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Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Photography, spring, tagged Arisaema sikokianum, Canon 7D, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on April 22, 2023| 13 Comments »

What is the most unusual-looking flower that you have ever seen? For me, it would probably be the Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema sikokianum). There is something so alien and exotic about this plant that it stopped me in my tracks when I first spotted it last year in early May at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia. Check out my posting from last year if you would like more details of my first encounter with this plant species.

On Thursday I made a trip the botanical gardens with my friend and photography mentor Cindy Dyer. She was interested in photographing the tulips, peonies, and other flowers, but I made a beeline for the area where I had seen the Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit last year. Initially I could not find any, but I asked several of the folks working in the garden beds and one of the walked me to an area where there were two plants that were well past their prime.

As we were talking, another gardener overheard us and noted that she had spotted one further up the trail earlier in the week. I walked really slowly and looked carefully and eventually found the correct spot—there was one wilted Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit and one in bloom. The two photos below give you a sense of the beauty of this unusual plant. As you can probably tell, I varied the settings on my camera to give a different feel to each of the images. Although the first image provides a clearer view of the entire plant, I really like the moody feel of the second shot.

The Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit is closely related to the Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), which is supposed to be common to the eastern United States, though I have never seen one. The American species looks fairly similar to the Japanese variant, but the spadix, the part that is the “Jack” in the name, is darker in color and the pitcher more closely matches the leaves. If you want to see a beautiful photo of a Jack-in-the-Pulpit growing wild in New England, check out this blog posting by fellow photographer Steve Gingold.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Kneel and lean

Posted in Arachnids, Flowers, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, tagged Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Snowflake, spider, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on May 13, 2022| 9 Comments »

Do you worry about how you look when you are taking a photograph? Most of the time I am by myself in remote locations, so I don’t feel at all self-conscious when I kneel and lean or even sprawl onto the ground in order to get a better angle for a shot. Recently, though, I was at Meadowlark Botanical Garden, a relatively crowded public space, with some friends and one of them, my photography mentor Cindy Dyer, photographed me in action.

You probably cannot help but notice my brightly colored sneakers. Since I retired, I have developed a fondness for Chuck Taylor Converse All Star sneakers and have pairs that are aqua, orange, and blue, in addition to the hightop coral ones in the photos. Did you notice that I was using a monopod for additional stability for the macro shot that I was taking? I was also leaning my elbow onto my knee to steady my shot.

What was I shooting? I was photographing a tiny spider on the side of a snowflake flower that is barely visible in the foreground of the photos. I reprised the photo of the spider that I originally included in a posting entitled Spider on snowflake to give you a sense of the distance that I was from the subject. One of the real benefits of the 180mm macro lens is that it lets me get close-up shots without having to be be on top of the subject, as would be necessary with my 60mm macro lens or even my 100mm macro lens.

In case you are curious, I tend to wear more subdued footgear when I am out in the wild. Many of my subjects are probably colorblind, so they would not be mindful of my bright shoes—I am more worried about covering them with mud and dirt, which I seem unable to avoid when I am trekking about in nature.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bees and Phlox

Posted in Bees, Flowers, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged bees, Canon 50D, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, phlox, pollen, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on May 7, 2022| 8 Comments »

It did not seem like there was much pollen inside of each little phlox flower, but bees were busily collecting it when I spotted several of them last Saturday at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia. I love the way that some bees, including honeybees, collect pollen in little pouches on their back legs. When the pickings are really good, I have seen those pouches, which technically are called corbiculae, so full and bulging that they seem ready to burst—that was not the case this early in the spring, when not very many flowers were in bloom.

I was pleasantly surprised when I managed to capture a bee in flight in the second photo below as it surveyed the phlox flowers and planned its next assault. My 180mm macro lens is notoriously slow to acquire focus, so I rarely try to use it to try to capture moving subjects. The lens also is so noisy when focusing that one of my friends calls it “The Grinder.” Nonetheless, my trusty Tamron lens is my constant companion during the warm months and it is the one I use most often for my insects and other macro shots.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Arisaema sikokianum, Canon 50D, Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on May 6, 2022| 16 Comments »

Some of the coolest looking plants that I saw last Saturday at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens were Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit flowers (Arisaema sikokianum). There is something so alien and exotic about this plant that it stopped me in my tracks when I first spotted it.

According to the Plant Delights Nursery, Inc. website, the dark pitcher and two five-lobed leaves of this plant emerge on a 12 inch tall (30 cm) fleshy stalk from an underground tuber in early spring. As the pitcher opens, it reveals a swollen, pure white, protruding spadix that provides a dramatic contrast to the purple of the pitcher.

The Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit is closely related to the Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), which, according to Wikipedia, is common to the eastern United States. I checked the range map and the Jack-in-the-Pulpit can be found in Virginia where I live, though I have not yet spotted one. When I looked at photos of the American species, it looks fairly similar to the Japanese variant, but the spadix, the part that is the “Jack” in the name, is darker in color and the pitcher more closely matches the leaves. Check out this blog posting by Steve Gingold to see a beautiful photo of a Jack-in-the-Pulpit growing wild in his area of New England.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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White Bleeding Hearts

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Bleeding Hearts, Canon 50D, Dicentra spectabilis alba, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA, white Bleeding Hearts on May 5, 2022| 15 Comments »

I am a bit of a romantic, so my eyes are immediately drawn to the heart-shaped blooms of Bleeding Heart flowers whenever they are present in a springtime garden. Most of the time they are reddish in color, as their name suggests, but they also come in other colors. I spotted these beautiful White Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra spectabilis alba) last Saturday at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens.

I was fortunate to be able to get close enough for the first photo to be able to focus on the delicate shape of a single flower. Somehow the little wings on the hearts make me think of angels or maybe the little cherubs that we associate with Valentine’s Day. The second image gives you an idea of the way that these flowers grow in rows, suspended from tiny filaments from a stalk, twisting and turning in the wind.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Barn Swallow in flight

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Barn Swallow, birds in flight, Canon 50D, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Progne subis, Purple Martin, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on May 4, 2022| 11 Comments »

A speedy little Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) was perched on a paved path at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens last Saturday and I captured this first image as it was taking off. The shot is a little blurry, but I love the the really cool shadow that the swallow was casting onto the ground. The second image shows the same swallow just before it took off and give you a better view of the coloration and markings of a Barn Swallow.

When I first spotted the birds in the final photo, I thought they might also be Barn Swallows, but when I took a closer look and did a little research, I determined that the bird on the outside of the nest was a male Purple Martin (Progne subis) and the one with her head poking out was a female Purple Martin. As far as I can recall, this is the first time that I have photographed this bird species, which is the largest swallow in our area.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spring columbines

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Canon 50D, columbine, columbine flowers, genus Aquilegia, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Strawberry Ice Cream, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on May 3, 2022| 6 Comments »

I love the shape and colors of columbine flowers that appear in many of the gardens that I visit during the spring. According to Wikipedia, the genus name for these flowers Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle (aquila), because of the shape of the flower petals that are said to resemble an eagle’s claw. The common name “columbine” comes from the Latin for “dove”, due to the resemblance of the inverted flower to five doves clustered together.

I spotted several spectacular columbines during a visit to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia last Saturday. The purple columbine was in the middle of a flower bed and I could not get very close to it. I was really happy though that I had to shoot from a longer distance away than normally, because I able to capture some of the shadowy shapes of the ferns in the background.

I did manage to get quite a bit closer to the pretty pink columbine. I smiled when I saw a marker that indicated that this variety is called “Strawberry Ice Cream.” I now have an overwhelming urge to buy some strawberry ice, one of the many ice cream flavors that I love.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spider on snowflake

Posted in Arachnids, Flowers, Gardening, Macro Photography, Photography, spiders, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Leucojum vernum, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Snowflake, Spring Snowflake, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on May 2, 2022| 7 Comments »

As we were photographing some Spring Snowflake flowers (Leucojum vernum) on Saturday at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, my dear friend and photography mentor Cindy Dyer noticed what looked like a spider’s leg on the side of one of the flowers and asked me to go around to the other side of the flower to investigate.

Sharp-eyed Cindy was right—I spotted this tiny spider clinging to the side of the snowflake and was delighted that I was able to capture this image of it.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Impressions of Autumn

Posted in abstract, Autumn, Landscape, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, goldenrod, lotus, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, reflections, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA, water lily on October 6, 2021| 19 Comments »

In Northern Virginia, where I live, we generally do not have the spectacular changes in the colors of the autumn foliage that I experienced while growing up in New England, Instead, the leaves often seem to fade gradually from green to brown before they fall off of the trees and are trampled underfoot. I love the reds and yellows of the autumn and am constantly on the alert for patches of these bright colors.

This past Saturday during a visit to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens with some friends, I was very conscious of the transitioning seasons and I tried to capture my impressions in some of my photos. The first image has an almost impressionist feel to it, caused largely by the ripples on the surface of the pond. Although the colors may be the traditional ones of autumn, I believe that almost all of the yellow was a reflection of the goldenrod plants that were blooming in abundance.

The second image is a bit more moody, though you can still see some of the autumn colors reflected in the dark waters, where lotuses and lilies were blooming earlier in the season. The final shot showcases the heart-shaped leaf of a lotus plant that is well past its prime. I was really taken by the way that the light shining through the leaf from behind highlighted its veiny structure. The deterioration of the leaf gives this image a tinge of sadness, a poignant reminder of the inexorable passage of time and the inevitable changes that it brings—nothing in nature lasts forever.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Variegated Fritillary butterfly

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Euptoieta claudia, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Tamron 180mm, Variegated Fritillary, Variegated Fritillary butterfly, Vienna VA on October 5, 2021| 8 Comments »

This past Saturday I visited Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in nearby Vienna, Virginia with several photographer friends and was pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of flowers are still in bloom. Those flowers kept the bees busy as well as an assortment of small butterflies, including this Variegated Fritillary butterfly (Euptoieta claudia).

This is a species that I do not see very often, so I was happy to capture a mostly unobstructed shot of it when it opened its wings—I am more used to seeing the somewhat similar Great Spangled Fritillary.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Inner peace

Posted in Art, Flowers, Inspiration, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA, water lily, waterlily on July 6, 2020| 23 Comments »

Wishing you all a sense of inner peace as you begin a new week, something that we all need during these troubled times. That was definitely the feeling that enveloped me as I contemplated this beautiful water lily last Thursday at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens during a short photography expedition there with my friend Cindy Dyer.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Mating Halloween Pennants

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Celithemis eponina, halloween pennant, Halloween Pennant dragonfly, halloween pennants mating, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on July 6, 2020| 21 Comments »

I spotted this mating pair of Halloween Pennant dragonflies (Celithemis eponina) last Thursday during a brief visit to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia with my dear friend and photography mentor Cindy Dyer. The wing patterns and coloration of Halloween Pennants have always attracted me, making them one of my favorites. As most of you know, however, I tend to have lots of favorites when it comes to dragonflies.

I was in stealth mode as I slowly moved closer to this couple and attempted to frame the image in a way that was interesting and creative, while trying not to feel too much like a voyeur. Yes, I will boldly assert that this is art, and not insect porn.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Territorial dispute?

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Banded Pennant, Banded Pennant dragonfly, Canon 50D, Celithemis eponina, Celithemis fasciata, halloween pennant, Halloween Pennant dragonfly, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on July 4, 2020| 29 Comments »

Perhaps it was a territorial dispute, but whatever the reason, a male Halloween Pennant dragonfly (Celithemis eponina) came screaming in determined to dislodge a perched male Banded Pennant dragonfly (Celithemis fasciata) on Thursday at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens and achieved his goal. A few moments earlier I had spotted the two dragonflies perched in a moment of peaceful co-existence (with appropriate social distancing), but that moment of tranquility did not last very long.

Can’t we all just get along and live in harmony with one another?

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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More than enough

Posted in Art, dragonfly, Flowers, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged beauty, Canon 50D, Libellula incesta, lotus, lotus bud, lotus flower, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Slaty Skimmer, Slaty Skimmer dragonfly, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on July 4, 2020| 12 Comments »

There were only a few lotuses in bloom on Thursday at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, but they were more than sufficient to sate my senses. How much beauty is “enough?”

Increasingly I am finding that I enjoy beauty in small doses. So many voices in our society try to convince us that we need “more,” when perhaps “less” is even better, especially when we slow down and take the time to explore and appreciate that beauty.

I love the layers of petals of the lotus flower; the details of the center of the lotus, revealed when the petals open up and begin to shrivel; and the promise of future beauty in the lotus bud on which the Slaty Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula incesta) had chosen to perch.

Sometimes when searching for beauty, it is more beneficial to search deeply, focusing on a few things, than to search widely, always looking for something newer and better.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cabbage White butterfly in July

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Cabbage White, Cabbage White butterfly, Canon 50D, Cindy Dyer, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Pieris rapae, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on July 3, 2020| 17 Comments »

Cabbage White butterflies (Pieris rapae) are so small and plain that many people mistakenly believe they are moths. I find real elegance in their simplicity, especially when I am able to see their striking speckled green eyes. I spotted this little beauty during a brief visit yesterday to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia with my friend and photography mentor Cindy Dyer.

Cabbage Whites are always hyperactive, in constant motion as they flit about from flower to flower, stopping only momentarily for a short sip. Consequently they are hard to track and you have to be quick on the trigger to have a chance of getting a shot. In the first photo I was lucky enough to capture a “bonus bug,” a hoverfly that was in action below the much larger butterfly. Cindy coined the term “bonus bug” to refer to insects that are in the frame that you never even noticed when you were taking the shot.

Be sure to double-click on each image to get a more detailed view of this beautiful butterfly, including its mesmerizing eyes.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Translucent swallowtail

Posted in Butterflies, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Papilio glaucus, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on September 16, 2019| 13 Comments »

I was looking into the bright sun when I spotted this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) feeding on a nearby flower. Normally that is not an ideal situation for photography and often renders the subject as a silhouette. However, I adjusted my camera settings and was able to capture the translucency of the butterfly’s wings and the shape and color of the vegetation showing through from behind the wings.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Goldfinch in September

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged American Goldfinch, Canon 50D, Canon SX50, goldfinch, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Spinus tristis, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on September 15, 2019| 7 Comments »

From a distance I noticed a flash of yellow moving from a tree to a patch of flowers. The flight was too fast for a butterfly, and when I moved a bit closer I spotted, as I had suspected, an American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis). Judging from its coloration, I think it may be a juvenile, though I must admit that after a summer of chasing insects, my bird identification skills are a little rusty. The goldfinch was somewhat skittish and uncooperative, but I was able to capture these two images that I decided to share them with you all.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Green Heron in September

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Butorides virescens, Canon SX50, green heron, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Vienna VA on September 14, 2019| 7 Comments »

I have not seen as many Green Herons (Butorides virescens) this year as in previous years, so I was happy to spot one this past Tuesday during a quick trip to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in nearby Vienna, Virginia.

Green Herons are smaller and squatter than the more commonly seen Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias). Normally I see Green Herons at water’s edge, because their shorter legs do not allow them to wade into deeper water, and they are often partially hidden from view by vegetation. This Green Heron, though, had placed itself at the edge of a drainage system in the middle of a small pond, which is why I was able to get an unobstructed shot of this handsome bird.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Late season lotuses

Posted in Flowers, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Canon 50D, lotus, lotus bud, lotus seed pod, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on September 13, 2019| 10 Comments »

I thought it was too late in the season for lotuses, so I was thrilled to see them at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens earlier this week in bloom, as seed pods. and most surprisingly as buds.

I am fascinated by lotuses in all of their stages. I love the three-dimensional quality of the flowers and the way that you can look into the center of them. Lotus seed pods are a little creepy—from certain angles they look like a cluster of eyeballs that follow you around. By contrast, I always feel a sense of calm when I am enjoying the simple beauty of the lotus buds.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Hummingbird with a macro lens

Posted in Birds, Flowers, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Archilochus colubris, Canon 50D, hummingbird, Impatiens capensis, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Orange Jewelweed, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on September 11, 2019| 4 Comments »

I was excited to spot this Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) during a short visit yesterday to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens with some friends. The hummingbird was feeding on some distant orange jewelweed flowers (Impatiens capensis) and I was using a macro lens at that moment, so I was especially thrilled when I managed to capture this image.

I do not see hummingbirds very often, so it really is a treat for me to see one in action. It is absolutely mesmerizing to watch these little birds frenetically flying among the flowers, stopping from time to time to sip the nectar from one of them. Tracking the moving hummingbird was definitely a challenge with my 180mm macro lens. Strangely enough, though, I probably had an easier time in doing so with this lens than if I had been using my much longer telephoto zoom lens—it can be tough trying to track, focus, and zoom simultaneously when handholding a long lens.

This image is a significant crop of the original image, but the detail holds up fairly well, all things considered. Does equipment matter? It matters to some extent, but you can often get decent results by simply taking the shots with whatever camera and lens that you have at hand.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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The giraffe pose

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Butorides virescens, Canon SX50, green heron, green heron yoga, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Vienna VA on May 20, 2019| 5 Comments »

This Green Heron (Butorides virescens) was practicing its yoga on Saturday while perched on the railing of a small bridge at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. In the first image you see the rarely observed giraffe pose—don’t try this at home or you many end up in traction. The second shot shows the green heron with its neck in a more relaxed position.

I am amazed by the amount of neck extension the green heron was able to achieve—I am willing to stick my neck out for others at times, but not to that extent.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Show me the Monet

Posted in Art, damselfly, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon SX50, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Monet, Musée de l'Orangerie, Nymphéas, Vienna VA, water lilies, water lily on May 19, 2019| 14 Comments »

During a visit yesterday to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia, I was reminded of my favorite artist—Claude Monet. During the last thirty years of his life, water lilies (Nymphéas in French) were the main focus of his artistic production. One of the museums that I most love visiting is the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, because it houses eight massive water lily murals by Monet in two specially-built oval rooms. It is incredibly peaceful to just sit in one of those rooms, surrounded by those amazing paintings.

I was delighted and a little surprised yesterday to see that some water lilies were already in bloom. There was a lot of vegetation surrounding the pond in which the beautiful flowers were floating, so there were some limits to my ability to compose my shots. Still, I am pretty happy with the images that I was able to capture.

Perhaps you will find yourself as captivated by the water lilies as I was.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Skipper butterfly and flower

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Obedient plant, Peck's Skipper, Physostegia virginiana, Poanes zabulon, Polites peckius, skipper, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA, Zabulon Skipper on August 16, 2018| 7 Comments »

I can’t identify this flower and I am not certain what kind of skipper butterfly this is, but the two of them sure did combine well in this image that I captured this past weekend at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. (I’m leaning towards this being a Peck’s Skipper (Polites peckius), but there are so many different kinds of skippers that it’s hard to be sure.)

In many ways this is the kind of image that I aspire to capture. The subject is active, engaged in probing the flower with its extended proboscis, rather than in a static pose. Of equal importance, the image has an artistic feel, a kind of beauty in its composition and colors. There are so many uncontrollable elements in nature that there is no way to guarantee results like this, but it is sure is nice when it happens.

UPDATE: Helpful folks on Facebook and readers of this blog have helped to identify the butterfly as a Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon) and the flower as an Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana). Thanks, Drew and Molly.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Playing with perceptions

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, perceptions, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA, zinnia on August 14, 2018| 12 Comments »

Normally I aim for extreme realism when taking photos. Sometimes, however, I like to try an “artsy” approach, like in this image of a flower (a zinnia, I believe) from this past weekend at Meadlowlark Botanical Gardens.

In this case, I deliberately tried to distort perceptions and make it look like the grass and the sky had switched places. In reality, the blue is not from the sky, but is a gravel path.

I like to try to vary the angle at which I am shooting and the results can often be fun and different. I never know when I will find myself sprawled on the ground or standing in the mud, so I tend to wear clothes that are rugged and often ragged.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Green Heron at Meadowlark

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Butorides virescens, Canon SX50, green heron, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Vienna VA on August 13, 2018| 4 Comments »

It was wonderful to travel to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in nearby Vienna, Virginia with some friends this past weekend. Although I really enjoy going back repeatedly to familiar spots, sometimes it’s nice to move outside of the “box” and see something different, or at least in a different environment.

One of my favorite subjects of our little photo trip was this delightful Green Heron (Butorides virescens) that I spotted at one of the small ponds at the park. Green Herons are a lot lower to the ground than Great Blue Herons and are often difficult to find. I was lucky to see this one from a distance as I was circling the pond and managed to carefully creep close enough to have a low shooting angle and an unobstructed view.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Monarch butterfly in August

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Danaus plexippus, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Monarch, monarch butterfly, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on August 12, 2018| 3 Comments »

I am always excited to see Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). Over the years there have been numerous reports of this species becoming endangered, primarily because of the loss of habitat. Some years, I have spotted only a few Monarch during an entire summer. This year I have been fortunate enough to see them at several of the locations that I frequent.

I spotted this spectacular Monarch butterfly yesterday while visiting Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in nearby Vienna, Virginia with some fellow photographers. Each of us has a different style of shooting and preferred subjects and we usually shoot separately. It is always a lot of fun when we reassemble after shooting and share our photos and experiences with each other over dinner at a restaurant.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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A glimpse of the Lippizaners

Posted in animals, Photography, Travel, tagged Canon SX-50, Canon SX50, Hofburg Palace, Lippizaner, Lippizaner stallions, Spanish Riding School, Vienna VA on December 16, 2017| 11 Comments »

As I was walking to work through the streets of Vienna Friday morning, I passed by the Spanish Riding School in the Hofburg Palace and was thrilled to get a glimpse of some of the world-famous Lippizaner stallions. They were mostly hidden in their stalls, but occasionally one of these beautiful horse would pop its head out or a door would open briefly. I was also able to snap some quick photos as one of the horses was being prepared and was then walked across an open area.

Perhaps someday I will see a performance of the Lippizaners, but for now I am happy to have caught a glimpse of them on my last working day in Vienna for this trip.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fifth anniversary

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Halloween, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, Celithemis eponina, halloween pennant, Halloween Pennant dragonfly, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on July 12, 2017| 15 Comments »

Like many guys, I have trouble remembering anniversaries, so it came as a surprise a few days ago when WordPress reminded me that it was the fifth anniversary of the launching of my blog. Five years old probably qualifies as middle age or maybe even old age for a blog.

I remember well how my photography mentor Cindy Dyer sat me down and virtually insisted that I start a blog to showcase and share the results of my growing interest in photography. I’ve captured thousands and thousand of images since that time and made close to 2400 postings on this blog. My confidence, awareness, and skills as a photographer have grown significantly. More importantly, though, this blog has helped me to gain a new voice as I have learned to use my words and photographs to express a creative part of myself that has been dormant most of my life.

I am very appreciative of the support, encouragement, and suggestions that so many readers have provided these last five years. Thanks to all of you—you have helped to sustain me during times when my energy and enthusiasm have waned.

My very first posting was an image of a perching dragonfly and was simply titled Blue Dasher dragonfly. If you look at that posting, you can see that my fascination with dragonflies is not a new phenomenon. It is altogether appropriate, therefore, that I “celebrate” with another dragonfly image.

Halloween Pennant dragonflies (Celithemis eponina) generally perch facing away from me. Although it gives me a good view of their spectacular wings, I like it better when I get a frontal view and can look straight into the dragonfly’s eyes. This weekend I found a cooperative subject while exploring Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia, and was able to capture this image.

Like this dragonfly, I am ready to spread my wings and fly, resting briefly before taking off again. It’s a bit of a cliche, but from the blog’s inauguration the sub-title has always been, “My journey through photography.” Where will I go next? I honestly don’t know, but I definitely welcome fellow travelers to accompany me on my continuing journey of exploration.

Perhaps I will set my sights really high and point my camera, to use the famous words of Buzz Lightyear, “to infinity and beyond.” Come fly with me.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Butterflies and coneflowers

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Canon 50D, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Papilio glaucus, skipper, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on July 10, 2017| 8 Comments »

Brightly-colored flowers and butterflies—-what a wonderful combination for a summer’s day. I spotted these beauties this past weekend at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia.

The first shot features a little skipper butterfly on a spectacular, orange-red coneflower. The other two shots highlight the beauty of an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) in a patch of the more frequently observed purple coneflowers.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Pole vaulter

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, Celithemis eponina, halloween pennant, Halloween Pennant dragonfly, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, pole vault, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on July 9, 2017| 5 Comments »

As the breeze kicked up yesterday at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia, this male Halloween Pennant dragonfly (Celithemis eponina) hung on tightly to his perch. From the angle at which I was shooting, though, it looked like he was participating in a pole vault competition.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Skipper on salvia

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Canon 50D, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, skipper, skipper butterfly, Tamron 180mm, Vienna VA on May 18, 2017| 3 Comments »

Every spring I seem to have the same problem—I see small brown skipper butterflies and can’t seem to identify them. Wikipedia notes that there are over 3500 species recognized worldwide, so I don’t feel too bad about my poor identification skills. I spotted this particular one during a recent trip to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia as it was feeding on what looks to be some variety of salvia flower—there are a lot of types of salvia flowers too.

As I looked through internet photos of possible matches for my skipper, I considered that it might be a Peck’s Skipper or possibly a Fiery Skipper, but none of them is a perfect match. I’m hoping that it turns out to be a Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon). Why? More than anything else, I think “Zabulon” is a cool name.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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