My Louisiana iris have loved our cool, wet winter - not so much for the human population around here ... :-)

Belated Happy Easteror Passover to all my old photo buddies - think I am going to jump back in on a little more regular basis.

Have missed you all!!

I got a new camera, the Canon 70D, and am in heaven!! Wow.

Tags:   Iris Garden Flowers Louisiana Iris spring springtime garden

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Popping in for a visit ...

I am soooo excited!! You know how it is too easy to fall into a photographic doldrums where nothing seems to inspire you?? I have been in one of those lately, especially as I work my way thru my Hawaii images and everything around me pales in comparison. Nothing seemed to motivate me.

Then, last week, I learned about a new camera/photography club begun here in Mount Dora by a pro photographer and her hubby who moved here from Conn., and I went to a recent meeting. OMG!! OMG!! OMG - I am juiced again and it is so cool!!!!

We meet twice/month, once for an outing working on something specific - capturing motion was the project here - and then for a review, critique and lesson on how best to edit the images. I have learned more in the last couple of weeks than in a very long time. Our leader, Rose Mary Lalonde, is a PS CS user, but I am able to adapt many of her ideas to Elements which is opening up new editing horizons. For example, I brought along my wide-angle lens by mistake (Note to self - look before you leave.) and so have distortion in my shots. While it doesn't bother me a whole lot as I actually like converging verticals, I realize it is not technically ideal. She corrected this in her PS CS and, while working at home on my images yesterday, I found - and who'd a thunk this?? - a Camera Distortion filter. I really couldn't use it the way it works best because there wasn't a lot of space to crop, but this in itself was a great learning experience.

What was so incredible about this exercise is that you will never see this with the naked eye. The shapes and patterns created by the spinning wheel only show up in a long exposure image and all of ours are so different. It's magical!!

And best of all, I am excited again!!

We are leaving for a few days so will catch up with everyone next week. I am going to try to disable comments, but please don't feel obliged if it doesn't work. I really just want to share.

Tags:   Fair rides wheel Ferris wheel county fair dark night after dark Lake County Fair movement motion spinning colors multi-colors pinwheel long exposure Eustis Central Florida Florida psmphotography 2013

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Still on the summit of Haleakala ...

This view is from the walkway that encircles the outside of the summit visitor's shelter. From here, we were looking down on the summit Visitor Center and parking area. That Visitor Center is the one I posted earlier - the crater is somewhat behind it and mainly to its right. Our car was a smaller SUV, which I have marked with a note. I think this really gives you a sense of how big this is and how high we were.

You kinda feel like the King of the Mountain when you are up so high and looking down at where you started!! It is a forbidding landscape but truly breathtaking in its own way ...

Tags:   summit mountain mountaintop parking area parking lot Visitor's Center rocks rocky landscape volcano extinct dormant dormant volcano lava lava rocks Haleakala Haleakala Mountain Haleakala National Park Maui Hawaii psmphotography 2013

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Back on the summit of Haleakala ...

One would tend not to think of this chilly and inhospitable environment as home to much of anything, but there are a few rare plants and animals that exist only here. Before I tell you what this is, I have to mention that here on the summit there are several signs posted warning you to walk only on marked trails, because, even only one step outside, you could be walking on microbes that live only here and would be crushed to death. I found that to be particularly surprising.

This rare plant, the Haleakala Silversword, or ʻāhinahina in Hawaiian, grows only at an elevation of 6,900 to 9,800 ft on the dormant Haleakalā volcano. The Haleakalā silversword has been a threatened species as defined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, since May 15, 1992. Prior to that time, excessive grazing by cattle and goats, and vandalism inflicted by people in the 1920s, had caused its near extinction. Before the National Park Service was granted control of Haleakalā volcano, visitors to the volcano's summit often participated in the common practice of uprooting a silversword plant and then rolling it on the jagged lava rock terrain, drying the flowers for arrangements, or using the plant as kindling. Because the delicate, shallow root structure can be crushed by walking in the rocks around the plant, they are very sensitive to foreign elements. Feeding by goats also severely damaged many plants and prevented reproduction. It has since recovered somewhat, but remains threatened.

From Wikipedia: "The Haleakalā silversword has numerous sword-like succulent leaves covered with silver hairs. Silversword plants in general grow on volcanic cinder, a dry, rocky substrate that is subject to freezing temperatures and high winds. The skin and hairs are strong enough to resist the wind and freezing temperature of this altitude and protect the plant from dehydration and the sun.

The plant's base of leaves, arranged in a spherical formation at ground level of the plant, dominates for the majority of the plant's life—which may be greater than 50 years. The leaves are arranged so that they and the hairs of the leaves can raise the temperature of the shoot-tip leaves up to 20 °C (68 °F), thereby having adapted to the extreme high-altitude temperatures by focusing the sunlight to converge at this point and warm the plant.

Silversword is known as a monocarpric plant, meaning it produces seeds only once before its death. Seeding of the plant is very sensitive because damage to the flowers or stalk by insects before reseeding further hinders the threatened species’ propagation. The leaves become limp and dry as the plant goes to seed and dies before being able to fully propagate itself.

Tags:   Plant threatened endangered protected silverword Haleakala Silversword ahinahina environment conservation Haleakala Haleakala mountain volcano extinct extinct volcano Haleakala National Park summit Maui Hawaii psmphotography 2013

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From my recent visit to Gatorland ...

Don't know what to say here other than I hope you get as big a chuckle out of this as I did!! :-)

Happy Tuesday to all!!

Tags:   Bird egrets Great White Egret Chick immature nest nesting white long-legged waders Gatorland Orlando Central Florida Florida funny humorous silly psmphotography 2013

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