Forest Details II Photo

Photographer’s Note

Forest Details II,
Kaiser Wilderness, California

Scene
A sprouting wildflower found in an open Ponderosa Pine or Lodge Pole Pine forest above 8000-feet. I do not know what the red wildflower is called and in this image it is not completely open, but when I saw this scene I thought it would make a nice image.

Background
My wife and I along with our dog Abby took a day trip into the mountains east of Fresno. Since this is the first weekend of the summer season and the first weekend the back country road was open we decided to go have a look. The road from Huntington Reservoir over Kaiser Pass to Lake Edison is 21-miles of single lane road that goes over and around granite boulders as big as a city bus. At times the one lane road is on a rock faces high above the San Joaquin River. It was a beautiful day with snow still on the highest peaks and on Kaiser Pass. Due to the prolonged drought in California Edison is a good 75 vertical feet down below normal pool level. At lunch we walked along the bottom of the reservoir behind the dam. It was interesting to see what the bottom of the lake bed was like. The bed was much more sandier than I expected and not a lot of debris. I expected to find a lots of cans, bottles, and fishing tackle. It has been at least three years of lower than average snow so the bottom has been exposed for a long time.

MLINES, Floydian, Photo65Net, plimrn, stego has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

batalay (21205) 2009-05-25 20:48

Hello John,

The sprouting flower is entirely new to me, but the pine cone offers an excellent counterpoint. Whatever this wildflower is, however, I wonder if it has some of the symmetries of the pine cone, which it resembles a little. The helical spirals running in clockwise and counterclockwise in the pine cone always display the pair of Fibonacci numbers 8 and 13 (the Fibonacci sequence of integers are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34...) An original and imaginative shot.

Warm regards,

Bulent

MLINES (10976) 2009-05-25 22:32

Hi John, Thhere is something very attractive about pine cones and your close up treatment of this with a bright colour is asstounding. You have many fine images from walking in the forests, a wonderful thing for health. TFS. Murray

Floydian (30970) 2009-05-26 1:06

Hi John,

Expecting a great landscape, but seeing this, the little details along the road, details i never see and how nice to see them from your hand. the contrasting red looks great, a very small piece of nature, but looks very nice and fragile.

Regards,

Henk

Photo65Net (43096) 2009-05-26 3:28

Hello John,
Sometimes details tell more than a whole landscape.
I like how your tight compo here is colorful and interesting.
Have a nice day,
JB.

plimrn (19720) 2009-05-30 17:34

Hi John,
I like the way you framed this to compare the form of this snow plant to a pine cone - well seen and captured with excellent detail and color.

The snow plant doesn't alway come up through the snow, although I have seen it do so. This plant doesn't photosynthesize, it derives its nutrients through a relationship with soil fungi. Some Indians used its powder for mouth and tooth pain.

Where was your other dog??

HLJ, Pat

stego (22478) 2009-06-03 13:58

Hi John,
Beautiful photo, with amazing colours and perfect DOF. I like very much the way you did the compo. If it hadn't been shot outdoors, it would remind a studio photo.
Regards,
José

kiks (6149) 2009-09-05 12:12

Great image! I realy like the fact that the shape of the flower and pine are almost the same but the texture and color completly diferent. Very artistic.
Greets
KIKs

gunbud (28163) 2009-09-07 12:24

Hi John,
The simple pine cone with its rich texture makes a fine backdrop for this special little red flower to stand out against.
I love the sharp details of this red beauty and the muted pine needels.
Regards, Tom