Daily Image - Jul '21 Archive

15 Jul 21 Heading out one morning before the crack of dawn, we made it to Beryl Spring as the light was beginning to make its presence known right around 0500 sun time. It was a little on the eerie side when we stopped to shoot at this often crowded location but one at which I'd never visited before. Thinking it not worth the effort I remained in the SUV while my partner got out to shoot. After spending some time watching him I finally decided I'd give it a go. The light was rapidly beginning to change the scene and truth be told I should have begun shooting sooner than I did. But a couple of frames turned out to be acceptable and I thought one would be a good candidate for a Theatrical Thursday submission. Twenty minutes earlier this would have been pure black. I thought about sharing the B&W version I made of it but in the end thought it a bit too muddy. The clouds are coming off the spring and if you could smell them you would think of rotten eggs as the spring has a high sulfur content. About 6 years back I shared a few shots from the other side of the road of Beryl Bear and her cubs. No bear at this location this year but the spring was there as always. Anytime you can be near one of these thermal spots on a cold morning awaiting for Sol to arrive can make for a fun outing; all you need is a wee bit of imagination. What looks to be a cell phone tower in the background is just a couple of neighboring trees. This is straight from the camera. Blue Hour Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 1,600; 1/20 sec @ f /10.

29 Jul 21 This Thursday's Theatrical submission is of a single breeding bull Bison. I've elected to put him in a very windy condition. What I wanted to do with this shot is illustrate the enormous size of these gentle giants. This is a rear end shot, but I chose it as it provides for a good comparison. Looking at his hips, that is about the height of the hips on a Black Angus, Hereford, White Face, etc bull. But with those cattle the rest of the animal is the same height as opposed to what you are seeing on this Bison. I've not altered the physical aspect of this guy in any way, they really are this big although having him head down and grazing does give a wee bit of illusion. This individual is likely weighing in around 2,500+ pounds and is capable of speeds of 43 mph. He was at one of those ponds like that I shared yesterday. We seldom see guys this big at the condo but we do have some on their way to matching him. This is straight from the camera sans some cropping and the conversion to what you see using the Topaz plug-in Impression 2. Blow'n in the Wind Nikon D500; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

06 Jul 21 Between Mammoth and Slough Creek there is a stretch of park that has several small pond like areas where the bison are frequently found. Generally in small groups of maybe 15 - 50 animals but sometimes in much smaller groupings of just a few beasts. In the spring they are accompanied by the red dogs and in the fall generally with the occasional large bull getting ready for the rut. In the spring the ponds are generally full but in the fall that is not always the case. Of all the areas in the park for photographing bison this is my favorite area. Many of the ponds are roadside but an equal number down hill some with large rocks up top. The rocks are good for both staying out of the bison's sight as well as interesting additions to your composition. Visit earlier or later in the day when the sun is lower in the sky and you can get some nice reflections of the critters as they walk by the water's edge often taking a sip as they go. The young'ns even like to play in it a bit. It is of course catch what you can as you drive through unless you elect to pick a pond and spend a few hours watching the action. Today we have a couple young bulls - several years too young for the rut - just enjoying a morning brunch. One of hundreds of shots I took, this one just caught my eye. Other than cropping off a lot of unneeded background greenery, this is what the camera captured. Pond Life Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

28 Jul 21 About 3 weeks back I shared an image of a couple of bison near the edge of a pond with their reflections framed with a few shafts of yellow grass. This is another of these ponds, this time displaying the entirety of the pond sans critters. There are a varying number of these ponds as I call them throughout the year dependent on time of year and amount of precipitation. The more snow obviously the more ponds. An interesting feature to my eye are the rocks that are found with all of the ponds, sometimes just near them, sometime just within the pond, and sometime both. While they vary in size from huge boulders to stones, a lot of them are rather pointed and thus a bit unusual. Several of the ponds are regularly visited by waterfowl, primarily ducks, but I have seen an errant Canada Goose on occasion. These ponds are a great location on a warm afternoon to spread your red and white checkered tablecloth and have a nice lunch. Whether or not you have company will be up to you by which pond you select. If you pick one minus critters it will be a much quieter experience; pick one with critters and I can almost guarantee you will be annoyed by others. This is an 11 frame hand held pano; I've cropped to get a full image and doe a wee bit of dodging and burn to create some depth. Lunch Stop Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

12 Jul 21 About 30 miles sorta west of the condo can be found Quake Lake. It was formed naturally following an earthquake in the Madison Canyon River area on the night of 17 August 59 that almost instantly moved 80 million tons of rock down the hill, across the Madison River blocking it, and traveling up the other side of the canyon. That 80 million tons of rock that slid off the canyon wall comprised a hillside 225 feet thick and in the process it moved boulders the size of a motel rooms as if they were beach balls. 28 individuals lost their lives in that landslide, 21 adults and 7 children. Today there is a visitor's (interpretive) center built at the location that tells the whole story. It has a lot to share and is worth a visit. There is a nice parking area, a short drive to a magnificent viewpoint, and a few paved walkways taking you to different vantage points. The visit is both interesting and sad. The visitor's center isn't open year round, but even when it isn't open and the road to the parking area closed, you can still find parking on the grounds in front and walk where you want. Taking the time to take it all in won't be wasted. The lake formed by the landslide - Quake Lake - has been in place since the quake, 63 years ago; the geologists studying the area say it will likely be around maybe another 50 years before the erosive force of the Madison River breaks up the dam that formed the lake and releases all that backed up water returning the Madison to the way it was before the quake. (Wouldn't want to be downstream the day that occurs.) Today you are looking across from the visitor's center to the far hillside that broke loose creating the lake. The entire area lacking trees as well as that with just a tree here and there is what slid off the side of the mountain. So effectively, everything to the right of that curved tree line on the left is what cut loose and crossed over to the other side. The Madison is in the gorge below the highway. This is what the camera captured. Grand View Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1,000 sec @ f / 9.

05 Jul 21 Among the locations included in the West Yellowstone Birding Trail: birds of the High Country brochure was one called Whit's Lake Road. While it identified a number of birds that might have been fun to record, the main attraction was moose. So, having been skunked earlier in our search for moose, we thought we'd give this an evening attempt and perhaps luck out. We didn't! It was a delightful drive off of Hwy-287 and not all that far from the condo, say 10 miles at most. We took the one lane road virtually to its end tho nary a four legged creature was to be found, and only a couple of birds at that. But as we approached the highway on the return leg the firmament began to put on a show and so we stopped for a bit to take it in. This is one of the shots I captured. IF you could extend the view another approximate 25% to the left you could see where we have the condo. The snow stick will give you an idea as to how little actual snow accumulation there is this close to Hebgen lake. This is basically what the camera recorded save for the removal of a lot of bare sky. Lone Tree Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

27 Jul 21 I've written a few times about a small pond we pass by in each direction we when we visit the condo called Beaver Pond. It seems to be in two sections with Hwy 287 dividing the two sections. That may not be accurate but it does appear such. The two sides are distinctly different and offer very different photographic opportunities. On the right side of the road heading towards Yellowstone, which I think is looking east, there are several dead trees in the water and with the right light they can be very attractive. I shared a shot of some of them last year that was basically to the right of today's offering and featured what I called a mailbox as its theme. This time around there are two players sharing the stage, a dead stump - also in the previous shared image - and a number of reflections. It was the reflections that caught my eye originally but the tree offered some balance albeit centrally so I decided to include it as well. The original capture had a LOT of competing elements in the form of grass in the foreground and the tops of all the trees in the background so I've removed them in an attempt to force the reflections into prominence. The stump was able to hold its own. While there was a single duck paddling around near the left portion of the frame it is in need of some more critters to round things out. Unfortunately they didn't sign up for the shoot. Other than the severe cropping, this is what the camera recorded. Reflection Games Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

08 Jul 21 When you take the exit off I-90 for Virginia City you are treated to two old cities, Virginia City and Nevada City. While Virginia city is just as it was when it was in its prime, and open to the public for free although all you can do is look into the stores, Nevada City is a collection of old buildings you can stroll through but you must pay a fee to so do. BUT, you don't have to go inside, there is a fair amount to see on the outside, and more importantly, there is an old RR yard you can wander around. A short walk from one end takes you to an old gold mining spot where you can pan for gold. I think the best part of the location is the RR section even though it isn't actually part of the Nevada City "park." Today's image is taken from inside the RR area looking across the road to the Nevada City park. Many of the buildings in the park have come from other locations but have been assembled - so to speak - as to resemble an old MT town. It was a real town, has a very interesting history, but not everything in it is original. We've never visited when it is open, but I do like to walk around where possible and shoot. I've shared a couple other images (HDR) of the RR stuff; this is the first shot I've share of just the land. All of the RR cars and other paraphernalia are located behind me including the station house. If you travel this way to Yellowstone I highly recommend this and Virginia City as worthwhile stops. Be prepared to spend a fair amount of time as it is all rather interesting! Other than the conversion to B & W using nik Silver Efex Pro 2 this is what the camera captured. A Threatening Sky Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

03 Jul 21 HAPPY 4TH of JULY Everyone - When I put together the image for Thursday about the scotch broom my bride lamented that my choice of image was not very good and did not fully convey the message; "very disappointed" I believe were her exact words. My response to that was well, then, pick out what you think appropriate and we'll send over the weekend. So she did and what I'm sharing is that choice. This picture in truth is far more representative of how the hill sides look now that the trees have been harvested but not nearly as photogenic in my mind as what I shared initially. Opinions will vary greatly I'm sure, but this is unequivocally how the hillsides look for the most part around here after harvest if the land isn't quickly replanted. Now that the scotch broom has died back the fireweed is putting on a display. More about that next week. This is straight from the camera. Hillside Color Nikon D500; 18 - 200, Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

01 Jul 21 Growing up it was always said that the spring allergies were primarily caused by the scotch broom plant. Having heard it said for years I was surprised when my father's allergist said nope, folks are not allergic to it but rather to other pollens that arise at the same time. Never did get vetted confirmation of such, but as a kid that was allergic to virtually everything, scotch broom not included, I'm inclined to think dad's allergist correct. Either way, allergen or not, it is a plant that I find rather beautiful. Around our parts it grows anywhere it is given a chance. About 4 years ago one of our local tree farms was clear cut for timber. The owners have been doing so roughly every 30 years as far back as I can remember. Normally, once cleared, it is sprayed for "garbage" plants and then replanted for another crop of trees. This time around the tree huggers, who obviously know more than the farmers, prevented them from spraying, so now we have a huge abundance of scotch broom and NO trees. Not sure scotch broom is as viable a crop as trees, but it does make for some lovely spring color for about 6 weeks a year. Today's submission is a shot of one of those treeless farms. This is what the camera captured. Roadside Spring Color Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/1,600 sec @ f / 9.

02 Jul 21 When we put in our first yard back in 1972, one of the flowers we most enjoyed was the Allium giantium, or large onion, if you prefer. It was a huge balled purple flower on a very tall stalk, much like a dandelion after WWIII might look. We've been attempting to plant these in each succeeding garden but never seem to get the same plant we had back then. We currently have several in the yard but they too have not measured up to what we had in the 70s. Still, they are lovely to see both when in full bloom and when they have gone to seed. With the 4th just a couple days away I thought a capture of the flower in seed with a wee bit of manipulation might be appropriate. So for this Friday's macro/close-up I've taken one of the flowers and played with it some. The blue link above will give you an idea of how the flower actually looks, so go jump out and take a look before perusing today's offering. What I used for the base image was a full seed head. The dandelion analogy will help to give you an idea of how it looks naturally. That then has been manipulated to try and imitate one of those big explosions of color seen in most fireworks displays. This is what the camera captured but with the filter Buzsim from the Topaz plugin Simplify 4 applied. Painted Garishly Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 250; 1/400 sec @ f / 9.

07 Jul 21 So what do you do when presented with a -4 tide? I suppose it depends on who or what you are. If you are inclined towards photography you might just elect to go venture out and see what the low tide provides. Or, if you are a shore bird, say perhaps a Great Blue Heron, you may choose to go fishing or hunting - depending on your perspective - for a meal. As it turns out, maybe both things simultaneously. Which brings us to today's submission of a Great Blue Heron making a successful stab at a Sculpin. We just see the capture today and not the fish which is still under water. This guy has just alighted from a position about 25 feet to the left, having spotted his meal in flight, and dropped down for the capture. I took a sequence from take off to swallow which occupied perhaps 5 minutes total. Always fun to watch these guys taking advantage of the smorgasbord being served although those being served likely don't agree. Other than some serious cropping, this is what the camera captured. Mealtime Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/3,200 sec @ f / 9.

09 Jul 21 So what else might you do besides shoot bird photos when presented with a -4 tide. Well, for one thing, you might just elect to put on some waders - or go barefoot - and walk through the exposed seabed, which just hours prior might have been under as much as 30 feet of water. It will all depend on the slope of the seabed you visit for the full tide depth, but it will almost always show you things you don't see on a daily basis. Depending on the materials available, especially rocks, you will likely find some very interesting forms of life. Now if you really want to have a good experience, you might consider picking up a book on the subject, such as Between Pacific Tides, a 1939 publication of Edward Ricketts a marine biologist who was also an influence on the writings of John Steinbeck. This book only relates to the far left coast but I'll wager there is another similar text addressing the right coast. It was a required text in one of my undergrad classes and I still have it. When we lived in Ballard we always spent some time wandering the local beaches during these low tides; often there were docents from the local aquarium strolling around talking about the marine life but they were occasionally more interested in keeping you from exploring than they were in helping you discover. Not all of course, but enough. We drove to a nearby beach called Scenic for this last low tide and found a fair amount of marine life, much more so than in the last several years. That was encouraging. After the bout of Seastar Wasting Disease hit here in 2014, the amount of marine life in the Intertidal Zone (0 - 30 fsw), seemed to be substantially diminished. This past low tide suggests things are greatly improving. I even saw a couple of sea stars. One of the creatures we found was a moon snail. I've only seen two in my life, this latest being the second, the first about 12 years ago on one of the Ballard beaches. Since the snail itself is seen infrequently, although its egg case which looks like a small sombrero with it's top cut off is a common sight, I thought I'd show you one. It is in Jan's hand to give you a size comparison. After I took a few shots it was placed back exactly where it had been in the sand beneath a bed of eel grass. This is exactly what the camera captured. Dinner Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

14 Jul 21 It's back to the -4 tide again for today's submission. I mentioned the sea star wasting disease in a previous missive saying that we saw a return on the sea stars during our visit that day. We only saw one but another individual who was with us when I found this Many Rayed star had seen another species that morning. When I came upon this individual it was completely on its back and all the pseudopodia (tube feet) were waving at me. Knowing that they don't normally exist on their backs, I carefully turned this one over so that it was on its underside as one would normally encounter them. But it didn't like that and immediately started returning to the state in which I found it. So I helped it get back as it was and covered it up with eel grass. You are looking at it "correctly" positioned with 6 of its arms curled and displaying the pseudopodia. If you have a sharp eye you may see 2-3 Gobies, a Gunnel, and a fairy shrimp near the star. I had to shoot through the water which had some small amount of wave action and accompanying sand circulating in the water so the image is about as sharp as I could get it under the water conditions. This is what the camera recorded save for some cropping. Top Side Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1 / 250 sec @ f / 9.

13 Jul 21 Heading out Monday a.m. we thought it odd that we had an amount of fog rolling through a neighbor's property but no fog horns sounding just a short distance away at the ferry terminal as they always do during foggy weather. Found out why as we started across the Hood Canal bridge as there was a single band of fog stretching across the canal but constrained in such a way as to look somewhat like it was being blown through an invisible tube. It did however make for some interesting views as it hid some objects, somewhat shrouded others, and left most everything else in plain view. Here is one of those more interesting areas. This is straight from the camera save for some cropping off of unneeded material and conversion to B & W using the nik Silver Efex Pro 2 plugin. High Contrast Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/2,000 sec @ f / 9.

20 Jul 21 We are going to take another look at yesterday's offering. Now I'm willing to venture that the majority of you have heard the old adage of "if it doesn't look good in color, just convert it to B&W and it'll look great". My wallet and cc is betting that didn't originate with Mr Adams!! I'm gonna go out on a limb, mind you a very large and sturdy one, and propose that for a B&W image to look good, it must first be the best possible color image. For some that may sound crazy, so let me address this. And for those of you better versed in the science of color as applied to photography, feel more than welcome to correct me. Tone, which I'm going to simplify for this discussion as the being intensity of light, is all that we have in a photographic image. Real simple; no light, nothing to capture - think of a darkroom when all the light is turned off. So more light, more tones. This was/is the basis of the Adams/Archer Zone System. 11 zones, from 0 being pure black to 10 being pure white. [[ In digital photography we assign the number 0 to Zone 0 and the number 255 to Zone 10. So we have 256 tones (2^8=256) since we are employing pixels capable of just 256 levels of light. ]] With 0 equal to no light, i.e. pure black, and 10 equal to all the light capable of being captured - determined by the manufacturer of the sensor. So the goal in any image is to capture all of the tones in the scene. We then assign a hue to each tone with differing zone levels representing a different hue. Considering that we have 3 individual colors (red, green, & blue) with which we are doing this, we now have the potential for 16.7 million different hues (placement on a color wheel). These potential 16.7 million hues (colors) are what we want to assign a gray value remembering that from 1 to 254 are all "shades" of a color, with the remaining two values being black (0) and white (255) in each of the 3 colors. So before you can have a good B&W, you first need to have a good color image meaning we need to make the maximum use of all those hues. Then when each color is converted to its respective B&W value, you have a good B&W image. If you don't start with the color being what it should, then you can't expect the B&W to be what it should; garbage in, garbage out. Even realizing that, I still find it hard to get the B&W images I would like so I only share those that I think can stand on their own (get past my in-house critic) even though I make a B&W version of each image. We'll come back to this for Thursday's mailing. Same info as I shared with yesterday's image except for the conversion to B & W using the nik Silver Efex Pro 2 plug-in. Anselish Nikon D500; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1,000 sec @ f / 9.

19 Jul 21 I thought I'd return to our Hood Canal jaunt of last week for today's submission. At the mid-point of the trip we decided to try some new roads we've never driven before to make our way back home. Now this is one of Jan's favorite pass times and she is always ready to go down some new road or take a tour of some new model home, but for the most part we limit the latter. We found three new roads on this last trip and on the first one, perhaps only two miles long if that, a section of cleared area with a tree line in the back the leading edge of which was dead trees preceded by new growth. I made some comment about it as we drove by but by the end of the road, having been mulling my decision to not stop and shoot as having been a poor decision, said I think I want to go back and shoot those trees. Jan wholeheartedly agreed saying they looked like a line of ghosts. So back we went which took maybe a minute, found a reasonably good spot, and I took some shots. Finished that, drove almost to the end of the road again, stopped, and while her highness did her thing shot some more. The shots were all a little different, some even looking like dancing ghost people. This is one I rather liked for the colors, the trees, and the clouds although the clouds were not to my taste so I helped them some. Other than distraction removal and the help with the clouds this is what the sensor captured. Ghosts Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1,000 sec @ f / 9.

22 Jul 21 As you have by now realized I've gone with a triptych of these ghost trees and an opportunity to talk a bit about each version. Over the years I've had an ongoing friendly debate with a couple of members WRT my photography being that of an artist. For the most part I've strongly rejected that idea, but of late have come to accept that, depending on perspective, it may be true. Certainly with all the creative versions of the images that is not debatable. It is with the straight versions that I have found this application of artist as misapplied. But of late I've come to the conclusion that all of the photography I share is art; why the change of heart? The answer is that with each image I make slight adjustments to what the camera has recorded to render the capture closer to what I was seeing/feeling/experiencing. In other words attempting to convey to the observer what moved me to take that image in the first place. That is true for every press of the shutter, not just the few frames I share. I'm sharing a paragraph from a book I'm reading that goes like this: "The three most important elements in artistic creation are representation, creation, and communication. All artistic creations contain a theme, that is, the message the artist seeks to communicate, regardless of the form the work takes -- whether it be a poem, painting, statue, photograph, novel, play, dance, or film. The artist delivers the theme to the hearts of the reader, viewer, or listener. This process is the communication -- the transmission of the artist's mind to the recipient." As I've stated many times since I began these mailings my only goal, which I imagine equates to a theme, is to share the magnificence of God's creation, thus I must be guilty of the moniker artist. It's taken me a long time to come to terms with this idea, that of being an artist, but I guess it is true. That should please a couple of you. As recipients of these mailings I would imagine that you too can further the artist concept by what you may chose to do with them, say arranging them into a sets of 3 (triptych) of which you would have six choices I believe. And of course that arrangement could be continuously rearranged to suit the mood. Same info as for the other two versions, this time the conversion being made with the Topaz plug-in Impression 2. Turnerized Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1,000 sec @ f / 9.

16 Jul 21 Returning home from a drive around the southern portion of Puget Sound Monday, we stopped off at one of our favorite nurseries, the one with the Gnome House, and just wandered around looking at what was on display. One plant in particular caught my attention and we wound up buying it along with some other stuff for the garden. I took a few shots of it in the hothouse but failed to notice that there was no name or any other info stuck in the pot like you usually are accustomed to getting when buying botanicals. So I have absolutely no information to share with you about other than I like it a lot. It is the subject for today's macro/close-up Friday. The individual petals in each cluster of three are about the size of a nickle so that gives you some idea as to size. The plant has several stalks and each stock has perhaps 6 - clusters. It is really delicate looking but to my eye very attractive. I've never seen anything quite like it, hope it is a hardy outdoors plant, and that it spreads easily. If any of you recognize it I'd love to hear about it. Other than some cropping and a wee bit of contrast enhancement, this is what the camera saw. The Blossoms Four Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

26 Jul 21 Last week was the annual Lavender Festival in Sequim but we weren't able to visit before the event weekend this year so yesterday we decided it would make for a lovely post church excursion Sunday. We had planned on visiting several different farms but wound up just visiting one. It was rather crowded for a week past festival so I did a once around and called it quits. Two of the four areas of this one farm that I love to photograph were totally spent and another almost so resulting in not getting quite the collection of images I had hoped to get. One very nice aspect however was that there was a lot of yellow to go with the purple. I've forgotten the name of the yellow flowers but the plant, if I recall correctly, is planted in the lavender fields to replenish the soil with what the lavender removes. This year the fields were almost 50-50 in one area of the farm; in other areas there were none to be seen. Trying to get the compositions I desired was a bit of a challenge, one not necessarily accomplished, but I did get a couple interesting shots. Today's submission is two shots of the same grouping of plants since couldn't get it all sharp in a single frame. The wind was giving the plants a good cleaning of anything on them blowing at perhaps 15 knots while we were there. After leaving the farm and heading a short distance to drive along the shoreline of the Straights of Juan deFuca we encountered sustained winds of twice that amount. Thought we might get a couple Bald Eagle shots but on this trip they were smart enough to be hunkered down. Not even a seagull was flying. So I am grateful for the lavender shots I did get. This is what the camera recorded albeit via two frames. Tri-Color Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f /9 (both frames).

30 Jul 21 Hard to believe this marks the end of 7 months and I've yet to share a shot of my favorite flying critters so we'll fix that with this Friday's close-up/macro. Out here we have I believe three primary forms of thistle; Canadian Thistle, Artichoke, and Teasel. Growing up I was aware of only the first, was introduced to the second on our first tour, and the third on the second tour. They were all of course available here the entire time, it's just that I hadn't seen them in bloom for some reason and thus didn't realize what they were. Since becoming familiar with teasel on that first tour we have continuously had the stuff around both as a flower and as decoration as once dried they are good for all kinds of arrangements. We have a pot of them spray painted all kinds of colors on our front porch. It wasn't until recently that I recognized that the flower of the teasel opens in concentric rings but not necessarily in any order or all at once which make it rather interesting to me. The flower consists of a group of tiny florets that encircle the cone portion and are white at their base then blend into a violet and purple at the tips. It is quite striking. Too bad we can't get them all to open simultaneously. This is basically what the camera recorded but I've enhanced the contrast a wee bit. Almost Window Ware Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 1,000; 1/800 sec @ f /7.1.