Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, gladiolas, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm on July 26, 2016| 1 Comment »
When the temperature is 96 degrees outside (about 36 degrees C), it’s hard to have the energy to go far with my camera. Fortunately, my neighbor, fellow photographer Cindy Dyer, has an awesome garden. I was glad to be able to capture this shot of some gladiolas that were blooming there this past weekend.
Thanks, Cindy.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 24-105mm, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, daylily, Runnymeade on July 17, 2016| 3 Comments »
I absolutely love the vibrant colors of the daylilies in the garden of my neighbor, Cindy Dyer. Cindy is best known for her photos of flowers that have appeared multiple times on U.S. postage stamps, but she photographs a wide variety of subjects. On a more personal level, she has served as my photography mentor over the past four years and has been a constant source of encouragement and inspiration for me.
As I was capturing some images of the daylilies, I thought back to one of my earliest lessons with Cindy in which she reassured me that I didn’t have to capture the entire flower when I photographed it. That simple insight helped me realize that I was doing something more than simply documenting reality—I was creating my own version of reality through a series of artistic and technical choices.
I learned a powerful and liberating lesson that day that has continued to shape the way I approach most of my photography.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Inspiration, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 24-105mm, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, daisy, Runnymeade, Shasta daisy, young love on July 17, 2016| 2 Comments »
Do your remember what it was like to be young and in love? You and your beloved couldn’t beat to be separated—you were always together, always close, always touching, like these two Shasta Daisies growing in the garden of my neighbor and fellow photographer Cindy Dyer.
As I was looking for information about the Shasta Daisy, I came across this fascinating information on the history on the flower at lutherburbank.org:
“2001 marked the 100th anniversary of Luther Burbank’s introduction of the Shasta daisy, one of America’s most beloved garden flowers. Burbank spent 17 years developing this quadruple hybrid which he named after Mt. Shasta. Others have continued Burbank’s work and many new varieties of the Shasta daisy have been introduced since Burbank completed his work more than 100 years ago.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Cabbage White, Cabbage White butterfly, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Pieris rapae, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm on July 13, 2016| 11 Comments »
How far do you usually travel when you want to take some photos? I capture a lot of my wildlife/nature images in my local area, but generally I get into my car and travel at least a few miles before I begin shooting.
Sometimes, though, I feel the urge to shoot, but don’t really want to travel far. In those moments I will usually walk over to the townhouse of my neighbor, fellow photographer Cindy Dyer, who always seems to have an assortment of photogenic flowers in bloom.
Last week I chased a Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) that I spotted fluttering about the flowers in garden. It passed by the globe thistles and the cone flowers and finally perched for a moment on a lavender plant. The sun was shining brightly, which I knew would create problems in getting a proper exposure of the dazzling white wings of the butterfly. I switched my metering to spot metering and the wings retained their details, but the background became really dark, creating a dramatic lighting effect that I really like. As always, I was thrilled to be able to see the beautiful green eye of this common butterfly that is often ignored or simply taken for granted.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 24-105mm, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, iris, purple iris, Runnymeade on May 10, 2016| 8 Comments »
The past two weeks have been filled with intermittent rain and constant clouds, so I have not been able to chase dragonflies as I like to do at this time of year. The rain has been good for the flowers, however, and the garden of my photography mentor and neighbor Cindy Dyer is now full of beautiful bearded irises. Yesterday I attempted to capture some of the beauty of the purple ones in different stages of development. I particularly like the way the first image turned out, where the blurry image in the background gives a foretaste of the beauty that is to come when the bud opens up.
Speaking of Cindy Dyer, I was thrilled recently when I learned that another of her images will appear as a United States Postal Service (USPS) stamp. Her image of Sacred Lotuses at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens will be part of a 16-stamp series celebrating the centennial of the National Park Service. The series will be officially unveiled in New York City on June 2. Check out this announcement from the USPS for more information and to see her beautiful image.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Cat, Photography, Portraits, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 24-105mm lens, Canon 50D, cat, Cindy Dyer, Queso, Runnymeade on February 22, 2016| 12 Comments »
My long weekend of catsitting is coming to an end today, so I decided I needed to do a posting on Queso, the youngest member of the cat trio. Queso is still a kitten and is full of energy and curiosity. He loves to antagonize his two older “brothers” and will sometimes pounce on them when they least expect it.
Cindy Dyer and her husband Michael rescued Queso when they found him abandoned in the bushes outside of a Mexican restaurant. That initial experience and his orange-yellow fur caused them to name him Queso.
Tomorrow (or possibly later today), I’ll be back to my more typical wildlife and nature photos. It’s been a fun challenge this past weekend to shoot “wild” animals in an indoor setting with available light.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in animals, Cat, Photography, Portraits, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 24-105mm lens, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Lobo, Runnymeade on February 21, 2016| 6 Comments »
Lobo is another one of the cats that I am watching this weekend. He and Pixel, the cat that I featured previously, were adopted at the same time. According to my friend Cindy Dyer, she wanted to name him “JPEG,” but her husband protested, so they settled on the name “Lobo.”
Lobo has always seemed exotic and mysterious to me, with piercing eyes that look like they could hypnotize me if I stare into them too long.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Cat, Photography, Portraits, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 24-105mm, Canon 50D, cat, Cindy Dyer, Pixel, Runnymeade on February 21, 2016| 11 Comments »
I am catsitting for the weekend, which means that I have three new subjects to photograph. The cats all have distinctive personalities, so I decided to post photos of them separately.
Only a photographer and graphic designer like my dear friend and mentor Cindy Dyer would name a cat “Pixel.” Of the three cats, Pixel is generally the most sedentary. He loves to sprawl out on the carpet when he is not eating. He loves to ear and was starting to turn into a Mega-Pixel before he was put on a diet.
Here are a few shots of Pixel from yesterday that capture some of his different moods. I took them indoors using available light with my Canon 24-105mm lens, a lens that I rarely use when photographing wildlife.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
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.
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.
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.
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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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.
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Cindy Dyer, ferns, stamps, US Postal Service, USPS on January 31, 2014| 3 Comments »
What’s the coolest thing that could happen to you as a photographer? All of us would like greater exposure and I was thrilled on Monday when I learned that my dear friend and photography mentor Cindy Dyer had five of her fern photos issued as stamps by the US Postal Service. They are being issued in coils of 3,000 and 10,000 stamps with a total printing of 95 million stamps. Wow! That’s broad exposure.
Check out her blog to see some of her amazing photos. Her teaching, support, and inspiration have played (and continue to play) a huge role in my evolution and development as a photographer.
Yesterday, after more than a year in the making, my series of USPS-licensed fern photographs were released as 49 cent stamps in large coil format for business use. Special thanks to art director Phil Jordan for being so great to work with on the series! I’ll be back with more details on how we can POSSIBLY get a smaller amount than the issued 3,000 and 10,000 quantity rolls!
Read more about the stamps here: http://uspsstamps.com/stamps/ferns
Order a first-day-of-issue set within 60 days here:
http://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2014/pb22381/html/info_013.htm
Mike Powell 