Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: P1080856 FZ35

For the first time ever, I used my little Raynox 250 macro lens outdoors, when I drove out to the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains two days ago. I normally only use it in my kitchen on flowers, waterdrops, etc. However, this time I thought I would finally try it out on wildflowers. I knew that there must be no movement at all when using this lens so, armed with my little table-top tripod, I set out from home. Well, I hit four lots of rain that afternoon, and it was rather windy! Tried out my lens and, needless to say, was disappointed. At least it got me closer - now I just need to see if I can get any sharper on a windless day - LOL, in Alberta??? Calgary is a windy city, and it seems that the wind is almost always blowing within the city and outside it. I always feel rather isolated from the rest of the world when I'm in the mountains, so it was definitely not a pleasant feeling when a pair of Hawks of some kind flew from behind me and right above my head, checking me out no doubt, while I was down on all fours, nose just a few inches from the ground, eye to the viewfinder. The rushing sound as they passed over my head was tremendous - I wondered what on earth the noise was when I heard it coming, despite the fact that I have been dive-bombed by Hawks before now. You wouldn't believe how many different kinds of butterfly flew by while I had my macro lens on. My camera has to be about 6" away from the subject when I take supermacro shots. It's such a hassle to remove the tripod, change the Conversion, etc., so I had no chance for shots. Still, my purpose for this trip was to see if there was a particular plant growing in a certain area again this year. It is a mystery plant so far, one that has puzzled me for about six years, wondering what kind of Castilleja (Paintbrush) this is. Maybe two separate plants of it this year, but I want to go back and have another look when it's not raining and windy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilleja