Patio Spring
There are many signs of spring in the garden and on the patio. Pussy willows are one of the surest signs which has been with us for a few weeks – in my household they are the most anticipated sign of winter’s close. These are from Saturday morning before the rain had dried.
Those of you still in the grip of winter, I hope this gives you heart. Southern hemisphere dwellers – I hope you don’t take this as a sign that fall is setting in.
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Close up shots all taken with SMC Takumar 100mm f4.0 macro screw mount (m42) lens on a Canon EOS 5D MkII. ISO200 top two, ISO100 bottom two. f5.6 to f8, 1/60th to 1/500th, handheld
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burnt embers 
Pussy Willows have always been a favorite of mine. These images are pure excitement! Who takes photos of them like this? 😉 I love them! You have such creativity and innovation! Instead of the regular mousey gray pussy willow, you’ve turned life upside down and produced some magical photos! Great shots!
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Hey thanks Judy – that is a great comment. To me it just seems that I take pictures of what is offered and what me and my equipment can handle. If you think there is more going on, I can accept that, even if it doesn’t really feel like it. 🙂
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Nice job! The first shot is my favorite.
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Hi Danita – thank so much.
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Wonderful images, really awesome job! Love the second image down, the composition, the detail & water droplets simply work marvels!
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Hey, thanks David. You and Ken both picked that one out. I had a lot of trouble with the composition of these and frankly none of the compositions really stood out for me. I expect this is partly because I was concentrating on the detail and not looking at the whole very much.
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Beautiful catkins, and I love the rain droplets you captured on them. 🙂
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Hi Robin. Rain is another common feature of our spring – I keep on finding it in my shots, some days I barely notice its raining and then see a puddle in a picture, or some rain ripples on a wet surface or something like that. But ‘catkins’ (not a term I use since I have a British background) are a defining moment that shows spring is getting ready.
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Or maybe, I just never learned the word catkin until recently. I see catkin has a dutch origin, from a now obsolete word that means little cat.
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I just learned the word catkin last year when I was doing my year-long outdoor challenge, and attempting to identify the various plants and stages of growth during the spring months, so it’s fairly new to me too.
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Lovely. I can feel the life of spring stirring in these images.
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Thanks Ryan – do you really get spring in your area? It must be quite different than around here were the seasons are fairly pronounced, or somewhere like the Prairies or Urals where winter can be really nasty.
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It’s very mild in Los Angeles. Mostly the change is in the flowers that bloom and leaves on the trees. Nearby in the desert, the weather can be very drastic. Temperature can flux about fifty degrees in the course of the day.
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These are just gorgeous. While I wouldn’t say we are in the grip of Winter, we aren’t showing any signs of Spring and our pussy willow has no blooms on it. It’s nice to see some hopeful signs anywhere. And of course these shots are really nice, especially the second.
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Thanks ken – its not long now for the great lakes area to spring towards summer.
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Nice photos, like them!
And posted your Music-Suggestion and we’d be glad if you could give it a Facebook like 😉
http://xworldmusic.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/music-from-canada-the-novamatics/
All the best,
xandi
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Hi xandi – thanks so much. And for following my suggestion too! I love you blog, so much great music that you post there.
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Stunning!
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Thanks Katherine!
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