Posted in Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, plants, spring, tagged Canon 7D, ferns, fiddlehead, fiddlehead ferns, Prince William Forest Park, Tamron 18-400mm, Triangle VA on April 22, 2024| 2 Comments »
I love the spiral shape of fiddleheads, the furled fronds of fledging ferns, like these ones that I spotted last week at Prince William Forest Park. I have been told that fiddleheads are quite tasty when sautéed with garlic, olive oil, and lemon, but I have not yet tasted a fiddlehead.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Landscape, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Canon 24-105mm, Canon 50D, ferns, fiddlehead, Prince William County VA, Tamron 180mm on April 15, 2021| 18 Comments »
I am always attracted to the beautiful forms of a fiddlehead as it gradually unfurls from a tightly coiled spiral into a full-fledged fern frond. I have no idea if the process takes days or weeks, but but it was amazing to see the various stages of development of the fiddleheads that I have spotted during recent forays into a forest in Prince William County, Virginia.
The first two photos make it pretty obvious that the fiddlehead resembles the curled ornamentation (technically called a “scroll”) on the end of a stringed instrument, such as a violin that are traditionally carved in the shape of a volute (a rolled-up spiral). As I was poking about on the internet, I also learned that the fiddlehead stage of a fern is sometimes known as a crozier, the term used for the hooked staff carried by a bishop as a symbol of pastoral office.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in abstract, Art, Flowers, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Canon 50D, ferns, fiddlehead, Prince William County VA, spiral, Tamron 180mm on April 17, 2020| 20 Comments »
I love the beautiful curves a fiddlehead forms as it gradually unfurls into a full-fledged fern frond. I have no idea how long this entire process takes, but it was amazing to see the various stages of development of the many fiddleheads that I spotted on Tuesday while exploring in Prince William County.
The clouds in the sky and the unseasonably cold temperatures seemed to have prompted all of the dragonflies to remain in secluded spots and I did not spot a single one that day.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in abstract, Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, ferns, fiddlehead, Gary Bolstad, Māori, new zealand, Prince William County VA, Tamron 180mm on April 3, 2020| 14 Comments »
Nature is full of wonderful shapes, like the spiral of this curled-up fern—at this stage it is know as a fiddlehead—that I spotted on Monday while exploring in Prince William County. A few days afterwards, Gary Bolstad published a photo of a fiddlehead in New Zealand in his blog krikitarts.wordpress.com. Gary is an amazing photographer and you should really check out his wonderful blog.
In replying to a comment I made about his posting, Gary explained that “The Māori name for a fiddlehead is Koru, and the spiral shape is an essential part of their culture and probably the most common shape used in the design of their carved greenstone (jade) jewelry. It can represent creation, perpetual movement, return to a point of origin, equilibrium/harmony in life, and new life.”
I think we could all use more equilibrium and harmony in our lives during these unsettling times.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in abstract, Art, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Canon 50D, ferns, grass, lily pads, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 180mm, Woodbridge VA on August 24, 2018| 9 Comments »
Sometimes when I have my camera in my hands, my attention is drawn to the amazing shapes, colors, and pattern of the natural world—I don’t need a specific animate subject to shoot. Here are a few of my more abstract shots from Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
Even though I may not have had a main subject, in the traditional sense,I wouldn’t say that I was photographing nothing—au contraire, I was photographing everything.
© 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 