Nature in Black and White

For this photography swap on Swap-Bot, I chose to focus on nature in black and white. All of the images were originally taken in color, but I felt like the color detracted from the pattern and detail of the object. So, I changed them to all black and white images.

The first image is one that I took on April 28, 2019, in Seward, Alaska, of jellyfish. Watching them float and swim was mesmerizing. Inside their bell-shaped body is their mouth. They both eat and discard waste from this opening. They digest their food very quickly because they could not float if they carried a large, undigested meal around.  

To me, the black and white image shows how delicate the jellyfish are and better illustrates their bodies.

The image below is of milkweed seeds with their fluffy floss (what looks like a tail on each seed). I took this image on October 15, 2021, when opening milkweed pods and spreading the seeds. It was a beautiful fall day, slightly overcast, with a nice breeze to carry the seeds off to their new destinations. 

In color, this image has greens, browns, and whites. It has a lot going on. However, when you remove the color from the image, the pattern of the floss and its wispiness shows better. 

Each year in March, we get rainstorms that turn to ice overnight. This image, taken on March 5, 2022, shows the layer of ice covering the woven-wire fence. Imagine this on everything - trees, buildings, the ground, and roads. It's a rather precarious drive until the sun melts the ice. I removed the color from this image because I wanted the focus to be on the icicles and the ice-wrapped wire. 

This image was one I took on April 30, 2008, of rocks at Interstate State Park in Taylors Falls. Although the rocks are slate-gray, it was better to remove the color so that the lichen (on a couple of the rocks) didn't distract from the arrangement of the rocks and the lines between them. 

On June 2, 2021, I was taking photos of the gardens and took this image of leaves with raindrops on them. When I downloaded the photos, I noticed that the leaves appeared to make an "A" - the initial of my first name. I preferred the image in black and white because there were many muted colors in the background from other flowers and plants, the green of the leaves of the "A," and the clear raindrops. The black-and-white version seemed cleaner and more focused on the image I wanted to show.  

I go either way with clouds - sometimes I like the image in color and other times I like them in black-and-white. In this case, I prefer black and white. The clouds had such dramatic shades - from the dark black to white depending on where the sun was and how big/deep the clouds were. This image was taken on August 21, 2007.

As I was taking the dogs for a walk on the afternoon of October 23, 2019, I saw this bright purple thistle with green base.  The thistle plant was huge - probably a good 4'-5' tall. This one flower stood proudly above the rest. Although I love the colors purple and green, what I wanted to focus on was all the little spikes on top and the tightly-clustered spikes below that. 

Clouds

One of the things that I enjoy taking photos of are clouds and the sky - especially during sunsets and sunrises. I'm going to work backward in time, with the first image from November 25th - the day after Thanksgiving. The sun is setting so early these days. This was at 5:22 p.m.

This picture was taken on the same day, except at 4:52 p.m. - just 30 minutes prior to the picture above. 

Even just a minute apart - at 4:51 p.m. - the clouds and sky were different shades of oranges, golds, and magentas. 

Earlier in November, on the 2nd, the sun was setting at 6:10 p.m. I like how the clouds are shades of pink.

It's hard to believe that it was only 39 days between the first photo above and this one below, taken on October 17th. It was such a warm, pleasant day with heavy cloud coverage. The sun had a hard time peeking through the clouds at 4:07 p.m.

Two days before the photo above, I took this picture on October 15th. At 6:26 p.m., there were so many clouds. In the gaps in the clouds, the orange sky can be seen. I can only imagine that if the clouds weren't there that the whole sky would be vibrant shades of orange. 

On October 6th, on my afternoon walk with the dogs, I loved seeing the clouds and the bright sun. It was just what I needed to see at about 4:50 p.m.

On another part of my walk on October 6th, the clouds covered the majority of the sky too. This photo was taken at 4:05 p.m. - about 45 minutes before the photo above. So, the clouds were definitely staying around that afternoon. 

It was interesting going back on photos I have taken over the past few months. The majority of cloud pictures I took were either on my afternoon walks with the dogs or of sunsets. Regardless of where I took the photo, seeing the image again brought me right back to that moment when I took the picture. That's one thing that I love about photography...being able to be transported in time through a photograph.

Black and White Photos

On Swap-Bot, there is a challenge to create three black-and-white photos. I chose six photos - three from walks that I took with the dogs last week and three miscellaneous shots. The first three photos were taken on my iPhone and the last three photos were taken on my DSLR camera (Nikon D3400 Series).  All the photos were taken in color and converted to black-and-white in post-processing. 

When I look for photos to convert to black-and-white, I am looking for images that either are very simple (e.g., the wooden post with coiled wire pictured below), have a lot of texture (e.g., pictures of the clouds and farm fields), or where the color detracts from the image and/or message (e.g., the image of the flower where the petals are white, the center is yellow, leaves are green, and surrounding flowers are red). 

The first image I created is of a wooden fence post with a large eye screw that has a loop of a thick coiled wire through it. It serves no purpose now - the owners just left this post and wire at the corner of their property. At one time, this fence blocked off an entry point to acreage with thousands of trees planted in it. During the past decade, the owners cut down or moved the trees and now the land is empty. Just grass. No cover or food sources for birds and other wildlife. So, as I looked at the photo in color with the bright and cheerful blue sky, white puffy clouds, and green grass it didn't convey the sense of loss and bleakness of this space that once was filled with life.

The second photo I took was on a warm, sunny day when I was walking the dogs. It was in the afternoon and the sun had come out from behind the clouds. The clouds were illuminated by the sun's rays. It was a beautiful afternoon.

This was another day that I walked the dogs in about the same area in the previous picture. I like this stretch of the walk because it feels so open and immense. The fields were being harvested, so there are different levels in the field. 

The picture below is of a white flower with a yellow center in the shape of a heart. I had to do a double-take when I looked at it because I have never seen a heart-shaped center...they are always round. I've been missing my parents (both have died - my dad in 2012 and my mom in 2015) and my daughters who are now both away at college. Perhaps this was just the thing I needed to see when I looked at this flower on October 8th.

This is a three-foot-tall bronze statue of a girl with a jug by Italian artist Vincenzo Aurisicchio. He lived from 1855 to 1926 and is known for his sculptural artwork. When my step-father-in-law died last month, we inherited this statue that he and my mother-in-law purchased in Italy and shipped back to their home in Minnesota. It is in the back of our car and at a different angle than what is typically seen when the statue is upright.

It's not a piece that I would typically be drawn to because the girl has a blank/sad expression and her jug is broken (that's the way the artist created the piece). I would like to learn more about the piece, but I cannot find anything written about it - just the images of it with the artist's name. So, the artist's concept for it and the story behind it will remain a mystery.

The last image I am sharing is one of a partially-completed caning of a chair. At an arts festival, coordinated by a local folk school, there was a craftsperson who was demonstrating how caning is done. It was interesting watching her work and learning about all the steps she needed to take to create this pattern. 

So, these are my six black-and-white photos. I enjoyed going through my photographs from the past nine days and picking ones that I felt represented things I enjoyed doing and learning, and were representative of life's transitions and changes. 

Outdoor Mom's Journal - August 2018

During our outdoor time this week we went....around town a bit. Saw Sandhill Cranes in pastures. They are around - even if we don't see them. Their sound is peculiar and memorable.

We spent time outdoors at the local farmers market. Sophia was asked to play her harp there on August 8th, so she spent a few hours there. I was at the market for about an hour or so, brought Olivia back home, and then returned to the market when Sophia was done.

We enjoyed watching a lot of geese cross the road on August 17th.

On August 21st, Sophia and I took Olivia to target practice. She used my dad's .22 rifle that my brother inherited and let us borrow.

Target practice was held in a mine that no longer is being used. Although the weather was nice, there were a lot of gnats. Thankfully, we had bug spray with DEET...the only spray that repelled these annoying insects away from our faces and heads.

I spent time outside on August 21st checking out the garage that is being built to replace the hobby shed that burned on May 5th.

The clouds on August 21st were beautiful.

The sunset was breathtaking too as it set. The newly-paved roads were slick and wet from the recent rain.

There was a rainbow in the east - a full one. Wish the power lines weren't in the photo, but that's the view from the front of the house.

Another view of the sky shows the southern part of the rainbow and some unusual and colorful clouds under it.

I enjoyed seeing the colorful clouds and their shapes. 

What was particularly interesting for me was seeing clouds that were flat on one side - it is like someone took an eraser and erased the bottom portion of them. 

At the August 22nd farmers market, we spent time outdoors collecting donations for various non-profit organizations as well as making shoes for children in Uganda that used jeans that people no longer wanted.

We traced and cut pieces out of the jeans.

 On August 28th, we spent the evening at the Minnesota State Fair. We walked around outside as well as spent time inside in some of the buildings. Olivia was being judged for her photograph in the 4-H photography project area.

We returned to the Minnesota State Fair on Wednesday, August 29th. Outside the Eco-Education building are face cutouts by plants they represent.

Both the girls were good sports and stood by them.

Olivia and I watched a parade at the State Fair while Sophia was being judged for her illustrated presentation.

Afterwards, we found some new sculptures. This one was by one of the historical buildings.

I really like this photo of Olivia by the cow.

While we were waiting for Sophia's judging session to start for the craft project area in the 4-H building, we all tried our hands at target practice. Olivia had the top score, then Sophia, and then me.

When we were done, we went on the giant Ferris wheel. The timing was perfect with the setting sun.

We had an amazing view from the top.

By  the time we were done, the lights on the Ferris wheel were more visible.

The most inspiring thing we experienced was...seeing the hibiscus tree blooming. There are three different plants that are braided together, so the tree is colorful and beautiful in full bloom.

The blooms last about a day...two if we're lucky. Yet, there seems to always be at least one flower on the tree. 

We were a bit concerned early on when the leaves kept yellowing and falling off. It looked rather dismal with few leaves; and we questioned whether it would survive.

So, we bought a moisture reader and found out that we were overwatering the plant. It needs to be within a 1-2 reading. When we have the soil in that range, the plant does very well.

Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…how wildfires and the smoke in the west and north can affect the way the sun looks in Minnesota. 

It amazes me that the entire sky and sun can be completely changed by the smoke several states away (or even in another country).

In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting...we are getting some tomatoes and herbs from our garden. I'm thinking that the raised beds - or perhaps my growing skills - are resulting in meager harvests in terms of produce. I may not go through the trouble next year of planting vegetables.

The flowers are doing well, however. This is one of the blooms on the hibiscus tree.

This is a pink rose that is very fragrant.

I added nature journal pages about...nothing yet for August. However, I do want to learn more about hail. We had a hail storm here on Sunday, August 26th. There were dime- and quarter-size hail that pummeled everything for quite a while.

The hail made almost musical sounds as it hit the propane tank. The size of the hail and force that it the tank made the sounds different.

I am reading...I finished reading all the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazines. It's nice to get caught up with reading them. Each issue is packed with beautiful photographs and interesting information.

I am dreaming about…a time when I can go outside and not have to deal with gnats, mosquitoes, or horseflies. 

A photo I would like to share...these flowers have a pretty combination of orange and pink.

They are growing next to moss roses which have equally as pretty and delicate colors. 


Thank you to Barb the Outdoor Hour Challenge for the idea of doing an Outdoor Mom's Journal.