I started with cycads cos i like their geometry, and actually i like them for their ancestry as well. Cycads are one of the stayers in the evolutionary world, they have survived virtually unchanged since the Jurassic, although back then they were more prevalent. But i appreciate their simplicity and the reminder that we dont need fancy stuff for longevity, we just need a solid, basic, no frills, design. I like that concept for life.
Anyhow, back to photography, i took loads of cycad pics and only came out with 3 that i liked. They are tricky in that their growth can be quite random. And so even though its beautiful, its complicated. And i was aiming to portray their simplicity.
I liked the dew on the fronds and so was trying to get the natural morning light to amplify it. With this next pic i was trying to use the natural curve in the leaf, and accentuate the little bobbly bits where the fronds come out (i must pull out a book and start using real terms). I just wish the background was cleaner, rather than have the other fronds in the background.
Ok, so then i wanted to try to incorporate some background into the shot, and so tried this.
From here i stumbled across a funny looking dead leaf, and liked its spiral shape, so tried to take it with everything in focus since i thought the rounded gravel added to the shape of the dead leaf. I cropped it to make it off centre, but i am still not sure on this centredness thing, it looks a bit off to me. I might revisit this pic down the track and re-crop it when i have a better handle on balance.
Then i found these lovely little orchids, i like the first shot more so for the leaf litter than the flower.
And with this second one i like the colour balance with the greenery against the orchid, so ths one is all about the orchid.
So then i came across a tiny red leaf poking out of the ground. I have no idea what it is going to be, but it clearly loved the recent rain and has decided to go for gold and get itself established. Got to love an attitude like that. I liked its detail and fragility, and the way the dew was clinging to its surface.
I adore blackboys and so noticed this one with its squiggly new fronds. I wondered if it was a bit like people's hair in that its frond shafts were not quite symmetrical. Or perhaps it was just in a hurry to squeeze out extra growth and squished itself a bit. I'll keep an eye on it to see if they straighten, but in the meantime i tried to capture its squiggliness.
From here i tried to have a play with water droplets. Its quite hard to get the focus just right, as well as think about composure and exposure and a various assortment of other 'osures'. I ended up taking quite a few shots and narrowed my favourites down to these two.
For this next one, i increased the aperture to f/9 to ummm hedge my bets with focus and i think it really paid off, i quite like this one.
And lastly on the way home, i came acoss another blackboy that made me giggle. It looked to me like it'd decided to drop dead and then at the last minute had a change of heart, and decided to re-green itself. I like the colour combination.
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