Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Varigated Miniature Rose

Most of my recent work has been architecture and Santa Barbara city related. Most of those images take a bit logner to plan and execute so the photo of the day has fallen behind a bit lately.so I decided to spend some time last weekend looking through some of my older flower shots looking for interesting unpublished images.

Friday, October 10, 2008
Variegated Cosmos

Today we spent some time in San Luis Obispo. I was looking forward to taking some shots around the Mission San Luis Obispo, but when we got there I was a little disappointed. Half of the tiles were off the roof and it was surrounded by scafolding. But that's ok. We wandered around and enjoyed the beautiful day (it's finally cool!). And we took the opportunity to take in the little details of the mission grounds. This was in the garden in the back.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Canna in the Afternoon Light

This is one of my friends in the back yard. If you've been around the site for a while you have seen him before. My Mom sent me a bag of about three rhizomes over ten years ago and they (or their descendants) are still going strong. I've seen a lot of other Cannas, but this one is not so common. It's always been my favorite. When the sun is low in the afternoon it has to get through the rest of our jungle, so the lighting gets mottled and really interesting. The only problem is it moves fast and what is a great shot when we are out watering the plants, is gone once I get back out with my camera. Which, of course, leads to the dangerous practice of watering the plants while I'm holding the camera. This, like chasing bees, has worked out well for me so far but may come too an abrupt end one day.

Saturday, April 19, 2008
Tulip Feather

More plants followed us home from the grocery store the other day. One of them was this beautiful Tulip. The bellows was still out from the recent Ladybug fest so this shot was inevitable really.

Saturday, April 12, 2008
Break time for the farmworker

Another lady bug fresh from work on our epi farm. They are doing a great job, the aphids are virtually gone! So she (he?) deserves a break. This is a rose from our first anniversary. Lasted well didn't it? Well, it helps to buy the bush rather than the cut flowers. :-D

Unlike the Ladybug from yesterday I shot this one with a macro lens attachment and no bellows. This was the closest I could get as compared to yesterday when I was actually at the maximum focal distance of the bellows. This way I can get a little bit of the beautiful surroundings. Oh, and as you can probably tell it's dark outside. I was using a hand-held light to get these shots. I'ts best to release the lady bugs in the evening unless you just want them to fly away.

It was interesting though, they were much warmer and therefore much more active tonight. It finally got to the point where I had to go inside because I was covered in ladybugs. Fortunately these don't bite unlike the apparently carnivorous ladybugs in the farm country where my parents live. When the farmers harvest the fields the ladybugs run... and then they descend upon my parents' house in a swarm.

Sunday, June 17, 2007
Rose in the Studio

We stopped at the Farmers' Market again this afternoon. I always love the multi colored petals, but this was my wife's pick. She has good taste!

Friday, June 8, 2007
Glowing Gerbera

This is another Gerbera from last week's farmers' market. They are still beautiful, maybe we'll have to see if they have anything else interesting this weekend.

Sunday, June 3, 2007
Studio Daisy

Usually I like to take pictures of nature where I find it and leave it for others to enjoy. (My neighbors have told me repeatedly to take some of their flowers but I just can't bring myself to cut them.) The trouble is, I have never seen a Gerbera growing that looked quite like this.

There was one cool one that I wish I had gone back to the Nursery for, but it was not variegated. So I had to bring this one home from the farmers' market and set up a little studio shoot.

Of course, he had friends. So you'll probably see more in the next few days.

Thursday, May 31, 2007
Glowing Kalanchoe Close-up

I have been having a lot of fun with my plants and cameras lately. This flower is less than a quarter of an inch across. When you see it normally as just one in a cluster of flowers (called an inflorescence) the colors look continuous. Fading from red to yellow. However, on closer inspection you can see the speckled nature of the color like the printed page in a magazine.

Thursday, May 24, 2007
Orange Centered Poppy

I found this guy the other day at the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens along with his friend. Unlike the dark one they actually had quite a few of these, but only one with a flower with this cool shape. This particular one caught my eye first through my camera lens as I was chasing a bee hovering by it!

Sunday, May 20, 2007
Dark Poppy

About a year and a half ago I found some beautiful dark poppies in Ventura. Yesterday we went to a Bonsai show at the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens. Along with a really cool grape and curly willow we found a single dark poppy. Of course I had to bring it home. I went a little crazy yesterday. In addition to the Bonsai sale, my wife found a bunch of Epiphyllum cuttings for sale. I think it's about time for a real back yard!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Ranaculus

I have always loved Ranaculus. The unbelievable number of petals makes for an infinite variety of patterns and photographic opportunities. This is the first variegated one I think I have seen.

Friday, May 11, 2007
Scentimental

This was taken the on the same hound walk as yesterday's rose. I used to have a Scentimental Rose when I lived in the desert, but I could not keep it alive through more than one summer of 130° temperatures even with an automated dripper.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Batik Bearded Iris

This Iris has not bloomed for years. It took us a while to get it settled in to our new back yard. This is the first blossom of what looks like will be a busy spring for it. The last time it bloomed, I got a great photo that was part of my first solo show at the Santa Barbara Public Library.

We are very happy to see it coming around, they are not the easiest things to find. For several years you could not buy them anywhere.

I always thought the little fuzzy area looked like a yellow caterpillar.

Sunday, March 4, 2007
Fourth of July Rose

We went trolling for tomato plants at all the local nurseries today. Guess it was a little too early for that. One of our favorite places (the place I shot this rose) was still using half of their outside plant area for a parking lot. Well, maybe next weekend!

Sunday, November 19, 2006
Double Kalanchoe

The nursery where we saw the Banana Plant the other day had lots of other interesting things. It was the first place I think I have ever seen a double Kalanchoe! We have several Kalanchoes and I really love they way they get covered in blooms, as soon as I saw this guy I grabbed him, I knew he was coming home with me.

He now has a nice spot where he gets a shaft of light in the afternoon through the glass door. That is when this shot was taken.

After watching a few flowers open it is interesting to see that the blooms change color with age. (there are actually quite a few other flowers that do this too.) They start out darker, almost red and fade to a beautiful orange that looks similar to our Sun Star Only a few of the flowers are variegated like this one. I would estimate there are about 300 flowers on the plant and it is only in a four inch pot.

Thursday, November 16, 2006
Flaming Boquet

I recently took a similar photo of this Canna. But, this time the light was just a little bit different. I can only assume that these guys are called Lucifer Cannas because they look like fire when they bloom. And the evening sun only enhanced the effect!

Thursday, October 5, 2006
Backyard Blossoms

This is a plant that my mom sent me many years ago ('bout 9) as just a root in a package. It has survived the heat of the desert in Palm Springs and living for five years on a small patio. It is finally really happy. It has a spot that it loves and an automated dripper. And every time it explodes like this I think of my mom!

This photo looks a bit like a watercolor to me. Especially the out of focus plants in the background.

Friday, September 22, 2006
Rebel Cyclamen

A few months ago we put some new plants in near our front door. Among them were a few white Cyclamen and one purple one. The Purple one was right next to this white plant but it did not seem to do so well. There is not much left of it above ground But it has managed to make it's presence known. (they are tubers, so hopefully it is still down there)

These plants are interesting and beautiful anyway. The flower is actually pointing down and the petals turn around and point up. (called "reflexed petals") But this little addition has made this one of the more interesting plants in the front yard at the moment!

Sunday, April 30, 2006
Nun Bee

The sun came out today!!! Not something that would normally be such a surprise in California, but this year you have to take it one day at a time.

In honor of our beautiful sunny day we decided to take a bit of a rose garden tour. We went to the Mission rose garden and the rose garden at Fess Parker's Resort on Cabrillo.

This was one of my favorite roses of the day. I was actually taking pictures of it before the bee flew into the picture. She was quite the ham! She hovered all around in front of the rose for me.

Thursday, April 27, 2006
Minerature Rose XCU

I've been experimenting with studio lighting. Until recently most of my photos have been available or natural light.

This is a miniature rose, the flower is about an inch and a half across. Which explains why the water drops look so big.

Thursday, March 16, 2006
Variegated Mandevilla

There's more rainy weather comin'! I like the rain. :-D

This was taken last week during a rainstorm. This is another vine we got to attract butterflies along with our Passion Flower. Incidentally, the tendrils in that passion flower photo are actually wrapped around this Mandevilla plant. My botanist (my lovely wife) tells me that some plants bloom like crazy when they feel threatened. Makes sense, the kids can carry on the species. And that explains all the beautiful blossoms on this plant!

The other interesting thing is this plant had solid pink flowers last year. I like the stripes!

Sunday, January 8, 2006
Freckled Orchid

I like the orderly way these orchids are growing. It almost looks like the two in back were done with Photoshop.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Wedding Roses

I was still getting used to this camera (Canon 20D) so these are a little brighter than I had intended. Still, I like the effect. And, these are special for another reason. On Saturday I will experience the indescribable pleasure of marrying my best friend, and these are the roses we picked to celebrate the occasion!

(I think it's particularly fitting that the name of these roses means "Sweet Life" in Italian.)