The other day I decided to walk in the common land at the end of the road. It’s woods and has a couple of old roads running through it and it was logged sometime in the past. There are some trails, one in particular runs to the back of a nearby horse stable and gets a lot of use by horse owners. There’s a small brook and not much else. Eventually the woods runs out and a huge cleared area zoned industrial takes over. I don’t hold out much hope of industry moving in, but recently the airport got a big new entrance directly off the highway and so a lot of this land could open up to convenient development. I hope not though because in the woods between my street and the vacant lots is a fantastic crop of my two favorite kinds of lichen – Pyxie cup and British soldier. I’ve seen both in other forests before, but never in such profusion and the British soldiers are especially colorful. I feel like Horton hearing his Who whenever I explore these miniature vistas. I especially love how sunlight changes the color of the lichen. In the shade it looks so much more blue than in sun.
I haven’t gotten a good tight shot of the British Soldiers, but I’m working on it. The light isn’t right today so maybe in the next few days.
Such a wonderful world… as the song goes.
Great shots…looks like live rock from a saltwater reef tank.
The first two lichen photographs are especially fine.
Steve Schwartzman
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com
Thanks folks. They do have an underwater look now I think about it. I’m glad you like the light in those, Steve, it’s something I’ve been working on this year. Landscape photographers are very particular about the light they shoot in, but macro and microscape photographers often rely on artificial light. I wanted to try to incorporate the same magic light landscapers use in microscapes. The results might not be as dramatic, but I think they stand out for what they are.