Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Spring Sandwort

Just a few miles from our home are the beautiful Upper and Loweer Table Rock plateaus. Every spring the rain turns these plateaus into large marshy areas with pools of water everywhere. The flora and fauna are wonderful to see, and some are unique to the Table Rocks. Steve and I ventured up to the top for a photo walk back in March 2012 and enjoyed photographing the special environment there. These buds are probably a common, very tiny flower called Spring Sandwort, and when I saw these buds surrounded by water, I couldn't resist taking pictures! It was a challenge to get this image and not fall face-first into the muck!

[best appreciated at full size against black] I took this picture next to a vernal pool in the Upper Table Rock. My original idea was to get a nice macro of these impossibly tiny flower buds. The buds measure probably about 1/8" tall and just 1/16" in diameter! Because the flowers are so close to the ground, it was very difficult to get a upward angle, but after basically standing on my head, I managed to get this! Then, when I got the images on my computer, I saw the crazy bokeh, which I really liked, but the background was busy and distracting. Just for fun, I used "Auto Levels" in Photoshop's Level tool. This generally looks horrible, but I always like to see what Photoshop comes up with because I've been happily surprised in the past. Once again, I got a surprise, and suddenly my rather problematic picture turned into something special. Here are two bud clusters standing together and appreciating the beautiful night sky. The buds on the left look off in the distance, counting the stars and appreciating this fairy land's own aurora boralis. The cluster on the right stare up in awe at the monolithic stem, which curves up into the heavens with a green glow. If you listen carefully, you might just hear them whistpering this rhyme..."Star light, star bright, the first star I see tonight; I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight." This image was taken in March, 2012.

Yesterday I posted my picture, "The First Flower of Spring," and today I'd like to show you the second flower! Like the first flower, this one grows in the moist, moss- and grass-covered moss down in our little granite valley. Not nearly as small as yesterday's 1/16" flower, these blossoms measure an enormous 1/4" across! :D :D :D I adore their pearlescent white petals and inverted bell shape. They are often found in little clusters and look like the setting for a tiny mouse wedding! :)

When I saw this picture on my computer, I thought it was nice but I was unhappy with all the clutter around it, so I decided to do a lot of cleanup and show the before version so you can see what I did! I very rarely go to this length to alter my pictures, but I had fun with this one. In the end, I am happy with the way it turned out, but I don't think it's as nice as my pick of the day! :) Photoshop's healing and clone tools are incredible for touching up an image!

Today's pick is the Second Flower of Spring! Last year I discovered this flower the day after I found the first, so I wasn't surprised when I fount this tiny beauty gleaming in the afternoon sun! This one is about 1/4" in diameter, twice as large as the day-before-yesterday's flower! :D I have 2 more picks for today and a picture of last year's version of the 2nd Flower of Spring. They are below and are clickable! Aesop (c. 620–564 BC) was an Ancient Greek fabulist or story teller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables. Although his existence remains uncertain and (if they ever existed) no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Many of the tales are characterized by animals and inanimate objects that speak, solve problems, and generally have human characteristics. Wikipedia: Aesop