From the Archives of 2008—5
March 13, 2022
Ready for another dose of archives? (In journalism school we were advised never to ask a question that could be answered simply “no.” Oh, well.) Working on income taxes has kept me from photographic outings, but not, apparently, from playing with my archived photographs. What better way is there for a photographer to escape however briefly the drudgery, anxiety, and other negatives of life presenting themselves especially these days? This collection contains more photos from Florida, these having to do with nature.
1 Tannic water runs over white sand in a tributary of the Myakka River.
2 In the greenhouse of Sarasota’s Marie Selby Botanical Gardens sun blasts through a Dryopteris fern.
3 Outdoors at Selby a hibiscus is in bloom.
4 Back in the greenhouse a crozier of the Asplenium fern unfurls.
5 A grownup Asplenium fern leaf is nearby.
6 A willow weeps over another section of the Myakka River tributary.
7 The Australian-native Moreton Bay fig tree at Selby attracts me on every visit.
8 The north end of Longboat Key, a barrier island off Sarasota proper, collects driftwood.
9 And the driftwood collects barnacles.
10 Though it’s just a part of Longboat Key, this section of the beach is known as Beer Can Island, for reasons I leave you to guess.
Romancing Reality 
Thanks for sharing the beauty, Linda. They’re all lovely, but the 10th image with its lines, and hints of lines, and tones and shapes, and how you arranged it all in the frame, is just outrageously good.
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March 13, 2022 at 2:46 PM
Oh, my. Thank you, Alex!
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March 13, 2022 at 2:52 PM
I know I did comment here.
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March 13, 2022 at 4:47 PM
Yes, you did. I found your comment, Jag. WordPress designated it as spam. You wrote, “So beautiful pictures Linda!” Thank you. Something strange is happening to comments on this blog. Not only did I find your comment in the WordPress spam folder, but I also had to approve two others before they would post.
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March 13, 2022 at 7:45 PM
This is another good retro collection. “Crozier” is a nice word to sprinkle in a nature blog, where it’s rare; and of course appropriate here. Your Dryopteris fern lives up to its name by looking dry. Your mention of income tax is a reminder that I (and presumably plenty of others) had better get cracking, too.
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March 13, 2022 at 6:15 PM
Thanks for your comments, Steve. Sorry to bring up income taxes, but we gotta do what we gotta do.
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March 13, 2022 at 7:48 PM
Alex is right about the 10th image, Linda. I agree. I can’t say that I’ve been busy with taxes so I’ll have to find another reason for not going out to shoot. I have been preparing something similar to your “Archives” project. I’ve gone back several years and edited (or re-edited) shots that were taken and ignored. I’ll have to take a long look at them and try to determine if any are worth posting. I’ll just look at yours in the meantime.
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March 13, 2022 at 6:30 PM
Thanks, Ken. How about “it’s too cold” for another reason for not going out to shoot. The weather has also kept me indoors. It’s fun looking at the old photos and seeing what you now can do for them because of improvements to Photoshop and Lightroom as well as what you have learned in the interim. I’m sure yours are worth posting. Post! Post!
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March 13, 2022 at 7:54 PM
Be careful what you wish for.
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March 13, 2022 at 10:04 PM
I am being careful; I am!
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March 14, 2022 at 11:58 AM
San Diego’s Balboa Park has some magnificent Moreton Bay Figs. I have a nice collection of those root images.
A nice archive and more fun than taxes.
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March 14, 2022 at 8:10 AM
Thanks, Joe. Yes, definitely more fun than taxes. Hope to see your Moreton Bay fig photos some day . . .
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March 14, 2022 at 11:59 AM
Sometimes I think browsing the archives can be just as fun as going out and discovering new material. Your eye for composition shines in these Linda. Best of luck on those taxes, I’ll have to start diving into those soon myself.
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March 14, 2022 at 9:37 AM
I agree, Mark. With more recent but still archival photos—ones I’ve taken with my 45 megapixel Z7 ii—I can crop like crazy and often find a hidden composition in an otherwise messy photo. But even with older photos with fewer megapixels I often find a vertical composition that makes more sense than the horizontal one I shot, and if its destination is the screen, there’s enough resolution.
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March 14, 2022 at 12:07 PM
You should do your taxes more often…maybe not…anyway, the first two are a terrific pair (I used to work with a husband-and-wife catering company called The Perfect Pear). The Asplenium photos are another nice pairing – I love the light shining through that leaf. The fig tree roots look like they’re on the attack – pretty funny! It’s fun to see your driftwood photos and compare them to what I see up here, which is not that different. The last is my favorite, possibly because I recently made a photo of an arrangement of driftwood on the beach that was almost as striking. But yours is amazing, the way the pieces jigsaw-puzzled their way into that pile and the sand buried parts of it. Very cool!
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March 23, 2022 at 8:58 PM
Thanks, Lynn. “The Perfect Pear”—that’s great. I often think the fig-tree roots look animated. “On the attack”—that’s even better (or worse). Here’s to driftwood arrangements. Nature does such beautiful work. In the case of the last photo, I was so lucky that the arrangement wasn’t obscured by intrusions of other driftwood. It was so nicely isolated. I’m looking forward to seeing your recent driftwood photo—or have I seen it already?
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March 23, 2022 at 9:32 PM
Sending now….
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March 24, 2022 at 5:42 PM