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Herald of life & dearth


Herald of life & dearth
Photo Information
Copyright: Callie de Wet (Callie) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1101 W: 95 N: 2610] (7555)
Genre: Plants
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2004-08-22
Categories: Flowers
Camera: Nikon D70, Sigma 70-200 f2.8
Exposure: f/8.2, 1/320 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Theme(s): Flowers, plants and fungi of Southern Africa [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2004-09-03 12:27
Viewed: 6503
Points: 36
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Let me tell you about the birds & the bees & the flowers & the trees, & the moon up above, & a thing called . . . a herald. Now I think I have posted & written too much already on TE on all of these, so a little bit on this fascinating language called English. A herald was originally the official messenger on the King’s business, conveying messages between sovereigns. I am just the herald; Mother Nature has already given us a tentative Mona Lisa Smile while dispatching her message of coming spring, here in the lower part of our world, while most of you in the Northern Hemisphere may have seen her teeth barred with impending cold. A soft smile & barred teeth, the flower & the sting of the bee! Now that Spring has sprung, with a untimely cold front & a lazy wind blowing for the last 24 hours, I confirm what I have always held to be true, spring sorts of nudge at the door here in SA, then the winter retaliates a few times with a cold front, seldom lasting longer than a week, normally not later than into October, & suddenly, it is summer. So, why this longwinded official welcoming to spring?; the reason being that honeybees & flowers are part of our universal cultural icons of procreation, love and spring. This is also why someone once said : “God created memory so that we can have roses in winter”. I sincerely hope you will have beautiful memories & photographs of summer, but that autumn will bring you even more joy & shooting opportunities. I fondly remember a bouquet of beautiful leaves Robert posted last year on TE. This bee is burying herself here into the heart of the Strelitzia flower, gathering nectar. The flowers can get quite sticky with the nectar. Strelitzias are indigenous SA flowers & also called the Bird of Paradise flower. See, I just can’t keep away from the birds. There are 5 species of Strelitzia, 3 less than ± 2m high & 2 growing up to 8 m or so. I have maybe 10 of these plants in my garden, & from around May until into September, they are constantly in bloom. The late afternoon shines right onto 3 of them right at the front door, so I grabbed this shot the other day as I was walking past. It is deliberately cropped tight to form a more abstract image, with the bee zeroing in to the flower. This was a fun shot for me, but it also conveys some of the feeling & atmosphere of spring, the bright colours & the burrowing bee hinting at new life to come.
ISO 200 @ -0,3 EV; Nikon D70; Sigma 70-200 F2.8 @ Focal length 200 mm; 1/320 @ F8; Aperture Priority Mode; no flash, Pattern Metering Mode; handheld; cropping all round; little USM & some Hue & saturation brightness; reduced to Site size.
gerhardt, letr, Lourens, ellis49, Robbrown, Esox, japie, nwoehnl, RAP, AndyB, Lesley, TAZ, extramundi, Hanssie, touristdidi, Jean-Luc, naturELLE has marked this note useful
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ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To PDP: Full FlowerCallie 2 09-03 16:06
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Critiques [Translate]

Nice one Callie, is this the one we spoke of? The crop is unique it gives it an abstract look. Wonderfull story about our spring you told. For me one of the nicest flowers ever. Thanx for posting.

  • Great 
  • letr Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Workshop Editor/Silver Note Writer [C: 87 W: 50 N: 47] (130)
  • [2004-09-03 13:24]

Great composition Callie ,like the colors and the diagonal composition with the action taking place here..very good !!

Very nice, Callie! I like the way you have cropped this image - showing the most impressive part of the flower. I can only imagine what that bee is doing there.
Nice story.

Very good Callie.
Beautiflu colours , great composition and good sharpness.
Very good note.

  • Great 
  • PDP Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor [C: 2821 W: 344 N: 3779] (11769)
  • [2004-09-03 15:43]
  • [+]

The colours are something to behold. My only niggle is that I wish the blue 'petal'(?) were in focus along with the bee. Otherwise it's great, I also wish I knew what the complete flower looked like. Good stuff.

Nice one callie, we only get to see this one in a florist shop or a hot house, so it is nice to see it from its native country where it should grow best.
I like the way every thing points inwards to the Bee.
P.s thanks for rembering the leaves.

  • Great 
  • Esox Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 239 W: 20 N: 344] (972)
  • [2004-09-03 16:06]

What wonderfull colors!
Great composition, and exposition.
The bee is the killing detail.
Good job.

  • Great 
  • japie Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1814 W: 100 N: 1904] (5187)
  • [2004-09-03 16:21]

I made an earlier comment that we tend to ignore the beauty of plants and flowers. I intend to post some as well to try and rectify that. After having said this I notice this beautiful post. I love Strelitzias and their flowers are close to my heart. Thanks for posting - I'm adding it to my theme of Flowers of SA

Being quite poetic on our notes today, are we? ;-) A wonderful springtime catch, Callie, very fresh-looking in its beautiful colors and the added treat of the bee performing some acrobatics on the Strelitzia. Very nice one.

  • Great 
  • RAP Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2524 W: 345 N: 2373] (7405)
  • [2004-09-03 17:52]

Gran imagen... y pequeño insecto.
Los colores de estas flores siempre me fascinaron y tu lograste captarlos con precision y nitidez.
Excelente tu nota tambien.
Gracias por compartirla.

Great image... and small insect.
The colors of these flowers always fascinated to me and your you managed to catch them accuracy and clearness.
Excellent your note also.
Thanks for sharing.

  • Great 
  • AndyB Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1366 W: 32 N: 1351] (3982)
  • [2004-09-03 18:31]

The colours of this flower are amazing and have been very well captured.
I like the detail of the bee going in.
Very good composition and DoF.
A great note too,I've never seen or heard of this flower before now.
Very well done and thanks for sharing.

  • Great 
  • Lesley Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 297 W: 13 N: 913] (2988)
  • [2004-09-03 21:34]

What a lovely shot! The composition is very strong and the shape of the Bird of Paradise is simply elegant. The colors add a "wow" factor and the little bee is just the sweetest touch! Very nicely done.

  • Great 
  • TAZ Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2241 W: 47 N: 3167] (10926)
  • [2004-09-04 1:04]

Composition plaisante de cet "oiseau du paradis" avec la petite abeille fouineuse, belles couleurs.
Well done !

Very beautiful shot of a very beautiful flower.
This looks really artistic.
It´s a pity the blue part of the plant is out of focus, but the rest is perfect. A nice one.

This is art...
Fine colours and good cropping ! Very nice picture of this beautiful Strelitzia and burying bee.
Greetings from the Northern Hemisphere, Cal !

I love this photo, Callie. Even without the bee, it would stand on its own. It has a very pleasing flow to it. The flow of lines and the flow of colors are both gentle and easy on the eyes. I personally think this would frame very nicely.

Is it my imagination, because there are so many pleasantries in the previous posts, but this picture looks really out of focus. In fact the only bit in focus is in the lower right hand corner. The note is long winded too.

Composition is nice - colours are good, shame the focus didn't follow.

Sorry this may seem harsh, but the comments are getting out of hand on TN.

Exellent clarity, and beauty!

C'est spectaculaire et c'est d'une réelle beauté.
Bravo Callie pour cette splendide vue dont les couleurs et la composition m'ont enchanté dès le premier regard!

elle est vraiment magique cette photo! elle perturbe car on croirait que c'est un dessin géometrique. les couleurs sont très belles, et l'abeille marque son charme!
bravo

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