The Neighborhood Revisited
August 6, 2023
The last time this blog featured photographs taken in my neighborhood was February 23. Here are some photos taken between then and July 20.
1 The first three photos show what I see when I look out my back window in the rain.
2
3
4 This crabapple tree is flowering on the island of Island Pond.
5 This and the next photograph fall in the category of photographs I don’t take.
6 But some sunsets are irresistable.
7 As many of you know, I don’t photograph flowers either, even crabapple flowers (cf. #4).
8 The willow on the edge of Meadow Pond always looks best to me when it is beginning to leaf out.
9 Surrounded by woods, Green Pond often offers good reflections and companionable tree branches . . .
10 . . . as it did on this day.
11 The Buttonbush Vernal Pool was filled with water in early spring.
12 Soon last year’s cattails would be replaced by new green shoots.
13 Meanwhile, decorated with duckweed, the old ones served my purpose.
14 Queen Anne’s Lace grows in abundance in our neighborhood.
15 Iris leaves lie down after a spring rain.
16 I caught these hosta leaves through a window with my iPhone.
17 I remembered this grass from childhood but never knew its name. It took an internet search of hours to find it: Hordeum jubatum, also known as foxtail barley, bobtail barley, squirreltail barley, and intermediate barley. What satisfaction to finally know.
Romancing Reality 
Maybe you don’t shoot flowers and trees that often but when you do…. 🙂 Lots of nice shots. My favorite is the Hosta leaves.
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August 6, 2023 at 4:14 AM
Thank you, Steve. I find myself photographing flowers more than I used to these days. I think it was oneowner Ken who said that a photograph of a flower needs to transcend the beauty of the flower—or something along those lines. Most of my flower photographs don’t make that cut, but I’m working on it. Glad you like the green hosta leaves. I never thought I’d take a photograph of green hosta leaves, usually preferring the the leaves brown and shriveled. But these wowed me. I had to fuss with the image in Lightroom and Photoshop, but the iPhone did a good job giving me the essentials to work with.
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August 6, 2023 at 2:28 PM
Fine set, Linda! 3,8,10,12,13,14.. all beautiful.
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August 6, 2023 at 6:15 AM
Thanks, Harrie. I’m especially glad you favor #14. I almost didn’t include it in the post.
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August 6, 2023 at 2:29 PM
You bring us a reminder in #1 and #3 that pixelation existed long before the age of digital photography. The raindrops add extra interest (and of course stand on their own in #2).
Good to see you’re also fond of old desiccated cattails. They’re an under-utilized resource for abstract nature photographs. From #11 through #13 you got increasingly close views of them, and the duckweed in the last one adds a different kind of “pixelation.”
Is your reason for not usually photographing sunsets and flowers that those subjects tend to be “done to death” in the world of photography?
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August 6, 2023 at 6:34 AM
Happy to know that you share my fondness for old desiccated cattails, Steve. See my reply to Steve Gingold for why I haven’t taken many photographs of flowers. I guess the reason I avoid photographing sunsets is the same. To me, a sunset photograph has to be about something more than a sunset. The photo almost has to be able to stand alone without that drama in the sky. It’s true that the world of photography has a plethora of sunsets and flowers, and people like Alexander Kunz do them justice. But many people do not; I’m trying to jump from that group to the good-guys group.
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August 6, 2023 at 2:29 PM
I can’t resist shooting bare trees, either, Linda. You will always be rewarded. And #10 is exciting to me. And who can resist Hostas (at least not the deer in my neighborhood)? well done.
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August 6, 2023 at 10:02 AM
Thanks, Ken. As you know, I have seen many of your irresistible trees through your fine photographs. Good to share this fascination with you. I was enjoying the muddle in #10, especially because it had two layers. Every time I look at this hosta photograph, I marvel at what a good job the iPhone camera does.
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August 6, 2023 at 2:30 PM
💕
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August 6, 2023 at 1:28 PM
🙏, Marjorie.
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August 6, 2023 at 2:30 PM
Some lovely images here
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August 6, 2023 at 1:44 PM
Thanks, Sue.
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August 6, 2023 at 2:31 PM
😊
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August 6, 2023 at 3:45 PM
Yes, please DO keep taking pictures that you don’t normally take. I don’t normally enjoy sunsets (qua sunsets). Pictures taken by you are filtered by you, so I like them. 🙂
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August 6, 2023 at 2:35 PM
Thanks, Kathy. I will keep taking photographs I don’t usually take, though most will not show up here. 😉
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August 6, 2023 at 2:38 PM
This is a great set of images with plenty to enjoy 📷👍🙂
I very much like the first three rain photographs.
Number 3 of blossom and dense woodland caught my eye in the WordPress reader where it was presented cropped onto landscape but I like the full version too. The iris leaves look almost like quilted material!
Cheers
🌧🌦☁️🌥⛅️🌤☀️📷☀️🌤⛅️🌥🌦🌧
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August 6, 2023 at 3:04 PM
Thank you, P.C. The numbers and captions are below the photographs, so I think you mean #4 (instead of #3) and hosta leaves rather than iris leaves. I agree that those leaves look like quilted material, maybe satin. I keep checking them out, but they never look as good as they did the day I took this photograph of them. I’m glad #4 looked interesting in the reader. Sometimes the reader does no good service for the photographs.
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August 6, 2023 at 6:58 PM
WordPress reader has changed lots over the years and the current version feels a bit unfathomable when it comes to images. It is a bit unpredictable as to how it will display photographs. On a plus side it is sometimes interesting to see an unanticipated crop. I’m not a fan of the block editor either but I’ll work with whatever WordPress imposes. Sorry – That all feels a bit off topic so I should sign off by saying I’ll look forward to your next post… 📷☀️🙂👍
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August 7, 2023 at 6:52 PM
It may be off topic, P.C., but I’m with you about the block editor. I still use the classic editor.
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August 7, 2023 at 10:13 PM
Oh that’s funny! Well done for sticking with the classic editor. 🙂
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August 8, 2023 at 2:49 AM
Too much! Oh, number 10!! And many others. The rain looks so good. You photograph it beautifully and I long for it. Not only have we had almost no rain since late spring but this weekend we have smoke from British Columbia on top of the dry weather. Oh well, I’ll go get a glass of water. I love the way the tree’s form shows itself in #2. Too many sunsets are irresistible to me and I do like the effect in #6, very much. Lovely willow branches – I think almost all trees are spectacular when they’re just beginning to leaf out. The cattails and reflections in #12 work beautifully together. #14 is very elegant, leaning toward a Japanese look but thoroughly your vision because of the composition, I think. The iris leaves tie with #10 for favorites. The hosta leaves have an attractive gleam – what wonderful subjects they are, almost always. I know you’ve done a lot with them. And thanks for tracking down that grass, they are so difficult!
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August 20, 2023 at 9:40 PM