Poking up from the ground

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Poking up from the ground

February 20, 2018 by Mike Powell

Yesterday I took a break from bird photography and visited Green Spring Gardens, a county-run historic garden, with a macro lens on my camera rather than my long telephoto zoom lens. It is still a bit early for most flowers, so I was happy to spot these little purple flowers that had pushed their way to the surface. I think they may be crocuses, though I really don’t know flowers very well.

I got really low to get an interesting background and almost got stepped on by a runner—maybe it’s best not to wear a camouflage jacket when lying on the ground.

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Winter | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, crocus, green spring gardens, purple buds, purple flower, signs of spring, Tamron 180mm | 17 Comments

17 Responses

on February 20, 2018 at 5:29 am | Reply Dina

It was worth the effort, Mike. Such a lovely capture!
- on February 20, 2018 at 6:46 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Dina. I’m never afraid of getting dirty or wet when I am out with my camera. I think that it is really fun to try to get unusual perspectives or to better control the background by choosing a different angle from which to shoot.
on February 20, 2018 at 8:23 am | Reply Dan Antion

Great photo, Mike. Maybe you need to carry a couple of road cones with you for those prone shots.
- on February 20, 2018 at 8:51 am | Reply shoreacres
  
  I know someone who claims to do that to keep people out of streets while they take their photos. Whether they’re joking, I can’t say, but they have some wonderful shots of photos with empty streets and no people — hard to achieve under normal circumstances!
  - on February 20, 2018 at 11:54 am Dan Antion
    
    Ha!
on February 20, 2018 at 8:51 am | Reply shoreacres

Beautiful, Mike. And those white stems are interesting. They remind me of white asparagus. I wonder if they turn green as they’re exposed to light.
on February 20, 2018 at 9:03 am | Reply Jodi

Oh I adore this shot! The colors – the composition!! Oh I am SWOONING!
- on February 21, 2018 at 5:41 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Jodi. Somehow I had anticipated that you would like this shot. 🙂
  - on February 21, 2018 at 6:03 pm Jodi
    
    I had to look at it again. I LOVE it! 🙂 Do you recall the camera settings?
  - on February 21, 2018 at 7:01 pm Mike Powell
    
    I checked the settings in the EXIF image data and I shot it with my Canon 50D and Tamron 180mm macro lens with settings of ISO at 800, f/9, and 1/200 second.
  - on February 21, 2018 at 7:05 pm Jodi
    
    Thank you for sharing!
on February 20, 2018 at 4:11 pm | Reply svtakeiteasy

Beautiful little crocuses Mike. Really like the low take and colours!
- on February 21, 2018 at 5:40 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Chris. The crocuses are growing out of a combination of dirt and mulch, which doesn’t make for a very photogenic backdrop, which is one of the reasons why I decided to shoot from such a low angle and get something else in the background.
  - on February 21, 2018 at 9:53 pm svtakeiteasy
    
    Well it is effective!
on February 20, 2018 at 4:52 pm | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

Those are crocuses for sure, and it’s great to see them.
- on February 21, 2018 at 5:38 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  We’ve had temperatures in the upper 70’s the last two days and I suspect that more crocuses have popped up.
  - on February 21, 2018 at 7:26 pm New Hampshire Garden Solutions
    
    I hope so!