Neighborhood Grasses
January 28, 2024
Grasses can be delicate; they can be sturdy; or they can be in between. However they present themselves, I realize that my interest in their appearances has grown over the past few years. I’m sure this has nothing to do with my last name. And yet . . .
1 On an unusually bright day in December, the sun came barrelling through these tall-grass seedheads.
2 It was overcast the day I photographed this short grass.
3
4 This is probably the same kind of grass as is pictured in #1.
5 It’s possible that this is the same grass, too. It’s outside my back window.
6 I took this photo before taking #5. Chimping, I didn’t like it because the wind made it out of focus. I left it in the camera, though, and just moved on to a faster shutter speed for the next shots. In download I rejected it. I can’t call this a photo with ICM (intentional camera movement) because intentionality was certainly not involved. But it has a similar look, and today I like it.
7 Earlier I found this tall-grass seedhead. I don’t think it’s the same plant shown in the other photographs because the leaves are so dissimilar. Keep scrolling to see.
8 These leaves are narrower and curling.
9 After I took #8, I decided that I wanted the ground beneath the leaves to go very dark, so I underexposed the next frames. During processing (in Lightroom) I increased the blacks and shadows to make the ground go even darker. Suddenly the leaves showed an assortment of colors! The leaves were too dark for my tastes, so I increased the whites. The rest of these photos were processed the same way, some with added enhancements. Mistakes can be rewarding.
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Romancing Reality 
Fine Set!
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January 29, 2024 at 2:45 AM
Thanks, Harrie.
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January 29, 2024 at 3:03 PM
The dried blades and seed heads of grasses—of which there are so many species—are under-appreciated by the public. From #9 on, all those contrasty grass abstractions do a nice job of filling the frame with slender curves and swirls (as does the softer #8). The arcs in #5 are also quite pretty.
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January 29, 2024 at 2:55 PM
Thanks, Steve. You sound like a fellow grass aficionado.
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January 29, 2024 at 3:13 PM
I like your unintentional camera movement shot, Linda. But shots 10-14 are really very interesting to me. They have such flow and randomness that make them very exciting. Well done!
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January 29, 2024 at 4:11 PM
I guess it’s really an unintentional grass movement shot since I held the camera steady. 😊 Thank you. I’m glad you like these, Ken. I’ve been more experimental lately with my photos. I think I’m still romancing reality; I just may be putting more emphasis on the romancing part.
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January 29, 2024 at 9:59 PM
I completely share your fascination, Linda, and thoroughly enjoy seeing what caught your eye, Grashoff or not. I forget what the fist glass is called – is that Pampas grass? – anyway, I don’t think I ever saw it sparkle so nicely. I’ve always liked the grass in #2 & #3, too, for the extremely fine lines it has. You did it justice.
I like the way you composed #4 to emphasize the different textures and lines of the grass when it’s growing and when it’s on the ground. Very satisfying. #5 and some of the others show those rhythmic riffs that grasses often play.
I’ve tried a few times to let the wind create ICM-type images. Yours works!
And the very dark photographs of the mystery grass are beautiful (OK, I guess they’re all mystery grasses!). That curvy series really shows the love. Keep experimenting. And doing everything that you do. 😉
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January 31, 2024 at 12:33 PM
I don’t know if that first grass is Pampas grass. I should ask David. It usually doesn’t sparkle like that around here because we usually don’t get so much sunshine. Thank you for saying that I did that fine grass justice. It was difficult to get the focus right; I’m glad I kept at it. I took #4 with my cell phone. The brick wall looks wonky, but Upright in Lightroom made it worse. Would love to keep experimenting; will look for opportunities. Thanks for everything, Lynn.
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February 10, 2024 at 9:46 PM
I didn’t even notice the brick wall – sometimes that transform tool doesn’t help at all, right? It’s strange. Today I’m attracted to #9,10, & 11 – they’re saying, “It’s party time!”
I hope you have a little more sunshine this week…we’re supposed to have a sunny day Tuesday and there was sun yesterday morning. Signs of spring are beginning to appear. 🙂
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February 11, 2024 at 10:51 AM
Making the colored grasses was the most fun I’ve had since making the hosta photos. They do look celebratory. . . . Ah, the weather. We’ll have sun Wednesday, but cloudy all the other days except next Sunday and Monday, when it will be partly sunny. Partly sunny is good enough for me. And the birds are coming back, chirping and singing. The winter aconite is up in David’s courtyard garden, and daffodils all over Kendal are over-excited by a few inches already. This is the season of hope.
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February 11, 2024 at 9:55 PM
Oh, partly sunny is absolutely good enough – in fact, I think I prefer it. I like it when the weather is disturbed…but not too disturbed. I’ve been hearing the birds, too – I’m glad you are. And daffs and buds, yes, hope returns. Thanks for the good words on a gray Monday morning over here. 🙂
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February 12, 2024 at 12:02 PM
I have always like grasses too, maybe even more than some flowers. Admittedly, I sometimes don’t spend enough time trying to parse the chaos and look deeper like you have here. I am particularly fond of many of these like #3, 9, 10 & 13. Nicely seen Linda.
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February 19, 2024 at 10:39 AM
Thank you, Mark. Having had so much fun with these grasses, I think I will be more on the lookout for them now. I may never be able to duplicate anything like photos 9, 10, and 13, however, since they were mistakes that I, luckily, pulled out of the fire.
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February 19, 2024 at 8:54 PM