It's a Wrap: the #dailyphoto Project Comes to an End

Sometime in late December of 2015, partly motivated by the recent acquisition of my first decent camera in over twenty years, I decided that I would post an original photo on Facebook each day.

I did not fully realize how much time my little project would take, nor how much I would learn about photography in a year's time.

• I've learned about lines and angles and composition.
• I've learned many of the technical aspects of editing.
• I've learned how the right angle of sunlight can turn an ordinary scene into a magical one.
• I've learned that you like pictures of birds. And sunsets. You heard it here first.

My Olympus PEN E-PL1 and the Lenses I Use

My camera is an Olympus PEN E-PL1. As if I needed to say, I am an amateur photographer. I mostly shoot pictures of nature in the woods near our house, and of places we visit on vacation trips.

When I bought my camera just over a year ago, my shopping criteria were:

A July Fourth Photo

Replica of a merchant ship at Roanoke Island Festival Park in Manteo, NC

When I snapped this photo a couple of  weeks ago, I was in fact hoping it would make a good July Fourth #dailyphoto post for my Facebook page. I feel such pride and good fortune to live in the United States of America. Thirteen bars and fifty stars!

I didn't want to post it without a bit of background on the ship, and as I began to research I realized that my knowledge of the early history of our nation is cloudy and mired in myth (What year was it that Christopher Columbus landed in Jamestown with the Pilgrims?).

Fern Fascination

The purpose of this post is to document all the ways that I am fascinated by ferns, and in doing so provide some insight into the inner workings of my mind which will no doubt be of great historical interest to future generations.

Item 1: The way the fronds unfurl in the spring.

My Photography Workflow

Below is the description of my current photography workflow.

I shoot with an Olympus PEN E-PL1 micro four thirds format digital camera. I mostly use the kit lens that came with the camera, a 14-42 mm zoom. When shooting close-up/macro, I set it to manual focus. I also have a 40-150 mm zoom. Also note that my camera is set to record each image in both RAW and jpeg format. Camera is set to take three images in sequence at three different exposure settings.

Here's what happens when I return home from a shoot. Note that on a typical shoot I might create 30 to 100 images.

Almost full circle

One Sunday last April Kate and I went for a walk in the woods. I took some pictures of some of the flowers and such that we encountered, and decided to write about it (Things We Saw in the Woods Today). I didn't know it at the time, but it was the start of a project to catalog all of the native flowering plants (including shrubs and small trees) that I could find in our woods in one year. I call it my "Year in the Woods" series, and you can see all 21 posts (including this one) by clicking the label on left side of the page.

Ramblings on a Mediocre Photo

One time, after posting a photo on Facebook, a friend asked me what kind of camera I have. "It takes great photos!" he said. It was an innocent comment, but it's actually the photographer who takes the photos, is it not? And in fact, a couple of my favorite all time shots were taken with cameras that are not even one-tenth as good as the one on your fancy smartphone.

Photographing Things

At the beginning of the year, I decided I would try to post a photo each day on Facebook. At the time I didn't realize what that personal challenge would mean, or how much I would learn.

It means shooting almost every day. It means editing almost every day. It means walking through the world with eyes that are constantly noticing how sun illuminates buildings and trees and sky and water. 

Impressions from the Long Drive Home

Over the past couple of decades, Kate and I have traveled a time or two or twenty to her childhood home, an old stone house by the Skunk River in the southeast corner of Iowa.

Winding Down

Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

It's been three weeks since my last post, a sure sign that wildflower season is truly winding down.

This first photo is White Turtlehead, Chelone glabra, yet another new find. This makes about 40 flowers I've found for the first time this year (not because they weren't there, but because I hadn't noticed them before).

One Hundred Plants: Isn't that a lot?

No. No it's not.

Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

With this post, I have reached the one-hundred plant mark. That's one hundred different species of native plants on our small woodlot in Piedmont North Carolina. It sounds like a lot, but I suspect I've only scratched the surface. As I've noted before, I haven't even started identifying grasses, and I imagine there are dozens. There must be ten or twenty tree species and several ferns. And if you start considering insects, arachnids, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals, the diversity of life on this small parcel is mind-boggling. And it begs the question, what diversity can you find in your own neighborhood? Likely more than you could imagine, and much of it depends on native plants like these. For information about adding native plants to your own garden, visit http://ncsu.edu/goingnative/.

Sorting Solidagos

Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

Nothing puts me in the mood for fall quite like the sight of glorious Goldenrod (Solidago sp.) bending in the breeze next to the driveway. I've enjoyed them for years, and make a point to avoid them with mower and sprayer so they will proliferate. But a year or two ago I began to realize we had more than one type, some taller, some shorter, some blooming earlier or later. Sorting them all out has been on my "I've been meaning to..." list for a while, and today I crossed it off.

Just When I Thought Things Were Slowing Down...

Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

Just when it seemed wildflower season was winding down, I had two brand new finds.

First though, here's Joe Pye Weed, a plant I had seen in our woods a few years back. I was fairly certain it was still around, and sure enough I tracked it down. The "official" name is Eupatorium fitulosum. It's a fantastic choice for attracting butterflies to your garden.

Repeat Performances

[At the bottom of this page there is a picture of a rat snake in a position which, I have to admit, even I find a bit creepy, and I am a huge fan of snakes!]

Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

We have some repeat appearances in this week's post. For starters, we have our second showing of Goldenrod, although this is a different species from what we saw last time (I still need to get them sorted out, but the genus is Solidago). 

More Tiny Flower Pictures

Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

Have to say, I worked pretty hard on the IDs this week, a couple of new finds and a real puzzler.

 

Here's the first new find, Hypericum boreale, Northern St. Johnswort. This marks the fourth Hypericum species I've found, a fact which I'm sure is of great interest to no one but me.

 

So Much Left to Discover

Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

Kate and I moved onto this woodlot on a sunny April day almost fifteen years ago. On at least 80 percent of the days since, we have walked some portion of the property on an ever growing trail network. Drop either of us on any trail on any moonless night, and a bet against us making it home in 30 minutes would be a bet lost. In the winter, when the ticks and chiggers and poison ivy are sleeping, we venture far off trail in search of adventure and treasures. We have found both, and here are a few examples of the latter.

A shed antler, old bottles, a
hawk skull and an arrowhead.

It would be safe to say we know the property well.

The more I learn, the less I know

Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

 

Since I first began this little project back in April, I have learned quite a bit about native plants and how to identify them. But more than anything, I've learned how little I know. Fortunately, plant ID books can compensate to some extent, and I've added a new one to my collection (A Guide to the Wildflowers of South Carolina by Richard Dwight Porcher and Douglas Alan Rayner). Yes, the internet is wonderful, but there is something satisfying and relaxing about slowly browsing through a field guide.

Mid-Summer Update

Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

 

It seems to be legume season. We'll start with Spurred Butterfly Pea, Centrosema virginianum.

 

These Are a Few of my Favorite Plants



Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

 

I've been puzzling a bit over what to include in this year-long native plant "bioblitz". For the most part I'm leaving out trees and grasses, at least for the time being, which leaves me with herbaceous flowers, shrubs and vines. But I've also been a bit arbitrary and subjective in leaving out plants that are exceptionally common or uninteresting. Does that seem fair?

 

Oh well; my blog, my rules. Let's get on with it.

I Have No idea What's Blooming in the Woods

Welcome to the latest entry in my "Year in the Woods" series, where I document all the native plants I can find in our woods in one year.

 

You might be thinking that Timberwalkers is a plant ID ninja, but if so I have fooled you. The fact is, for most of the plants I photograph, I spend a fair amount of time leafing through my plant ID books trying to get it sorted out. Then, when I see it again next year, I'll go through the process all over again.

 

Even then, I'm often stumped. Perhaps even worse is when I confidently post a plant name on these interwebs for both of my readers to see, and later discover I was dead wrong. It's happened more than once. Today there are three that have me completely stumped, and one that I have finally identified at least two years after first finding it.