plants

Not Even Fall

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This was another random plant I took a picture of while visiting friends in Pennsylvania. This was growing wild in my friend’s backyard.

I love the striking colors – and it’s not even Fall yet!

I’ve been pretty pleased with my nature photos of late, but I would like to get some more urban and people photography in soon. I say this, knowing Fall is fast approaching and I’ll be wanting to visit many nature locales to get the vibrant Fall colors. 🙂

I’m putting together a photo album to shop around to local businesses as well, with examples of all my photos and framed versions of them.

A potential business owner could agree to let me hang certain sizes of framed prints at their location, pick out which ones and how many they’d like and I could hang them along with a card-holder filled with my business cards. I think it’s a good idea.

Konchuu Enkai

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“Bug Party”. Sometimes you find a lot of life in the smallest of places. If it weren’t for my Cousin pointing this out to me, I would have walked right on by and never been the wiser.

A mass of tiny insects were hanging on to this sprig of a plant. Oddly, none of them were moving. Not a one so much as twitched the entire time I was watching them.

It’s a tad creepy-crawly to think that if I were hiking through the vegetation, I could easily have brushed up against this plant, covered in these little guys. /shiver

Papuru Supotto

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I was out with my Cousin at a Mogadore Recreation Area on a wooded path that follows the edge of a lake taking a somewhat mild walk and taking pictures of whatever I found. And I found something very interesting.

I couldn’t quite find these in an online search. I was trying to get a picture of a Bee when I happened to look down and, BAM, these leaves right below me had these bright, vibrant purple spots on them.

My best guesses are a fungus eating away the leaves or larva of some kind of bug.

Ishi Tsurukusa

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"Stone Vine"

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“Stone Vine”

I got to pay a brief visit to a friend’s house while on a trip to Pennsylvania. It was unplanned and I arrived shortly before they got home.

So. I meandered through the backyard snapping photos and caught this little guy crawling its way across one of the stones making up a sidewalk.

It just reminding me how nature will grab on and take back an area.

Flowering Step

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I owe my Cousin for spotting this little scene on some wooden steps in Wingfoot Lake Park, in Ohio.

I was so happy to break out my 18-55mm lens after having it sit in my camera bag forever more. It’s been a long time since I used it, but I’m still really happy to have it. I can pull out subtle and focus blur that I just love playing with.

Three Sprouts

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I may have to start mixing-up the posting order of my photos, but my latest trip to The Gorge – Metro Parks in Cuyahoga Falls, Summit County, Ohio(USA) was the bulk of my journeys for the last two weeks.

I am planning some other excursions and trying to get in some other photos of architecture and people soon. There’s some interesting looking sites South of me for historical buildings and locations.

Wise Old Tree

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I debated with myself a long time whether to make the colors so washed out and vibrant, but in the end I felt it suited a magical, fairy tale look.

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Lots of debating with myself went into this photo. I still am unsure. It’s very bright, washed out and vibrant – maybe too much. In the end, I felt this was the best route to go, but, like I said, even right now, I’m still unsure if it was the best result. Something just doesn’t click with me.

My Cousin and I went on a photo excursion to Walborn Resevoir in Stark County, Ohio(USA). It was a relatively easy trail compared to the Cuyahoga trails we had hiked.

At one point we lost track of exactly where we were on the map and with no more signs we aimlessly wandered a bit. Eventually we came out from under the canopy of trees into a small “road” mowed-down between two rows of trees. It was something out of charming movies like Anne of Green Gables.

While deliberating on what to do, I stopped to look at the trees and felt this had so much character and was like an old wise-man of trees.

I finally just went with a bright, washed out look because it felt like it was a magical tree from Cinderella or some other fantasy world.

Ivy Fence

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Another shot taken at Wingfoot Lake State Park near Suffield, Ohio – home of the Goodyear Blimp!

This guy was seemingly growing out of a tiny corner above a steep bank between the water and a pavilion. This white picket fence had a lot of character and I loved how this more basic shot came out. I played for a long time with other shots and lighting to try to go for something more unique and “awe-inspiring”, but in the end I think I was just trying to hard. This simpler shot is the right shot – I think.

I’ve been trying to stay aware of when I might be trying too hard as I grow in my photography. It’s still such a personal thing for me, but I also realize the more I do it, the more I go out with other people, deal with time-frames and other limitations. I want to keep everything in balance.