Tag Archives: Flowers

Wetland Wildflowers

INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, Orlando Wetlands, , , ,

I drove over to Orlando Wetlands Park last Friday morning and walked around the 2.5 mile ‘Birding Route’ foot path. I arrived around 9 am and didn’t expect to see much wildlife. But once again this urban oasis didn’t disappoint me. I saw the usual alligators, including one that posed with some flowers, as well as many herons, egrets, ducks, etc. (Note: you can go to my gallery to see larger versions of these photos).

Alligator and white flowers

New for me this visit were some Sandhill Cranes, and a raccoon. I was walking quietly down the middle of the path taking pictures when the raccoon came around the corner. It had it’s head down and I took several photos before it looked up.

Oblivious Raccoon

It did a double take, decided it didn’t like what it saw, and took off pretty quickly.

Not so oblivious raccoon

There were also a tremendous number of dragonflies out there. I’m worried that this means the lovebug season will be especially bad for us here in Florida this year.

The highlight of this trip was the many varieties of flowers in bloom. It made for a very colorful stroll.

The biggest problem this time of year is that our weather is turning very hot. By the time I left the park to head home around 11 am the temperature was approaching 90 degrees. Get out early and get back inside while it’s still cool!

The rest of my photos for this post are here.

©2009, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Roadside Flowers

INSIDE FLORIDA,

There are many opportunities around Central Florida, especially at this time of year, to photograph flowers. Lynn and I drove out to Mount Dora last Saturday to visit the antique mall there. Along the way we noticed quite a few wild flowers along the road. On the way back, she pulled over to let me make this photo.

Roadside Wildflowers

©2009, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Oh, them golden trumpets …

INSIDE FLORIDA, , ,

The yellow trumpet tree is very common in Central Florida. When in bloom, it is one of the most beautiful flowering trees you’ll see. When it isn’t in bloom, you won’t notice it.

Lynn and I noticed this one on the way to breakfast this morning and made a few photos on the way home. It’s already dropped quite a few blooms, but is still quite pretty.

Yellow Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia)
Yellow Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia)
Yellow Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia)

©2009, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Four photos – two related, two not

INSIDE FLORIDA, VARIOUS, , , , ,

For some reason, the shapes of trees appeal to me as a photographic subject. I think it’s at least partially related to their fractal nature. Here are two different views of a tree in the parking lot of my local library. The first one was taken back in 2003 with a Minolta 7Hi camera using an infra-red filter over the lens, converted to black and white. (Note: you can click on each of these to see a larger version)

Infra-red Library Tree

This second photo was made yesterday in color. I like the way the blue sky showing through the clouds seems to follow branches in the top middle portion of the tree and the the green growth in the canopy behind the tree lines up with its branches on the right side.

Library Tree, color

The third photo is of a Ferris wheel in the parking lot at a local mall against the storm clouds this morning. Hopefully the storm will clear before evening or not too many people will be at the fair.

Ferris wheel and Storm clouds

The fourth and last photo is a macro shot of an African violet plant. I had to take this hand-held, since I don’t yet have an l-bracket for my D700.

African Violet

©2009, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

A walk from Ohio to Kentucky (and back)

Ohio, , , ,

Mary bought us two tickets to see Swell Season last Monday in Columbus and flew me up to Cincinnati for a nice long weekend which just happened to coincide with their version of Oktoberfest . We also worked on chores around her condo all weekend. All in all, it made for a very nice visit. Oktoberfest was very crowded on Saturday night, The lines for beer were 40 – 50 deep at some of the stands – Cincinnati is a thirsty place! If you go, Sunday is much less crowded. This is a photo I made of the crowd with my iPhone (you can click on each of these images for larger versions).

Oktoberfest crowds

One evening we went up on her roof and I made a couple of photos of churches that you can see from there. Here’s one of them:

A church from the roof

Mary had to work Monday morning, so I was on my own. I took my Canon G9 and set off for a nice stroll through downtown Cincinnati in search of photo ops.

Garfield Place has a little park with a statue of him.

Garfield statue

Fountain Square is interesting, but I had to struggle for something photogenic due to the lighting and crowds.

The fountain in Fountain Square

For $2 you can go to the observation deck at the top of the Carew Tower, which is Cincinnati’s tallest building. Mary and I did that Sunday evening and I made this panorama. You can see that the crowds are a lot thinner than they were on Saturday, although this was taken quite a bit earlier in the evening.

Downtown Cincinnati

The Roebling Suspension Bridge was built in the 1860s and spans the Ohio river between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. When I saw that it has a pedestrian lane, I decided to walk across since it would make such a great title for a blog post and might even have a few photos hidden away somewhere. Here’s a two shot vertical panorama I made from the Kentucky side looking back toward Cincinnati.

Roebling Bridge

Quite a pleasant Monday morning. When Mary got back from work, she made me walk to lunch! The rest of my photos for this post are here.

©2008, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Memorial Day

OUTSIDE FLORIDA, Washington D.C., , , , ,

On this Memorial Day, 2008, I would like to thank each veteran who has answered our call to defend our country.

I had a few hours off one afternoon during a recent business trip up to Rockville, Maryland so I grabbed my Canon G9 and took the subway into downtown Washington DC. It was just a quick stroll — my main photo hint for this is to take a lot more time and a lot more pictures.

The World War II memorial is new since I was there last (many years ago). This is a photo of the Florida section.


The Vietnam Memorial always affects me deeply each time I see it. The gifts and tokens placed at the wall by loved ones of our fallen veterans, even after so many years is profoundly moving.

A section of the Vietnam Memorial – Washington, D.C.

Now, I apologize in advance for getting a little political on a blog that is devoted to photography. Here are some statistics taken from the Veterans Administration, U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (originally from an article on the San Francisco Chronicle Web site – no longer on line):

  • The suicide rate of veterans is at least three times the national suicide rate. In 2005, the suicide rate for veterans 18 to 24 years old was three to four times higher than non-veterans.
  • About 154,000 veterans nationwide are homeless on any given night. One-fourth of the homeless population is veterans.
  • There are more homeless Vietnam veterans than the number of soldiers who were killed during that war.
  • It takes at least 5.5 years, on average, to resolve a benefit claim with the Veteran’s Administration.
  • More than 600,000 unresolved claims are backlogged with the Veteran’s Administration.
  • Approximately 18.5 percent of service members who have returned from Afghanistan and Iraq currently have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or depression.
  • 19.5 percent of these veterans report experiencing traumatic brain injury.
  • Roughly half of those who need treatment seek it, but only slightly more than half of those who receive treatment receive at least minimally adequate care, according to an April 2008 Rand Report.

As a citizen and a voter, I am ashamed of these numbers. Taking care of those that protect our country is a fundamental obligation of government. Each and every one of us should demand that our elected officials honor commitments we have made to veterans who have honored us with their service. Until we do so, Memorial Day seems a shallow honor at best.

My photos from this trip are posted here .

©2008, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Seaworld

Cameras and Photography, INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, Theme Parks,

I took my new Canon G9 to Seaworld to get used to it and see how well it works. First impressions are very positive. The photo quality / color is about the best of any point and shoot I’ve owned. The features and controls are plentiful and relatively easy to use. Noise does get noticeable when you use a higher iso, but it does pack a lot of photography creation tools into a very portable package.

Garden at Seaworld

The rest of my photos for this post are here.

©2007, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Storm and Flowers

INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Jesup, Lake Jesup Sunflowers, Sanford, , , , ,

Storm and Lake Jesup Flowers

Lake Jesup is in Seminole County, Florida between Oviedo / Winter Springs and Sanford. Wild flowers on the north-east shore start blooming in late September and peak the first week in October. To see them, head north-east on the toll way (417) from Oviedo / Winter Springs. You’ll see them on both sides of the road after you cross the bridge. There are many more toward the east.

I made my first photograph here in October of 2006, using a Nikon P1 point and shoot camera (image 1 in the gallery). I liked it, but wasn’t completely happy. I made it facing into the sun just after sunrise, and the flowers were underexposed since the sky dominated the camera meter. Some post processing made the flowers more prominent but still not as bright as I remembered seeing them. By the time I returned the following weekend, the blooms had passed their peak – so I had to wait a whole year to re-make the shot.

The image above was made today at 5:45 pm, looking east, just before that rain storm swept over me. Luckily, I did get back into my truck with my camera gear before the storm hit – it was quite a down pour.

The light in the scene this time was much more balanced. I also used my Nikon D80 in raw mode, which gave me a greater dynamic range to play with. I do wish I could have gotten over the water filled ditch at the side of the highway to include some foreground detail in the scene. Oh well, there’s always next year.

I think this is a better image than the one from a year ago. You can see several more of my Lake Jesup flower photos here.

©2007, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Road Narrows Ahead – North America's highest paved roadway

Cameras and Photography, Colorado, Must do list, OUTSIDE FLORIDA, , , , ,

Mount Evans is about 35 miles west of Denver. We left early (before 6) and were up on the mountain by 9, but we stopped quite a few times on the way. It could take you more or less time depending on how many stops you make and what the traffic is like. since we went up on a weekday, we saw very few cars. To get there, take I70 west out of the city, to the 3rd exit for Idaho Springs (route 103 south).

Summit lake, clouds and flowers on Mount Evans

The Mt. Evans road is the highest paved road in north America and is 14,200 feet at the top. I’ve been to Denver many times but hadn’t heard about it before. I’ve been listening to the Nikonians Image Doctors podcast and they recommended this place a couple of times (ID#39 adn ID#45) so I wanted to see it while I was out there. It is very much worth the trip! If you go, try to make it on a weekday. The weekends are supposed to be very crowded. This Mt. Evans website has a lot of helpful information.

Our drive was quite spectacular. It started out very cloudy, with some light rain, but the top was above the clouds and on the way down, it began to clear. We saw a lot of wildlife and July is apparently a very good time for wildflowers.

Elk herd near mile marker 8 on Mount Evans

Lynn and I are both flat-landers from Florida and we were out of breath at the top at even the slightest exercise. You’ll want to plan carefully and prepare for any hikes you want to do. There are some very spectacularly fit people out there. We saw several riding bicycles all the way to the top.

You’ll probably use a wide angle lens the most. A long lens will be helpful for some wildlife, although you can get very close to the goats and marmots.

My gallery of Mount Evans photos is here

©2007, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Sunday morning macro: flowers in the mall parking lot

Cameras and Photography, INSIDE FLORIDA, Technique,

Lynn and I were at the mall yesterday and noticed some new flower beds. I just got a 60mm f2.8D micro Nikkor lens for my D80, so I went back this morning to see how well it works. This is the first true macro (1:1 magnification) lens I’ve ever had. I like it a lot, but it will take a while to get used to.

Macro flower

Some observations:
– Focus is very critical at high magnification ratios, since the depth of field is so small (even at f16 or f22). The auto focus works well, but it’s difficult to get it exactly on what you want. The D80’s ability to select which focus sensor to use helps.

– Camera shake is worse at high magnifications, too. I took most of these handheld, and using a shutter speed of 1/focal length (x1.5 for the sensor size factor) wasn’t fast enough to freeze my motion. Luckily, it was bright enough that I could use a fairly high shutter speed at f16.

Today’s flower photos are here.

©2007, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.