the composition can be seen as a different example of “Isolations” as described in a previous post – Conversing with Photography. To me, this picture is not just a lone tree in a field, but when related to the line of trees…
This is a picture of a leek blossom, just opening up. It’s actually a bundle of small flowers. I like this picture because of its beauty. Part of that, to me, is the sense of things moving towards the right. There’s a tension, a leaning in that direction that makes it seem as if individual…
One of the persistently difficult questions that comes up in science is how to define life – how to determine if something is living. To most of us, it’s fairly obvious. Plants and animals, including humans, are alive. Rocks, water, and so on, are not. However, the question gets more complicated for scientists that study…