Backyard Explorations

When I bought my first DSLR, like a lot of beginning photographers I took photos of flowers.  A lot of photos of flowers.  It was easy, it was fun, and I got some nice shots.  But I noticed that while it's easy to get a nice shot, it's much more difficult to get a great shot. That goes for any type of photography.  Later on I bought a macro lens, shot with it extensively on a trip to Maui, then it's pretty much sat in my bag since then, as I've pursued other aspects of photography since moving to the Southwest last summer.

As spring came to the high desert this year I've noticed things that I didn't last year.  This has even been the case in - literally - my own back yard (and I must mention that whoever did the landscaping and selection of plants did an excellent job).  The other morning the air was calm, a contrast to the wind that kicks up almost every afternoon, so grabbed my camera and macro lens and started walking around the yard, taking shots.

This plant is next to one of the back patio doors.  I'm not sure what it is, a type of sage perhaps?  I got down on the ground, low, parallel to the ground, and started taking photos...

This photo is subtly different from the first, with more of the purple buds in focus, but after some debate I decided I liked the first one better...

And here's an iPhone snap of the plant...

Then I moved on to the walking path the runs behind the house.  I liked how the morning sun hit this plant...

I took about 50 photos that morning, but these are the only ones I'm really satisfied with.

Along one of the walls of the backyard fence are some climbing roses.  The next day when I was in the driveway I noticed that a couple of roses had bloomed, rising higher than the fence so I was actually looking up at them a bit.  I wanted to take a photo of them but the sky was clear and the light was bright and harsh.  So I waited.

Later that afternoon some clouds rolled in, the sun went behind the clouds, the light softened, and I knew the time was right so I grabbed my camera and macro lens.  First, the rose to the right of me...

And then the rose on the left...

I can definitely see some more back yard exploring in my future...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 85 DX VR Micro

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