Abstract cattails

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Abstract cattails

February 23, 2013 by Mike Powell

I tend to look at cattails primarily as a place for interesting birds and insects to perch, but earlier this month I was really struck by the beauty, texture, colors, and lines of the cattails themselves.

How do you capture the uniqueness of the cattails? Here are the results of a couple of different approaches that I used to try to respond to that question.

Posted in Art, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Winter | Tagged Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, cattail, cattails, Huntley Meadows Park, marsh | 9 Comments

9 Responses

on February 23, 2013 at 12:58 am | Reply v4vikey

Beautiful………
- on February 23, 2013 at 1:26 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks.
on February 23, 2013 at 6:28 am | Reply nrlymrtl

I love playing with cattails, and I am in my 30s. They are very soft, and puff loose their seeds when rubbed a certain way by my thumb. It’s kiddish, but I love setting all those seeds free and watch them blow around.
- on February 23, 2013 at 7:19 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I’m all for that kind of play–I usually do the same with dandelions.
on February 23, 2013 at 7:48 am | Reply New Hampshire Gardener

Nice shots of a very important plant.
on February 23, 2013 at 8:31 am | Reply Vicki

they are beautiful..
- on February 23, 2013 at 8:33 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Vicki. They are different from my usual subjects, but every now and then I’ll photograph whatever catches my eye at a particular moment.
  - on February 23, 2013 at 8:39 am Vicki
    
    I always think that things that catch the eye are meant to be photographed by the person they catch. 🙂
on February 23, 2013 at 11:26 pm | Reply lylekrahn

I think cattails are beautiful – that first photo is great. It reminds me of one winter hike with our family when we discovered that hitting them with a stick caused them to explode and send pieces flying everywhere. I ended up with a great photo of my daughter just covered with fuzz.