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Shy or coy?

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, bonus bug, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, daisy, Runnymeade, Shasta daisy, Tamron 180mm macro lens on June 16, 2015| 3 Comments »

Shy or coy? Whatever the reason, this Shasta daisy seemed reluctant to reveal its whole self to the world and kept a row of petals raised like a fan to add protection and/or mystery.

Sharp-eyed viewers may note that this image has a “bonus bug,” i.e. an insect that you find when processing a photo that you didn’t notice when taking the shot. In this case there looks to be a tiny red insect on one of the white petals to the left of the tallest petal in the uppermost row of petals. (You may need to click on the photo to get a higher-resolution view.)

This is another photo that I took in my neighbor’s garden. Thanks, Cindy.

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Green bee in orange lily

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, daylily, genus Agapostemon, green metallic bee, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens on June 15, 2015| 10 Comments »

I don’t have a garden, but fortunately my neighbor and fellow photographer Cindy Dyer has a wonderful one. Earlier today I photographed this green metallic sweat bee (genus Agapostemon) coming out of one of her orange daylilies.

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Butterflies and milkweed

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Asclepias incarnata, Canon 50D, Great Spangled Fritillary, Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Speyeria cybele, swamp milkweed, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on June 14, 2015| 6 Comments »

Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) is now in bloom at my local marshland park and the Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies (Speyeria cybele) are loving it.

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Silver-spotted Skipper in June

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged brookside gardens, Canon 50D, Epargyreus clarus, Silver-spotted Skipper, Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Wheaton MD on June 14, 2015| 2 Comments »

A Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly (Epargyreus clarus) kept returning to these purple flowers yesterday at the edge of a small pond at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. I am not sure what kind of flower this is, but the Silver-spotted Skipper, the only skipper that I can reliably identify, really seemed to like it.

Some of my fellow photographers with whom I traveled to the gardens really enjoy photographing flowers—I seem to have reached a point at which I enjoy shooting flowers primarily as a beautiful backdrop for showcasing insects.

There are a lot of gardens in the Washington D.C. area that provide for wonderful photographic opportunities, many of which, like this one, have no admission fee. Although I really enjoy shooting at the marshland park that I feature here so often, it’s nice to venture out a little for a bit of variety.

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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My favorite moth

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Hemaris thysbe, Hummingbird Clearwing, Hummingbird Clearwing Moth, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on May 29, 2015| 12 Comments »

Earlier this week I caught a glimpse of my favorite moth, the spectacular Hummingbird Clearwing moth (Hemaris thysbe). Normally these little beauties hover at high speeds as they collect nectar, but this one kept perching on leafy plants, permitting me to capture its wings at rest. I wonder if the moth was laying eggs.

I am always fascinated by the names of species and found this interesting bit of information about this moth’s Latin name on the bugguide.net website. “Pyramus and Thisbe were lovers who died tragically. Pyramus found Thisbe’s blood-stained scarf, assumed she had been killed, and committed suicide with his sword. It seems likely the reference to the story of Thisbe is a reference to the rusty, somewhat blood-like coloration of this moth.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Pink columbine

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, spring, tagged Canon 50D, columbine, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Vienna VA on May 17, 2015| 7 Comments »

The intricate shape and delicate colors of this beautiful little flower simply captivated me yesterday at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia. (I think it is a kind of columbine flower.)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Alpine ant

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, ant, Canon 50D, columbine, green spring gardens, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 4, 2015| 11 Comments »

There were lots of flowers in bloom during a trip this past Friday to Green Spring Gardens, but not many insects. However, I did manage to find this intrepid ant testing his mountaineering skills as he climbed up and down the edges of a purple Columbine flower.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Columbine in May

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, columbine, genus Aquilegia, green spring gardens, Tamron 180mm macro lens on May 2, 2015| 4 Comments »

One of my favorite spring flowers is the Columbine (genus Aquilegia), whose name comes from the Latin for “dove,” because the inverted flower is said to resemble five doves clustered together. Columbines come in many colors and color combinations and I am always fascinated by the shapes and colors of this unusual-looking flower.

I photographed this beautiful little Columbine on the first day of May at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia, a county-run historical garden that is one of my favorite places for photographing flowers.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spring Beauty wildflowers

Posted in Flowers, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Claytonia virginica, Huntley Meadows Park, Spring Beauty, Spring Beauty wildflowers, Tamron 180mm macro lens on April 26, 2015| 4 Comments »

Tiny pink and white wildflowers carpeting the forest floor at this time of the year—how appropriate it is that they are actually called Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica).

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Woodland wildflower

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 180mm macro lens, violet, wildflower on April 24, 2015| 9 Comments »

What is the best way to capture the beauty of the fragile wildflowers that carpet the forest floors at this time of the year? Should I try to photograph a single flower? Should I move in even closer and focus on only part of the flower (or crop away part of the flower)? Should the images be realistic or abstract?

These were some of the thoughts that went through my head as I took these shots of what I think is a kind of wild violet. As some of you can readily tell, I was in another one of my “artsy” moods. In case you didn’t notice, the first and last shots are actually variations of the same image that I cropped differently. I just couldn’t decide which one I liked better, so I included them both.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Take time to smell the flowers

Posted in Flowers, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Reptiles, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Claytonia virginica, Coluber constrictor constrictor, Huntley Meadows Park, Northern Black Racer, Spring Beauty, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on April 22, 2015| 12 Comments »

The forest floor is carpeted with tiny wildflowers at this time of the year and even this large black snake seemed to be taking time to appreciate their beauty.

The little flowers are Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica) and I think the snake may be a Northern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor constrictor), though I must confess that I grow a bit confused when reading the descriptions about how to distinguish Black Racers from Eastern Ratsnakes.

Unlike an earlier shot this spring of another black snake, which I photographed with my telephoto zoom lens, I took this shot with my 180mm macro lens, getting as low as I could and as close as I dared.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Anticipation

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged abstract flower, Alexandria VA, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, tulip on April 16, 2015| 5 Comments »

When you think of a gorgeous tulip, do you have to see it flowering to recall its beauty, or does a mere hint of its future shape and color suffice?

This image is different from my “normal” style of images, which tend to emphasize a kind of detailed realism. It is an almost abstract look at this flower, emphasizing shapes and colors and lines, with a minimum of details. There is an “artsy” side of me that I consider to be underdeveloped. Every now and then that tendency comes to the surface and I’ll step out of my comfortable box and try something a bit different.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Raindrops on a Snowflake

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, Leucojum aestivum, raindrop, Runnymeade, Snowflake on April 14, 2015| 3 Comments »

Cindy Dyer, my mentor, is a source of constant encouragement and inspiration for me and also has a wonderful garden of photogenic flowers to photograph. I took this shot of a Snowflake flower (Leucojum aestivum) on a recent misty morning. The image is an homage to Cindy, because it is similar in style to one of her images that I really admire.

In many ways this photo is a companion to the image I posted a few days ago of raindrops on a snowdrop flower.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Raindrops on snowdrop

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, Galanthus, green spring gardens, raindrops, snowdrop on April 12, 2015| 9 Comments »

It’s showtime in the Washington D.C. area—the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. There is no denying their beauty, but somehow I am drawn even more to the simple beauty of modest flowers like this snowdrop (genus Galanthus) that I observed this past Friday. There was a light drizzle most of the day, which coated the unopened petals with beautiful crystal-like globes.

Simple beauty—I find it to be irresistible.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Not a butterfly

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, butterfly, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, flower, green spring gardens on April 11, 2015| 5 Comments »

During the spring our eyes are naturally drawn to signs of new life, but somehow yesterday it was the signs of the past that caught my attention. I was fascinated by the structure of the skeletonized remains of an unknown flower, whose beauty has long ago faded into a lace-like form that reminded me of a butterfly.

Beauty and fragility—an appropriate metaphor for our lives.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Finally a spring flower

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, crocus, Runnymeade, spring flowers on March 30, 2015| 7 Comments »

After a long winter wait, I am finally seeing a few spring flowers blooming in the gardens in my neighborhood. So far all I see are crocuses, but it looks like the daffodils will not be far behind. The weather is still erratic—I awoke to sub-freezing temperatures yesterday morning—but it is beginning to look like spring is here at last.

I took these crocus shots in the middle of the day on a windy, sunny afternoon. In the first image, I was trying to capture some of the beauty of the sunlight coming through the petals. In the second shot, I had the lens almost wide open and the really shallow depth of field helps to give a dreamy painterly quality to the image that I really like. The two images are very different, but I think they work especially well as a set.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Lady’s Slipper Orchid

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, Cypripedioideae, Lady's Slipper orchid, orchid, US Botanic Garden, Washington D.C. on March 29, 2015| 7 Comments »

All orchids are beautiful, but I am particularly fascinated by Lady’s Slipper orchids, which are characterized by a slipper-shaped pouch. The pouch traps insects that help to fertilize the flower as they climb up and out of the pouch. According to Wikipedia, the Lady’s Slipper orchids are in the orchid subfamily Cypripedioideae, though some apparently consider them to be their own family separate from the other orchids.

I took this shot last week in Washington D.C. at the US Botanic Garden. There were several rooms full of orchids of all kinds, including multiple species of Lady’s Slipper orchids—it was almost like being in heaven.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Madeira Cranesbill geranium

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Photography, spring, tagged Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, geranium, Geranium maderense, Madeira Cranesbill geranium, US Botanic Garden, Washington D.C. on March 28, 2015| 10 Comments »

The weather has not been very cooperative and outdoors there are not yet many flowers blooming. Yesterday I went to the US Botanic Garden in Washington D.C. to get my “fix” of flowers in a more temperate setting. Among the many beautiful flowers that I observed was this Madeira Cranesbill geranium (Geranium maderense).

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Water lily stamps debut in Ohio on March 20

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Water Lilies, tagged Cindy Dyer, US postage stamps on March 28, 2015| 3 Comments »

Imagine what it would be like to have a half billion miniature copies of some your images making their way across the country in the form of postage stamps. Last week I was thrilled to travel to Cleveland, Ohio with my mentor and friend, Cindy Dyer and her husband for the first day ceremony for the Water Lily stamps that feature four of her photos.

Cindy Dyer's Blog

Last week my water lily FOREVER stamps were unveiled at the Garfield-Perry March Stamp Show in Cleveland, Ohio. First photo: digital postmark first day covers and booklet of stamps; second photo: autographed program and cancelled stamps from First Day Ceremony: autographed by Jay Bigalke, American Philatelic Society, Editor of The American Philatelist; Paul Davis from U.S. Postal Service, who sang the National Anthem; Harold Chapman, President of the Garfield-Perry Stamp Club, who gave the welcome; remarks by Cynthia Druckenbord, Vice President of the Cleveland Botanical Garden; (then me!); and then Melvin J. Anderson, U.S. Postal Service Northern Ohio District Manager, and I got to unveil a giant poster with the water lily stamps (Third photo, shot by my dear friend Michael Powell).

The water lily stamps are available in booklet form at post offices across the U.S. You can also order them online.

Stamps in…

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The long and winding road

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, spring, tagged ant, Branta canadensis, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, passion flower, tendril, US Botanic Garden, Washington D.C. on March 28, 2015| 13 Comments »

I’m so desperate for the weather to warm up more and for insects to emerge that I got really excited when one of my fellow photographers spotted a small ant on one of the tendrils of a passion flower vine yesterday at the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC.

The ant seemed determined to follow the long and winding road.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Orchid in Ohio

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, Columbus Ohio, Franklin Park Conservatory, Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Ohio, orchid on March 24, 2015| 7 Comments »

One of the many highlights of my trip this past weekend to Ohio was a visit to the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Columbus, where I was able to observe butterflies and orchids in a wonderful indoor setting.

I am still going through a backlog of photos, but this gorgeous pink orchid is one of my initial favorites. It was great to have macro lens back in my hands after a winter in which it mostly stayed on the shelf.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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First sign of spring

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon 50D, flower, Runnymeade, signs of spring on March 8, 2015| 15 Comments »

I can’t identify this tiny flowering plant, but it is blooming now in the garden of one of my neighbors. Despite the large mounds of snow throughout my townhouse neighborhood, I can’t help but hope and believe that spring is not far away.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cardinal and rose hips

Posted in Birds, Flowers, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cardinalis cardinalis, Huntley Meadows Park, male Northern Cardinal, Northern cardinal, Rosa palustris, rose hips, swamp rose, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on February 9, 2015| 9 Comments »

I have been told that rose hips are an excellent source of Vitamin C. They don’t seem to be the favorite food of the birds in my local marsh, however, and there are lots of the rose hips still around in mid-February. Northern Cardinals, though, will sometimes smash them against the railing of the boardwalk in order to get to the seeds inside, leaving behind a trail of discarded outer skins.

This past weekend, I watched a male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) patiently extract the seeds from a small pile of rose hips. There were plenty more available, but he seemed content to snack on only a few of them—maybe their taste is too strong or acidic to consume a large quantity of them.

I believe that these rose hips are from Swamp Roses (Rosa palustris), which covered parts of the marsh during the summer and were amazingly fragrant.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Bee

Posted in Autumn, Flowers, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, genus Agapostemon, green metallic bee, Huntley Meadows Park, sweat bee, Tamron 180mm macro lens, Teenage Mutant Ninja Bee, Teenage Mutuant Ninja Turtle on October 27, 2014| 14 Comments »

The calendar indicates that we are well into autumn, but this metallic green sweat bee (genus Agapostemon) that I observed on Friday at Huntley Meadows Park was busily gathering pollen as though it were spring. With eyes that look like a mask, it looks like he decided to dress us as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle for Halloween.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Bee

Teenage Mutant Ninja Bee

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Nectar robber

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, bee, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, honey bee, honeybee, nectar robber, nectar robbing, salvia, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 11, 2014| 9 Comments »

Flowers and bees have a mutualistic relationship—the flower provides the nectar and the bee assists in pollination. Sometimes, though, bees will circumvent the process by drilling a hole in the side of the flower and gaining access to the nectar without touching the reproductive parts of the flower, a process sometimes called “nectar robbing.”

Last weekend, I encountered this bee, which looks to be a honeybee, repeatedly taking nectar from the side of a Salvia flower. In an earlier posting, I showed that it was a tight fit for a bumblebee to enter the flower from the front, but it nonetheless did its part in pollination. The honeybee apparently decided it was easier to take a shortcut and go directly to the nectar.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Skipper in October

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, Peck's Skipper, Polites peckius, skipper, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 10, 2014| 9 Comments »

It’s a gray and gloomy day with intermittent rain—I feed the need for some color. This little skipper butterfly was busily at work last week on some very colorful flowers and I was able to catch him in action with his proboscis extended.

I am not sure what kind of skipper this is (there are more than 3500 species of skippers worldwide), but it looks a little like one that a reader identified for me as a Peck’s Skipper (Polites peckius). I must confess, though, that many skippers look very similar to me, so my identification is very tentative.

Capturing the butterfly with my macro lens was not too much of a problem, but I had a real problem in processing these shots because of some super bright highlights coming of the yellow flowers. I ended up darkening the highlights and desaturating the color in order to restore some detail to those flowers. I am not sure if I am happy with the results and might choose to process them differently another time. (The RAW images are still intact.)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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October bee

Posted in Art, Autumn, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, bee, bumblebee, Canon 50D, green spring gardens, purple flower, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 6, 2014| 8 Comments »

Although it is already October and the weather is getting cooler, the local bees have not yet called it quits for the season. I am not sure what kind of purple flower this is, but the bumblebee was busily burrowing its head into its open blossoms.

I was happy to be able to catch the bee in action, capturing an “artsy” image of the moment.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fall bumblebee

Posted in Autumn, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, bumblebee, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens on October 1, 2014| 4 Comments »

With rain and gray skies that started today, I feel the need to compensate with some bright colors, so I thought I’d post an image from this past weekend. I love the way that it looks like this bumblebee is clinging to a rolling red ball, which, of course, is merely the center of a flower in the garden of my neighbor and fellow photographer Cindy Dyer.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Extraordinary

Posted in Art, Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, cabbage, Cabbage White, Cameron Run, Canon 50D, extraordinary, ordinary, Pieris rapae, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 21, 2014| 1 Comment »

There is perhaps nothing more ordinary than this, a simple Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) on a small white flower (which is possibly a weed), but the ordinary can be extraordinarily beautiful.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Changing light

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, butterfly, Canon 50D, Great Spangled Fritillary, Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Speyeria cybele, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 15, 2014| 10 Comments »

As this Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly (Speyeria cybele) moved about on a flower, the light hit it in different ways, beautifully illuminating its colorful wings.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Late summer bee

Posted in Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, bee, Canon 50D, Huntley Meadows Park, pollen, Tamron 180mm macro lens on September 13, 2014| 16 Comments »

During these last few days of summer, the bees seem especially busy. I love the sight of bees covered in pollen, especially unusual ones like this striped bee (I think it is a bee, but would welcome corrections to my identification).

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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