Color Photography – Page 140 – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

Welcome Aboard

Sometimes I see something that really aappeals to my sense of irony. Like a boarding plank that sports a locked gate, a welcome aboard sign and no boat to board. Now I know that there was a boat at one point but I had to wonder if I was too late or too early? Had I missed the boat or would was I the first in line for the next voyage?
My sense of humor kicked in and I really wished that I had rubber ducky style pool float to place at the end of ramp.

The truth is that this was where the PA Denny was docked. For about 30 years the triple deck sternwheeler ran tours on the Kanawha River. I was only on the boat once or twice but I remember it being a common sight before it moved to Ohio.

Perhaps one day a new boat will be docked at the end of the ramp to carry people up and down the river to see the sights and enjoy a sunny day. But until then the gate is closed and the welcome sign waits to greet the crowd.

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A Beautiful Killer

Color Photography

Beautiful Kills — Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled Beauty Kills” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The last days of summer slipped into the past so quickly. One day I was excited to see the green buds forming on bare branches and the next thing I knew the leaves were dropping on my lawn. It was only a few weeks ago that I spotted the tall stalks and bright purple flower spikes of purple loosestrife. The beauty of the flowers against the deep blue sky was soothing indeed. After such a fast paced day I needed a few moments to enjoy the empty space near the railroad. The lore associated with loosestrife is that it’s presence bring peace. I have to admit that I did feel more at ease while I took the picture. The problem is that loosestrife is an invasive species that’s able to crowed out even cattail. What’s more is that it doesn’t really have food value for North American wildlife and cattail does. That’s how it got the nickname of “The Beautiful Killer”. In spite of the wonderful colors and texture that the loosestrife provides it pushes out the native food species.

I believe that there’s a life lesson here. Loosestrife was brought to the New World as an ornamental plant. And there’s no denying that it is beautiful. But it has no natural enemies in North America and it speeads unchallenged outside of the garden. All of this happened in the Victorian Era when nobody would have thought about the consequences. The lesson of course is that just because something is beautiful doesn’t mean that it should be desired.

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Forage Friday #27 Tule

Color Photography, Forage Friday

Hello friends!Tonight’s feature image is titled “Tule 82019”. All of the photos are my original work and are available as prints by following the instructions at the bottom of the article. Tonight’s photo was taken specifically for this article.

One of the first survival plants that I learned about was Tule. When I was a kid we always called it Bullrush and I had visions of baby Moses floating around the Nile river in a basket made from Tule. And with good reason, Tule has a history of being used to make rafts and the ropes that bind them together. Native Americans from all over the New World used Tule to make nets, duck decoys, rafts, twine and and just about anything that you can imagine. Even today it’s used to cane seats. The name Tule covers a lot species in the same genera and there’s some minor differences between them but to the best of my knowledge they all have the same properties and the same general look. Tule is often planted near water features in the south and there it is huge. I have seen that type gst to be somewhere in the neighborhood of eight feet tall with a thick base. Where as our local variety maxes out at about six feet tall and remains slender. Most often I see it less than four feet tall. All of Tule that I’ve encountered has a similar seed cluster at the top and it’s always found close to water.

It’s also a food source of course and hence it’s inclusion in a Forage Friday post. According to the Paiute tribe Tule is the food of giants! If you’re a fan of the arcane then you’re probably already aware of the Si-Te-Cah. The Paiute name for a race of red haired giants translates into “The Tule Eaters”. The legend also says they were cannibals but we can look at that topic some other day. The point is that Tule was an important enough part of Native American Culture that it made it into their mythology. From what I’ve read they used the whole plant. Seeds were used for grain. The young shoots are a cooked green. The base of the stem is a vegetable and the roots were boiled and mashed like potatoes. The mashed roots could also be processed into sugar. The process is similar to making molasses. The root starch and pollen is made into flour.

Aside from food uses it’s also mentioned that the stems were used to treat abscesses and snake bites. ( presented as historical reference only. If you’re bitten by a venomous snake please seek a medical professional!)

Plants like Tule are considered to be nothing more than a weed today. But in the days before big agribusiness they were the main food source.

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The Secret Of Now

Color Photography

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Simply Live” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The September sun smiles warmly into shady side of my Appalachian home. All too soon the fading light of September will give way to the October winds. The weekly task of mowing the lawn as already been replaced by mulching fallen leaves. The thought of enjoying the day before it is yesterday has been heavy on my mind. The last few weeks of summer seemed to pass by like the falling leaves in an October gale. I still have a few butterflies playing in the yard but soon they’ll be gone. It gives me a better appreciation for the value of now. Now is the point when preparation meets opportunity. Sometimes, all the preparation in the world can be done but we miss the opportunity. For example, the next image is the same butterfly, in more or less the same spot on the same day and shot by the same photographer with the same camera. But the opportunity wasn’t really there.

Lost Moments — The butterfly was just too fast to be captured by my lens.

When the moment is lost there are two things that you can do.

1. You can beat yourself up. ( Or more accurately, beat yourself down. ) This is really not productive. It makes you second guess everything and usually leads to the loss of the next moment and possibly even more moments depending on how much it impacts your confidence and motivation.

2. You can honestly evaluate what went wrong and make take corrective action. In the case of tonight’s feature image that meant making a few adjustments to the settings and paying more attention to the timing of snapping the shutter. The adjusted plan results in being better able to take advantage of the next opportunity.

Of course I was disappointed with the first shot. I’ll tell you secret. Most photographers will never show the ones that just didn’t turn out as planned. That doesn’t mean it never happened. But it’s important for me to encourage you to take the positive action of stepping back for moment and fixing what went wrong before trying again. This applies to so much more in life. When something doesn’t work out use the time before the next opportunity to make it better.

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White Snakeroot In Morning Dew.

Color Photography

WARNING: Because I often blog about wild edible plants I need to make it clear that white Snakeroot is a deadly poison. — Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “White Snakeroot In Morning Dew” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

With the passing of the hot humid days in late summer I feel more like stepping out of air conditioning and catching a breath of fresh air. Just a Leisurely stroll through my property. I had spotted a hummingbird a few days ago and was kinda hoping that he’d decided to hang around for a while before heading South. He escaped my lens that afternoon and I was ready for a do-over. I was paused near the Jewelweed because I know that the hummingbirds live the sweet nectar as much as the bees do. Thats when I noticed the newcomer to my patch of wilderness. Small delicate white flowers with odd tubular structures growing in clusters. The canopy of my forest is still thick enough to hide the small songbirds that dart about from branch to branch but I can hear them chirping.

My attention is drawn back to the interestingly delicate flowers. They remind me of baby’s breath in an arrangement. They’re beautiful to look at but unlike most of the plants that I have on my blog these are deadly poison. The poison is how White Snakeroot earned it’s footnote in history. The toxin is able to contaminate not just the milk but also the meat of livestock that eats it. In the 1800s being poisoned by the contaminated milk was actually called milk sickness. According to Wikipedia the fatalities ran into the thousands and was the suspected cause of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the mother of Abraham Lincoln. Learning this fact does make me wonder how much Snakeroot has influenced pasteurization requirments.

In 1830 the toxicity was uncovered by Dr. Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby. It’s said that a Shawnee woman taught her all about the plant in addition to how it was used as a poultice on snakebite. ( I am not able to verify medicinal value for this one. I know from personal experience that the bite of a copperhead will heal on it’s own without treatment and therefore it’s very possible that Snakeroot was not the reason some people recovered.)

The risks of contaminated meat and dairy was not enough to prevent people from turning White Snakeroot into an ornamental plant. A particular strain of the plant has leaves that turn dark when exposed to direct sunlight and the cultivar is known as “Chocolate Snakeroot” and is still sold as a landscape plant today.

As for the wild variety that has come to my place I’ll probably just allow it to grow since I don’t have livestock to be poisoned. It does add some beautiful bloom to enjoy in the Fall.

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https://youtu.be/FDcrY6w8oY8

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I’m now using Zazzle to fulfil orders. What this means for you is a secure way to place an order, discount codes & a broader product selection! Simply message me on Facebook oruse the contact form on my websiteand tell me which image you want and I’ll reply with a direct link to where you can place the order.

Thank you again for your support of my page!❤