Flowers my way

Flowers have been done to death, but we all photograph them because they are so beautiful. I have been to the Bontanical Gardens so many times now I have lost count and I typically go to the same plants every time because they catch my attention. This time I decided on a theme at the beginning of the shoot and for the most part I stuck to it.

I was looking for the unusual, the plants that we don't see every day, or plants that would make a flower shot look special. I didn't want to just photograph a flower, I wanted it to be a piece of art. I think I achieved this for the most part.

I was also looking for patterns. Nature has a wonderful way of repeating itself in patterns and the plantlife is no exception. Leaves can for the most beautiful patterns, it's just a case of seeing them.

And of course I couldn't resist yet another shot at the water drips. This leaf was high above me and the drip was gathering on the upside of it. I had to wait until it got to the edge of the leaf before trying to photograph it.

Rain rain go away

I had planned on getting back outside with my camera today but it was so wet it really wasn't an option. Instead we went to the Botanical Gardens Begonia House. It was indoors, so warm and dry for the camera. I am still processing todays images so will publish some more of yesterdays fungi images for tonight's post and show you some of the flowers tomorrow.


As you can see I am still trying for the water droplet photos. This one is very simple but I do like the veins in the leaf.

The next two images are fungi again. The one above showing a cluster of fungi growing on the very end of a broken tree branch and the second showing the differing sizes of fungi growing side by side.

Back in Barton's Bush

This morning was the first really nice sunny morning we have had in a while now, so once I de-iced the car we headed back down the road to Barton's Bush. It's so close to home I can get my camera fix without having to spend too much time travelling. Last time we went there we saw some awesome fungi but that was nothing on today's lot. Not two steps into the bush and we were surrounded with fungi of all shapes and sizes.

I am getting used to the new camera now, so I feel this lot of images are of better quality that the previous ones. Again they were hand held - something I am going to change next time I go to that bush (possibly tomorrow if the weather holds).


The thing that makes it so easy is that most of the fungi that I shot today was all at eye level growing on the trees, or on branches of fallen trees that hadn't broken down too much. There was no need to get down to the ground to shoot them - great for my back.


There were several different species of fungi together, which really left me spoilt for choice. Which to photograph first? These images are just a few of what we found, I will add more over the next few days and eventually you will get an idea of the amount of fungi that is about. It really is amazing stuff.

Opportunities are everywhere

I visited a friend's place this afternoon and she showed me around her yard. I am not sure I can call it a yard as it is really a very steep bank filled with native bush. Standing on her deck we could look out over the top of the bush. While we were standing there talking a fantail started singing and when I looked around there it was right in front of us hopping from branch to branch.

It would have been a very easy shot if I had a camera in my hand - but no, I didn't have a camera did I. Next time I visit there I am going to take it with me regardless so that I never miss that opportunity again.





When I got home I decided to get out the camera and see what was in my own yard to photograph. Its getting pretty bleak in my gardens now as the frosts have started and winter has pretty much found us. Leaves are gone from the trees and some of the shrubs and it really isn't a pretty site - with the exception of one little corner of the garden. The fuscias are still flowering! I am sure they should have well and truely finished flowering by now, all the other bushes of them are but this one bush was covered in buds still.







It wasn't until I was processing the images that I noticed the ants on the fuscia buds. My eyesight must be getting pretty bad to have missed them, but to be fair I wasn't looking for bugs either. They do make an interesting photo though.

Black and white

Yesterday it was all about colour, tonight black and white is the topic. The first is of a fence over the back of the park. I have no idea what it was fencing off but clearly they didn't want anyone climbing over it. I like this image because of the lines and curves, the cute little spiders web and the contrast between the wire and the iron of the fence.


This next image is the gate to what used to be a pretty little winter garden. There was a glass house with native ferns and plants growing in it, a fish pond full of very large goldfish and water lillies, and all sorts of little flowering shrubs growing under the ponga ferns. Now the pond is empty, the glasshouse gone, and the area where the garden once was is all locked up with the padlock on the gate. Sad really that vandals have forced the closure of this public place, I hope that one day the garden is reinstated but for now it's just an unused empty space.

Colours in nature

Colour is all around us all the time, however we often just don't see it. After it rains, the green of the grass and the trees is so much brighter and vibrant, making it 'pop' just that little bit more without having to do it in post processing. In the bush it was no different. We were there just after the rain, the sun was struggling to get through the clouds and all around us were bright bright colours.

The fern frond was just uncurling and with the light hitting it as it did it almost glowed against the surrounding drab bush, making for a simple image showing a world of promise of things to come.




This last shot appealed to me because it shows several layers in the depth of field - something that confuses me from time to time - I think I have it mastered now.

Random Pics

Tonight I have a random lot of photos from various places that we have visited in the past. The first image is of a female tiger at the Auckland Zoo. The zoos make it much easier these days for photographers with enclosures that have glass panels instead of netting.

The New Zealand Saddleback is one of the birds that I didn't manage to see at Zealandia. This image is of a Saddleback called Bob who is a resident at Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch. He was almost tame and happily posed for the cameras.





Bumble bees are very cute and way too active to make them an easy target but I still try. This last image is more about the colours and the flower than it is about the bee. I love the muted purples from the lavendar flowers.