Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Asiatic lily, Canon 50D, Canon 60mm, Cindy Dyer, lily, Runnymeade on June 10, 2020| 7 Comments »
It is lily season now in the garden of my neighbor and photography mentor Cindy Dyer. Here are a few photos that I took yesterday morning of some of the lilies blooming in her beautiful garden. It is always reassuring to know that I do not have to travel far to find colorful subjects to photograph—as a photographer and graphic designer, Cindy chooses flowers to plant that she know are photogenic.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Asiatic lily, Canon 50D, Canon 60mm, Cindy Dyer, lily, Runnymeade on May 30, 2020| 19 Comments »
The irises in the garden of my neighbor Cindy Dyer have mostly faded, but her lilies are starting to flower. I believe that this beauty is an Asiatic lily, the second lily bloom of the season in her garden with many more to follow.
I captured this image late one morning this week as the rain was beginning to taper off and the colors were wonderfully saturated. I also love the multiple raindrops on the flowers—these are a few of my favorite things.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Cindy Dyer, Kingstowne, lily, pink lily, rain, tomatoes on July 24, 2018| 6 Comments »
This past week we have had an amazing amount of rain. It has not been a single, prolonged storm, but instead has been a series of bands of heavy rain.
The rain slowed down a little yesterday morning, so I popped over to the garden of my neighbor and fellow photographer Cindy Dyer to see what was in bloom. My eye was immediately drawn to a gorgeous pinkish lily in her side garden and to some pear-shaped tomatoes on her front landing. The raindrops still glistening on both of the subjects seemed to add to their beauty and interest.
Thanks, Cindy for planting such photogenic species.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 24-105mm, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, day lily, daylily, lily on June 4, 2017| 8 Comments »
It is already June, but today I thought I would post an image of a striking May flower that I photographed late last month. Some of you know that I don’t have my own garden, though I am trying to grow some flowers in my yard this year. I generally have to rely on the garden of one of my neighbors, my photography mentor Cindy Dyer, for beautiful flowers to shoot.
I stopped by her house on the day when her first red day lily opened up. More of them are blooming now, but there is always something special about the first one. I love the rich red color of this particular variety of lily. When I was growing up in Massachusetts. my Mom had some orange tiger lilies that appeared each year that she especially loved. This lily, of course, is a different color, but somehow it brought back memories of my departed Mom.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, day lily, daylily, lily, Runnymeade, Tamron 180mm macro lens on July 13, 2015| 3 Comments »
My neighbor, fellow photographer Cindy Dyer, always has such cool-looking flowers in her garden, like these frilly day lilies. Somehow they remind me of the ruffled tux shirts that were in style in the 70’s when I was growing up.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, dragonfly, Hidden Pond Nature Center, Libellula incesta, lily, orange lily, Slaty Skimmer dragonfly, Springfield VA on June 28, 2013| 8 Comments »
My normal instinct is to move in really close to my subject, whether it is physical movement with my macro lens or virtual movement with my telephoto zoom, but when I saw this dragonfly, I consciously pulled back in order to bring more of the stalk of the lily into the image.
This is a new species of dragonfly for me and I think it is probably a Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta). I love the contrast between the dark blue color of the dragonfly’s body and the orange shade of the lily. This dragonfly’s muted colors give it a somewhat more sophisticated look that the more garishly colored Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) that I also photographed that day. (Check out my previous posting to see the contrast between the images of the two dragonflies in similar positions.)
In addition to the colors, I like the composition of the image and the water in the background blurred out pretty nicely too. In the next few weeks, I’ll be off trying to catch some shots of dragonflies on lotus flowers and waterlilies—it’s that time of the year again.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher dragonfly, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, dragonfly, Hidden Pond Nature Center, lily, orange lily, Pachydiplax longipennis, Springfield VA on June 26, 2013| 9 Comments »
I couldn’t believe my luck when this male Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) perched on one of the orange lilies at the edge of the pond.
The lily had not yet bloomed, making it a perfect place for the dragonfly to land, and I had positioned myself to take this shot, but I was a little doubtful that a dragonfly would cooperate.
The green of the background complements the blues of the dragonfly, but it is the orange that makes this image pop for me.
I am happy with the image.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, flowers, hibiscus, lily, rain, raindrops on July 22, 2012| 5 Comments »
It rained for most of today and was overcast the entire day. Late in the afternoon I decided to go out to a local garden to see what I could shoot. The light was less than optimal but I managed to photograph some flowers.
My favorite ones are of the red speckled lily (I don’t know its real name). I got really low and shot it against the backdrop of sky (which was white). The other flowers included two hibiscuses, another kind of lily, and two unidentified little purple flowers. I love the effect of raindrops on flowers and most of the shots I took include them.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
