Category: garden

From my garden

2013-02-11
close-upflowergardennaturephotosnowspringwinter
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I still have a garden (long ago used to post more pictures from it, flowers, plants, insects and such) but now live away from it (is for sale, BTW), so such pics are much rarer (and, arguably, I matured a bit as a photographer and that influenced my themes). Today I visited it, and knowing at this time snowdrops should be in full flower, I planned to pick some to give. Unfortunately, event there are a lot of them, my snowdrops are not tall, hard to carry, to offer and keep, so I am afraid for the moment she has to keep the photos and I have to go to the market for real flowers.

snowdrops
snowdrops

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Spring/Snowdrops

2012-03-08
beautifulflowergardennaturephotospring
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After I bored everybody with my Indian adventures, is probably the time to breath a bit and celebrate the spring – those little fellows, snowdrops from my garden, appeared a couple of months ago, in the middle of the winter, but the snow buried them. Now they are alive and kicking (well, not exactly those, the flowers in the image were cut and offered as a present, but there are some more in the garden).

snowdrops

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Rebirth?

2011-01-17
close-upFAILflowergardennaturephotospringwinter
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They say the spring will come, they say there will be good, they say the sun will shine. I am skeptical. The winter seems to never end.

snowdrops

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Last rose? Yes.

2010-11-15
autumnbokehclose-upflowergardenmacronaturephotorose
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It was an incredibly warm November so far (it won’t last, according with he forecast) so I had a last opportunity for a sunny morning with a lone rose in my garden.

last rose

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Of bees and flowers

2010-11-08
autumnbokehclose-upflowergardeninsectmacronaturephotowildlife
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The last breath of the flowers, I had the opportunity to capture some classic close-ups with bees, which was a good opportunity, a first test of the macro capabilities of my new lens.

bees and flowers

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Tufanele/Crizanteme = Chrysanthemums

2010-11-01
autumnclose-upFAILflowergardenmacronaturephoto
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In some parts of the country they call those “tufănele” (especially when the flowers are smaller), the dictionary says “crizanteme”, English is “Chrysanthemums” and in the last few autumns I made a habit to capture a few pictures from my garden. It seems however this will be the last year, the poor flowers are rarer and rarer, dying due to my lack of attention. I have moments of shame for that.

chrysantemum

chrysantemum

chrysantemum

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Rain break

2010-07-19
beautifulFAILflowergardennaturephotorainrosesummer
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My main lens is till broken at the repair shop (for over a month already) but this evening when I returned home and the daily rain stopped. I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of those roses in my garden with what I had available (I think the roses looks amazing after a rain), so they are imperfect (not the macros I love to do)… but I also wanted them as a thank you/barter for someone who showed me today a much awaited set of photos.

rose

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I miss my lens

2010-06-20
close-updepth of fieldFAILflowergardenmacronaturephotorainrosesummer
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Yesterday I arrived home near the midnight, I was tired, with some beers in my system and not very optimistic, it was too much for a pretentious shoot: night, flashes, rain, water drops, improper lens so I postponed it until the morning.

The morning was not much better: it was still raining so the light was bad, the flowers in my garden still faded after a couple of torrid weeks, and most important, my preferred (zoom/macro) lens still missing – the lens is broken and I sent it to the repair shop, will miss it probably for a couple of weeks.

The first scenario I tried was the (prime) 50mm lens with a macro extension ring, the smallest ring in my set – I had to go a little closer than wanted:

rose

The second scenario was the wide lens, 19-35, at the maximum zoom and widest aperture and then a crop around the subject – the DOF was too large, the flower not separated enough from its leaves.
rose

As a conclusion, I was not happy with either, still selected the macro. I miss my lens!

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Love under the blossoming trees

2010-04-29
beautifulFAILflowergardenlovenaturephotoRomaniaspring
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Warm spring evening in the Japanese Garden of Herastrau Park in Bucharest: the pink trees are in full blossom and under them young couples are carried away by the season, nature beauty and their love.

This couple is hugging like there’s no tomorrow:

love and blossom

This one is enjoying comfort:
love and blossom

And this one is joyful:
love and blossom

Well, what’s your stance on life? I for one would like to feel joy and be comfortable, but I know there is no tomorrow.

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Spring again

2010-03-08
close-upflowergardennaturephotospring
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I think is the time to take a pause from echoing the last photoshot, otherwise people will start labelling me as “obsessed” or something, so let’s take a look at the spring which is trying to settle (it won’t be easy, the forecast says “light snow” for tonight)

crocus

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Triumph? not so fast Buster…

2010-02-15
beautifulclose-upflowergardennaturephotospringwildlifewinter
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A few weeks ago (almost one month ago!) I though I blew my last chance to get a good (but cliché) photo with snowdrops and snow but many things happened since then: snow and freezing cold, huge snow and so on. However, last week-end it looked like the spring finally triumphed and I got my snowdrops cliché:

snowdrops /ghiocei

It was warm and sunny and the little resilient managed to find their way out:
snowdrops /ghiocei snowdrops /ghiocei

My joy was premature, this morning the winter was in full swing again, the place of my little snowdrops went from that to that (today’s photo are a bit rushed, I was already late for work):
snowdrops /ghiocei snowdrops /ghiocei

And the little guys are fighting and still holding:
snowdrops /ghiocei

Who will win in the end? Place your bets…

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Spring’s announcers

2010-01-18
close-upflowergardennaturephotospringwinter
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A week ago when the weather was warm and nice and I thought the winter is gone for good I noticed in my garden some snowdrops (ghiocei) preparing to blossom and, as cliché as it is, I wanted to take a photo, as the message is strong, they are the first flowers of the year, the triumph of live over death, spring over winter.

With a full time work, at 7:30 in the morning when I leave home is not enough light and at 19-19:30 in the evening when I get back, it it already pitch black for a couple of hours already… yeah, that’s one of the ugliest parts of the winter, so my only chance was to wait for the week-end, hoping also for a ray of light, to make the photos more lively.

Fast forward to Saturday: the sky was cloudy, dark and depressing, not the atmosphere I wanted to illustrate the triumph of spring… so postponed one more day. Sunday morning, no luck either: the same dark, heavy clouds, the same depressing atmosphere. However, the ground was covered with some icy dust, a lame snow attempt, so I got the camera out for some photos, even if the story was different than the plan in my head. It still was a good story, about the winter who does not give-up easily:

snowdrops/ghiocei

Much to my surprise, today (Monday) morning when I opened the door was hit with a huge surprise: everything was white, a full winter is back. Of course my snowdrop flowers were covered fully in snow and of course it was too early in the morning, to dark to take a contrasting photos about how winter has won one more battle.

Now waiting for the next week-end, wondering which surprise will bring, what story will be told, what photos to be taken…

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Quince: the taste of autumn

2009-11-09
autumnfoodfruitgardenphoto
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Quinces are one of the specific fruits of the autumn, even if their taste is not the best, they have a distinct and wonderful flavor. Maybe one of those days I will find the time to illustrate a recipe for preparing boiled (mulled) wine with quince… stay tuned.

quince quince

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Autumn is all over us

2009-11-02
autumnbeautifulbucharestclose-upflowergardennaturephoto
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Having a full time job, you can dedicate only the week-ends to serious photography stuff, which is many cases is passable, but of course there are unfortunate cases, like the past week-end… With this overwhelming autumn over us, it was natural for me to want to capture some shots with the beautiful red, yellow and brown tones.

OK, the weather forecast is optimistic: Saturday was expected to be a cold day with partly cloudy sky and Sunday an even colder day with less clouds. What is a little cold when hunting for some cool photos?

Saturday in the morning when I woke up, it was as cold as expected but the sky was grey, covered with heavy clouds. Not good, you can’t shot landscapes with such a sky. And without sun, there is no life: no insects, no warmth, nothing. So I postponed the planned trip to the park for the next day, which was expected to be better.

However, around the noon I built enough courage to get around the house and shoot some flowers (chrysanthemums) around the house, but I find the result not that great, lifeless.

chrysanthemums chrysanthemums

Late in the day, a few minutes over 4 PM, the clouds broke a bit, leaving a little blue sky and a couple of sun rays for the eye. It was late in the day, with not enough time to reach for a place worth shooting (at 5 PM is already way too dark) but I was happy, expecting a great day to follow.

Fast-forward Sunday: woke up and is was colder, as expected. But even more cloudy, not as expected, bummer. Not affording to lose the opportunity, after the lunch (still waiting for the cold to weaken and hoping a sun ray will show) I took the gear and went to the park.

park park

The leaves are beautiful, a strong lesson about nature and the cycle of life, showing how everything is born is going do die, but the lesson is not very depressing grace to the marvellous dark colors (the depressing clouds can be avoided as long as you set the White Balance well and avoid showing the sky):

leaves leaves

At 4 PM was already too dark for hand-held shooting and without the tripod on me, I had to put the session to a close and go home, feeling the goal was not accomplished.

Damn weather! Today (Monday) is still cold as hell (the temperature raised from 1°C in the morning to 3°C at the noon), but there is sun and blue sky. And I am trapped in the office. And for the next week-end heavy rains are expected.

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Honeysuckle …or someone’s hand :D

2009-07-27
close-upflowergardenmacrophoto
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After an indirect challenge from Alex I just had to take my own photos of this flower (it was helpful there is a bush hanging on the fence of my garden). And while Alex is remembering the very sweet water drops you can find inside this flower, for me the smell is perhaps what I remember the best.

Honeysuckle

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