Red

Red

Nope, don't know their name ... bought them a few months ago and they have tripled in size - very hardy and gorgeously red.

Weather

We are in the mountain fall  -and what do i know never having lived in eastern mountains before now-  and the sky seems to be different every half hour.

Yesterday morning

then, this morning

And i'm lovin' it! How could one not ... now, as i write this, the sun is shinning and the temp is moving into the 80's and the clouds that are in the sky are off in the distance over the mountains.

Recent macros, the spring from a pressure gage:

Posing, a portrait

Rarely do i get someone to pose so well and upright, so i thought i'd post this after our session earlier this morning:

More

Crossing the kitchen and looking out the porch window i was the sun just inching above the horizon. Fortunately my camera was sitting on a tripod at the window. Clicking the shoot button and a bit of play with NIK gave me a morning image that i like. I've struggled with all the electrical lines in the photo when shooting sunrises and decided they work fine in this stylized image.

Lately, as a result of having joined a on-line macro club, i've been shooting more bugs/insects then i usually do. This small, about 1 1/2"- caterpillar was crawling around my the porch chair. He was moving way too fast for me to get a photo of his head which was what i wanted to do. I moved the chair, got everything set (the camera was on a tripod and using a 60mm Macro lens) for the arrival and still - no head shot! And, i haven't been able to id the caterpillar yet. If you know its name, type or anything about it would you please leave word in the comments section below - thanks.

On the other hand -other lens?- i got a couple of really good shoots a weekend ago on a local garden walk in the West Asheville area:

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

Asian Lady Bug

I try to regularity return to macro work; ie, at least 1:1 if not larger. When i was at a friends house a week ago she had some glass balls filled with colors and shapes - an idea subject to play with macro photographically. So far i've only come up one with one that i like which is this:

 This is the one that i working with currently. The ball is not green glass, that is the color casted by the green rubber that the ball is sitting on (a Lazy Susan which i bought at a kitchen supply store - i allows me to move the subject easily) ... i put white paper under the ball when shooting.

This is what i've come up with so far. For a first effort its not so bad and it is just a beginning.

 This will be my next color to work with.

Birds

I've been doing a bit more bird photographing lately looking to improve both the clarity and sharpness of the images.

Eastern Bluebird with grub

From a park about 80 miles from here. I think the top image was one of the young ones as there seemed to be a whole family out pic-nic just as we were.

Father Cardinal (kinda hiding)

Mother Cardinal (i believe) with worm

Mother with two children.

Berwick's Wren

Crab Spider

The other day when i went to open the porch door i found a very small, little finger-nail size, spider on the dead-bolt latch:

I thought it very much looked like a crab from the front and when i went looking for its id: lo, it is a Crab Spider!

Somewhat cute in its own way.

Rabbits, again.

I have always been fascinated by and with rabbits and now they live at the edge of our backyard.

I know there are at least three that live around here. The one above is the one i believe that i see most often.

This one:

was taken in June and his/her ears clearly have tears in both. And he/she looks somewhat old or a bit battered.

The rabbit i have been taking photos of lately has no ear markings, and

appears to be watching the bumble bee that's just in front of her/him

This is the way i most often see her/him. Appearing to sit quietly for long periods of time with almost no movements.

Until it is time to clean him/herself.

Occasionally there are two of them in the yard at the same time and then they do this rather funny thing where they face each other about 3-5 feet apart and then just sit there looking at the other. Then one runs towards the other and the other jumps straight up in the air -as though levitating because it stays level during the jump- and lands facing the other. So far i've not had a camera when that happens so i've no photos of their antics. They often do that a bunch of times ... its very funny to watch.

I have not seen the torn ear rabbit since June.