26 Jul 19 Two Fridays back we took a trip to one of the more interesting nurseries we've ever found which we do a couple three times a year, Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy, otherwise known as Far Reaches Farm, in Port Townsend. The two links tell you all about the place but you don't have to live here to appreciate the work done there to provide access to plants you would otherwise not know about or ever see. We get something rare from them every time we visit and it makes our landscaping somewhat unusual and hopefully interesting. I did some freelance work for the owner a couple years back so I now have access to the farm any time I want to take photos although it is only open on Fridays and Saturdays from April until usually October to the general public. This last trip we got three new specimens and spent a couple hours just wandering around. To and from Port Townsend I was noticing that one of my favorite flowers, the CA Poppy, was in full bloom so I tried my hand at getting a few captures of the flower showing off as best possible. After a few futile efforts I found a location with the poppies really popping with the right lighting to present them at their best. I took one of the captures and made 7 versions of it. For today's macro/close-up I'm sharing a totally straight version as well as one of the creative versions as I think you might find them both appealing. The straight shot is what the camera recorded; the other is obviously manipulated (Topaz Impression 2). Back Lit & A Turner; Nikon D500; 105mm macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.
Same as above.
19 Jul 19 I had planned on another image for today but a day in Sequim enjoying the lavender farms 24 hours prior to the annual festival and crowds, shooting whatever caught my eye, resulted in another offering and Jan selected it. I have had a couple favorite farms over the years but as they grow larger and larger crops, there is more crowding of the plants, and the fields to my way of thinking are not quite as attractive as they used to be. This growth offers different opportunities and I need to learn to embrace them but I still like the smaller and greater number of farms we enjoyed about 10 years ago. One of the favorite farms about which I've written before that has lots of wild (planted by the birds) opium poppies growing among the lavender had hundreds of plants today post flower but with partially developed seed pods. Unfortunately for us they were still green and not ready to harvest (we bad folks always take home a dozen or so of the pods because the farm won't sell them to us) so we won't be adding to our garden this year courtesy of the farm, but I did take the opportunity to take several shots of them. This submission is among my favorites from the shoot and while I wish they were brown (mature) instead of green (seeds not mature) they all made for nice compositions. I shared one similar to this around 2009 but it was a fully creative version and while quite colorful, really didn't do a good job of representing the plant. This one is totally straight, save for a little cropping off of both left and right sides, so it should give you a good idea of how the poppy looks after it drops its flower. So red opium poppy plants in the foreground and lavender in the background. Other than the cropping, this is straight from the camera. Standing Out with the Group Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f /9.
