South Africa Photos

Sunday, November 27, 2011
Hummingbird Sampling Nectar
Last weekend the Hummingbirds were very busy at the local nurseries. This girl (an Anna's Hummingbird) in particular was spending a lot of time at her favorite flowers. She was not particularly excited to have me there at first. But it was easy to see she really loved these flowers, some kind of South African Lily I believe. So all I had to do was get a step closer each time she came by, and she eventually was pretty comfortable with me.

Sunday, April 17, 2011
Agapanthus in the Morning Rain
Friends and family who live in a "less temperate" climate make fun of me when I mention the different seasons here, but I do love the change in our seasons. This is a fun early spring shot. The Agapanthus are just starting to bloom in our yard, and on this day an early morning rainstorm had just subsided to let the sunlight through. This combination of weather and sunlight can capture my attention for hours without even leaving my front yard. I actually had to tiptoe through the wet flowers to frame up the second blossom (or inflorescence), out of focus in the background.

Monday, August 20, 2007
Lily of the Rain
The yard is a completely different place in the rain. Unfortunately for my camera I love the look of the flowers when it's raining. It's not just the drops of water. If it was I could just spray them. The soft lighting from the clouds changes the feel of the photo completely.

Thursday, November 30, 2006
Shadows of Paradise
O.K. if you got here from the "Banana Photos" page
I am not going nuts or getting sloppy in my photo categorization. (well, at least not
the second one anyway.) The Bird of Paradise is actually a member of the
Banana [Musaceae] family. Strange but true!
But wait, it gets even stranger! Like bananas, Bird of Paradise
are botanically considered herbs since they do not produce any woody stems.
(That's right, even the biggest 25 foot banana tree is not really a tree at all.)
Well that is the botany lesson for the day. The photo is pretty nice too, if I do
say so myself.

Thursday, June 8, 2006
Agapanthus Buds
Another of my rare morning shots. The light is nice in the morning, and I really try to take advantage of it when I am conscious. But that is a rather rare occurrence in the morning.

Monday, May 22, 2006
Agapanthus in the Rain
It rained heavily last night, and this morning we
got to see the SUN! It has been gray for so long I did
not know how to act!
Yeah I did, I grabbed my camera!
I was up uncharacteristically early waiting for a ride,
but as a reward I got to enjoy the morning sunlight in my front yard.

Wednesday, April 5, 2006
The Agapanthus are Coming!
There are a lot of Agapanthus around our home
and they are looking like they are about
to burst! I took this one today on a walk with The Hound.
My botanist tells me that Agapanthus is derived from
the Greek word "agapé" meaning love and "anthos" meaning flower.
And for those really interested in the botany, the group of
flowers all radiating from the center with equal length "pedicles" (or individual flower stalks)
is called an "umbel." An umbel is a kind of "inflorescence,"
which is a botanical term referring to a group or cluster
of flowers and specifically the structure of that group.
Ahhh the Internet, what can\'t it teach you?

Thursday, March 23, 2006
Backlit Bird
This is another shot from our neighbors yard.
I like to walk by there and see whats blooming.
These flowers always make me think of my wife's
watercolors. She likes them so much that she
learned to watercolor specifically to paint
them.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Bird of Paradise
My neighbor has a beautiful garden. It's amazing
how many flowers you can get into a small space.
(we only have a few feet to play with around the building.)
This was snapped as I was taking the hound for a walk the other day.
My best friend was just wondering when Bird of Paradise bloom.
I guess this answers that question. :-D

Thursday, June 30, 2005
Backlit Agapanthus
Last week, when I was loading my Jeep for a show,
I was fortunate enough to catch the sun at
a great angle on our little front yard area.
On a Saturday my Hound Dog and I would have
still been quite unconscious at this time.
This is a variety of Lily native to South Africa. It
grows like wild around here, and it's beautiful when
they really get going.

Sunday, April 3, 2005
Bird of Paradise
This is another shot from a recent walk at the Santa Barbara Harbor. The setting sun made the colors on this beautiful flower stand out even more.