Chimney Lichen
The smokes of many burnt offerings have wrapped the arches of the ceremonial chimneys in the Chinese Cemetery at Harling Point.
The location of this National Historic Site can be seen on this map.
Canon 5Dii, SMC Takumar 100mm/f4 macro, ISO400. Top ~f5.6, 1/2,500th. Bottom ~f16, 1/160th second.
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burnt embers 
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Absolutely wonderful work here, my friend! I love the composition in both pieces, absolutely wonderful!
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Hi Toad – thanks so much. I see something different every time I go to the cemetery, things I have looked at previously and yet not seen.
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Love the clean graphics and color contrast of the arch and sky
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Thank you 🙂
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Very cool! Love the colors and textures from the lichen!
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Thank you David. That kind of lichen grows on many of the rocks near the shore, its less common to see it unmolested on a built object, though some of the headstones also have it. (Edit: oops, answered with the computer logged into my wife’s blog).
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These are nice, but I think you can get some great close up texture shots of the sides of those Chimneys sometime. Each side looks like it has lots of things going on on it.
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You are right. I took some along one of the changes in edge where it angles out, but the depth of field did not work out. I was trying for something abstract, but not trying too hard as I was pretty much ready to go home by then. I would like to return and get some more shots, probably in the morning when there is a yellow light falling on this side of the chimney. There is a lot of texture as the lichen is quite thick.
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Curious spectral house with satellite dish (?) on hill behind the chimneys – kind of takes over the picture. Val
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Hi Val, that is the Gonzales Observatory. It is now run by eggheads (do academics really have bald egg-shaped heads) from the University of Victoria who conduct Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy from there – “spectral” by definition I think.
You can find out more at my original post on the observatory here.
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Yes, I remember now. It must be convenient to be able to take your tunable diode lasers round there when they act up.
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Maybe they do camera repairs.
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Interesting colours there. I’m a little scared to think what the ochre-like colour really is. I prefer the abstractness of the first photo
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Hi Anne – it’s just lichen, don’t worry. These chimneys were (and are) used during rituals to honour the dead – the altar between the chimneys has food placed on it during certain festivals and the chimneys have offerings burned in them; paper money for instance. On my first post about the Chinese Cemetery (linked above) I link to a very good publication by Dr. Lai about the history of the cemetery that includes a lot of cultural information. Having said all that, I prefer the first photo too.
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