Nature photography – Page 3 – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

Take Time To Grow

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Hickory Seedling 43019″and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

It’s not how you start out but where you end up that’s important. Growing as hard as it can this little hickory tree is barely a foot tall. But if it lives long enough it could end up being one hundred and twenty feet tall. But that’s not going to happen overnight. It’s likely to take hundreds of years of hot summers and icy winters. It will have to survive multiple windstorms and seasons of drought before it can be a giant.

In our age of technological wizardry when you can fix a hot meal and download your favorite feature length film in less than five minutes we have come to expect instant success. We want the “cheat codes” of life. But then what? You can’t cheat life without cheating yourself out of the reasons why winning is awesome. A one hundred and twenty feet tall tree that has never weathered the storms will be doomed to crashing down in the first gust of wind. Like our own bodies, a tree has to develop its strength and flexibility by being exposed to the harsh conditions. It takes time to develop that kind of strength. It’s a battle that often leaves scars inside the wood. Not every tree reaches its full height. In fact, the average hickory tree is only sixtyfive feet tall. About half of its potential. And still we sit beneath it’s branches in awe of its size not considering that at one point in its life it was just another plant growing in a ditch. Most of us would have mistaken it for a weed.

A hickory seedling looks like just another weed

We shouldn’t measure our lives by where we are now. We need to consider that reaching our potential means weathering many storms and taking the time to develop those strong roots that hold us fast.

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The Skipper Butterfly… Bringer Of Wishes

Color Photography, wildlife

Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my blog. Tonight’s feature image is titled “Wishes On Wings” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The little butterfly dances through the air and nearly lands on my shoulder before continuing on to the Japanese Honeysuckle. I was reminded of a tale told to me on my first real job in Rock Hill, South Carolina. I worked with an older man who really should have retired from the job long before I was hired. We were ditch diggers. Our job was to keep the ditch on grade and make sure that the it was ready for the pipeline that was to be installed. The hot southern sun and high humidity kept us covered in sweat. For heat safety we took frequent breaks with plenty of water and Gatorade. During a break on a particularly hot day a little skipper like the one in the feature image kept landing on my wet shirt. (Presumably it was after the salt I lost through sweating. ) My workmate looked at me with wide eyes and congratulated me on getting my wish. I was a little confused and asked him what he meant. He explained to me that these butterflies were really angels in disguise and that if one landed on you it means that they were bringing back the wishes that you had made on a dandelion. The longer we worked that day the more the little skippers landed on us and eventually we began to make guesses about which of our wishes was coming true. By the time we finished our shift we figured that we were getting everything that we’d ever wished for. I had never heard of that superstition before but all that guessing made the day go by quickly. It was fun to think about getting everything that we’d wished for.

The older man passed away at the end of that summer and I went back to college. Every time I see one of these skipper butterflies I’m reminded of the man I worked with one summer and all the wishes that were granted by his angels.

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Encountering Bluets

Color Photography

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Bluets 43019” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

I can be a bit of a frustrating trail partner for those who wish to get to the other end of the trail in the most efficient way possible. I like to take my time and examine every little patch of ground along the way. I want to experience life in detail. If I had simply been rushing from point A to point B I might have overlooked the small unassuming cluster of flowers. I have seen two types of them. Blue ones or white ones it doesn’t matter, they’re all called Bluets or Quaker Ladies. They are not always found in small clusters like in the feature image. They can actually form large colonies. The guide books list them as having uses in folk medicine but I’m neither a doctor or a certified herbalist as well as never tried using them that way. Therefore, I can’t really cover those aspects. But what I can cover is the wonderful feeling that I get when I spot them in early Spring. As we transition into Summer I can look forward to seeing them up into July.

Bluets seem to prefer the shade and that might make them useful for brightening some of the edges of my yard. This colony was on federal land so I’ll continue to enjoy them on my trips to the lake. But, there is some growing up on the mountain behind my house that can be transplanted. It should be as simple as dividing them like any other garden plant that has the same growth habits.

After a few minutes of admiration I raised my lens and took a few shots to preserve the moment and continued down the trail to the water’s edge for a few minutes of peace and quiet contemplation.

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The String Of Diamonds

Color Photography

Hello Friends and thank you for your support of my blog. Tonight’s feature image is “Morning Treasures” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The soft mists float through my Appalachian Mountains after a night of heavy drizzle. The morning sun breaks through the clouds revealing clusters of shimmering diamonds on silk strings. They are scattered all over the abandoned strip mine. If not for the fact that I was heading into my day job, I would have thought that I had stumbled upon some fairy treasure trove in the dreamworld. But this isn’t the work of elves and pixies. These magical tapestries are woven by the spiders.

Each droplet seems to float in the air forming a perfect sphere. Most of the webs are chaotic teepee shaped masses but one stands out from the others. One is an Orb-weaver.

All spiders are genetically programmed to make whatever kind of web it is that they weave. But the Orb-weaver seems to blend engineering and art. Regardless of how the web is anchored the spacing between the chords comes out even. Well, most of the time. Nobody gets it right the first time. Everyone has to practice and even then everyone makes mistakes. Even those who are genetically programmed with the engineering pattern. Young spiderlings have the pattern but mot the experience.

Though I don’t really want them in the house I do try to tolerate them in gardens and around the property as part of my pest control. Especially the Orb-weaver spiders whose webs continue to work to catch pests well after the spider has moved on.

Most people today are aware of how strong a spider’s web is. What looks like a monofilament strand of silk is actually a spun cable made of multiple fibers. But there’s more. A spider web is held together with two types of liquid. There’s the sticky goo that we’re all familiar with and there is a natural preservative. Spiders wrap up their prey in silken cocoons to preserve it. Science has confirmed that the second liquid has antibiotic and antifungal properties. If you’ve ever heard that in folk medicine to put a clean spider’s web on a cut there’s more to it than just covering the wound and stopping the bleeding. A fresh spider’s web might actually prevent infection.

The dew covered web has been on my “target list” for a while and I want to get different angles and aspects as opportunity allows but for now the clock is ticking and I only have a few minutes to get what I can before I start my shift. As I snap a few extra clicks of the shutter the vibration of my smartphone alerts me that I’m out of time. Whith any luck this spider will keep this spot for a while and I’ll have another opportunity to see water droplets glistening in the sun.

I should also give a shout out to my favorite spider of all time on YouTube. LUCAS!

https://youtu.be/VrS6akzR3sk

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The Spring’s Flame & The Return Of The Hummingbirds

Color Photography

Hello Friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “The Flame Of Spring” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The rain fades away under the cover of darkness. As the new dawn drives away the mists the honeysuckle burns brightly in defiance of the cold rain. The orange flowers open slowly at first, just a few at a time in the early stage. However, the rest all seem to open at once overnight. It’s as if the dawn sun has set the bushes ablaze. It’s normally about this time of year that I begin to hear the buzzing of tiny wings all throughout the different types of honeysuckle on my land. The bees have been working the wildflowers for a few weeks now but another set of wings will soon be joining the rest.

Small and agile, a living dart zips in and around the sweet smelling blooms testing each one to see if it contains the ambrosia detected. His energy is sustained by the nectar found within the base of the flowers. He has flown thousands of miles to get here in time for the bloom. The Ruby Throated Hummingbird as arrived at long last.

I have yet to actually spot one this year but I am expecting them soon. I have plenty of photos of the hummingbird’s favorite foods but catching a good photo of one has been as challenging as catching up with the eagles on the Kanawha River. Maybe even more so because they never really seem to rest for more than a few seconds. However because they do favor my honeysuckle bush and azaleas I have set a goal for myself to get a good shot of one eventually.

They say that the brightest flame burns quickly and that’s certainly true for my orange honeysuckle. The bush is at full bloom now and I’ve gotten several photos of this year’s flowers but I am still waiting for hummingbirds to make their appearances.

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