About a decade ago, I went through a period of really trying to create miniature landscapes I called microscapes. I think I still do it, but not so diligently as before. Mostly I want to capture true macro and some smaller slices called (sort of nauseatingly) “intimate landscapes” these days. Sorry, didn’t mean to get that into your head. Anyway, when we got some snow in February after having bare ground for a few weeks, I went out with the camera and ended up creating quite a few of them.
Mostly it was club moss in snow, so also hit my other favorite note – minimalism. Winter snow helps with these a lot. Many times I’ve gotten down low only to find that the foreground or background is hopelessly cluttered and distracting. Or that I can’t find one isolated enough to stand out among all the other small plants on the forest floor. Oh that fabulously simplifying snow.
Except for that one shot of Interrupted club moss/Bristly club moss (Lycopodium annotinum) at the top, it was mostly this more tree-like kind –
According to my 2005 edition of the Peterson Fern field guide which includes club mosses and horse tails, there are a few varieties of this type and I’m not sure which I have or if there’s more than one in this post. I think I might do a study of these little wonders over the next few months. Because they are evergreen, they will stand out and hopefully be more accessible in the early spring before leaf out.
And more importantly, before the bugs get really bad. We had such a mild winter that I am dreading tick season which will coincide with early spring and so I’ll have to be doubly careful. Ticks are so gross. They give me the heebie-jeebies. But anyway, most of the plants I saw were their usual green selves except this one, which appears to have died. At least this little section of it has. Club mosses grow in colonies connected by an underground stem. In some species, this stem is above ground and you can follow it from group to group and see just how large the plant truly is. So this might just be a damaged bit while the rest of the plant is just fine.
And there were plenty of Evergreen ferns still hanging around –
All of these were taken under the spreading canopy of a large Hemlock grove when it was cloudy, so while sort of bright, it wasn’t like full sun or anything close to it, so I tried not to get carried away pushing the whites too much in post. It was also my last full outing with the original G9. It remains in my kit, but as of right now I’m not sure how much I will continue to use it in my day-to-day photography. When kayaking I fully intend to bring it since discovering my One Body Problem. I may also use it when I’m on the deck because so often I switch back and forth between the macro and the long telephoto lens, which sometimes meaning having to attach some kind of external light. If I leave the original set up for macro and the M2 set up for hummingbirds, that might work out well. Things to think about and try. It’s not like I have to walk miles with the extra body. Uh, that sounds weird.
These are so pretty – my favorite is the round globe with snow, in the snow. And ticks are bad – but leeches are worse! (But ticks are harder to find . . . )
That one reminded me of a pom-pom – like someone dropped their hat and the snow covered all of it except the top.
Perfect description!