Water Droplets on Sheet Web

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Posted on January 20, 2013 by Lorelle VanFossen

Just as there are many types of spiders, there are many types of webs. A favorite of ours is the sheet web.

Lying flat across plants and grasses, Brent and I are impressed by these diligent web makers as they work on the horizontal rather than vertical. Our front “yard” filled with knick-knick, Oregon Grape, and sahlal, native Pacific Northwest plants, is a haven for sheet web-making spiders.

In the fall, the rain comes down, drenching these sturdy webs with water drops. Brent was able to get in close to capture the droplets without disturbing the web.

I love the patterns, the wet texture, and the lovely colors of nature in this photograph. Made into a puzzle, this one would be a tough image to put together.

Flash Isolates Natural Subject

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Lorelle VanFossen

This dried thistle head in the Painted Hills of Oregon caught my attention with its textures and lines. I’ve always loved thistles, alive and vital with their fluffy tops, and dried out cone-like structures of mystery and pattern.

To isolate this thistle, I used flash to force the background to go to black. The flash also dove into the textures highlighting the dimensional quality of the seed head. The black background brings out the delicate curves of the plant.

To create this yourself, get close to your subject and use full flash. I recommend putting your camera on a tripod to maximize the sharp focus of the subject.

If the subject like this thistle is moving in the breeze, just be patient and wait for it to pause. The flash allows the camera to photograph at higher speeds, but you want all the odds on your side.

Patterns in Nature: Beetle Camouflage on Tree

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Lorelle VanFossen

We love looking for patterns in nature to photograph and nature provides no end of opportunities. This beetle was almost passed by as it blends so perfectly in with the tree bark. It’s near perfect as camouflage.

To photograph patterns in nature, specifically subjects that resemble other more family subjects or those that melt away into their environment, you have to have what Brent’s family called a “good eye.” You have to pay attention to details, be very patient, and be open to discovery. It’s a child-like detective adventure, trying to bring order to the chaos of shapes and lines and designs around us. Our brain wants to force coherent images out of random or abstract designs, finding letters of the alphabet in moss and worm patterns on leaves, faces in flowers, or tree bark on bugs.

Recently, my in-laws updated their kitchen with new tiles, sink, and counter top. They searched and searched for months to find the right design in the stone counter and finally decided upon a green, blue, black, and gray pattern with lines of white running through it with the occasional swirl in its bend. It’s beautiful and very unusual. Fascinated with the decision process, I asked them why they chose this one. My mother-in-law explained that while it didn’t have the exact colors they wanted, dad liked it because it looked like the earth from a satellite perspective.

As our eyes turn out to the stars and back towards this tiny planet we call home, the range of recognizable imagery we can impose upon nature expands. Suddenly shapes and forms in nature look more like the horse head nebular or the cat’s eye galaxy, or the view of our planet’s surface from hundreds of miles into space.

Maybe someday this won’t be a beetle that resembles the bark it rests on, but an alien on the surface of a planet in a far off distant corner of the galaxy.

Patterns in Nature: New Growth on Evergreens

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Lorelle VanFossen

In the spring, while everyone is looking at the spring flowers, I’m looking at trees, running my hands over the feather softy new growth on the tips of the evergreen trees.

I love how dark green trees suddenly seem to flower with the light green “blooms” on their tips. Within a few months, this slippery and silky ends will become brittle hard and spiky, keeping shadow on its rough bark during the heat of summer, reaching out to catch any cooling breeze that passes by, then pushing away the weight of the snow on its branches in winter. Pine needles are part of the evergreen tree’s defense system.

I pointed out this new tree growth to my future husband, Brent VanFossen, while we were on a photographic field trip when he was still a student and I was the teacher. We were working on patterns in nature, specifically lines and shapes in the basic photography workshop, and this new tree growth was a perfect example of a tiny equiangular spiral, a pattern few people every notice until they get really close up.

Brent used his 200mm with an extension tube to get in really close, and bounced a little white bounce light from his diffuser/refector to fill in the shadows and make the spiral pop out. This was done, of course, on a stable tripod as a show shutter speed was required to get the maximum depth of field for the tiny end of the branch and needles.

All these many years later, this continues to be one of my favorite peaceful photographs. It’s simple and I never get tired of looking at it.

A Reflection of Trees

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Lorelle VanFossen

A select few artists and photographers specialized in working with reflections, images captured in lakes, rivers, ponds, and puddles, then turning them upside for display, making what would normally be seen upside down be right side up, a portrait of abstract Monet-style photography.

This particular image I took in spring at the Bellingrath Plantation and Gardens, along one of the many ponds and estuaries of the slough coming off the Gulf Coast and mixing into the fresh waters of the Dog River and other waterways around Mobile, Alabama.

I loved the stark trees in the water, the blue sky, the flowering azaleas, all came together for a powerful reflection image. I underexposed a bit, playing around with capturing the darker tones of the image, and this was the best of the lot.

The Stack of Old Books

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Lorelle VanFossen

Among the man-made patterns I love to photograph are books, specifically old books. I love the pattern of them stacked, their cover jackets of different colors, patterns, and textures, especially the older books with their leather and paper bindings.

I think of the hard work that went into designing the colorful covers, the care taken to find the perfect font and collection of images to grab the attention of the passerby and leap off the bookstore shelf into their hands.

As an author, I think of the powerful impact seeing my first book cover on a book that wasn’t self published. I couldn’t believe it. After all the years of self-doubt at being called an author, here I was, a published author. Joy filled me, immediately doused by humility and responsibility. With this book in my hand, I now had to be more than I was. I had to be a real writer. I had to live up to whatever an author was.

This didn’t last long as thirty seconds later I was asked for my first book autograph from Chris and Gorgeous Cree. I signed a book to both of them. They laughed and said that I had to sign two books, one for each of them. I was humiliated, having never thought about autographing my own books, and a part of me wanted to save every single one of them so why give two to a married couple when all they needed was one.

I tucked that book into my bag and signed two fresh copies for them, totally three autographed copies in the first two minutes of experiencing my own book. I still have that original first copy, that’s how stingy and protective I am of my first book. I use it as my proof and edit version. It’s been sliced into individual pages and stuck in a notebook binder and every other page has red marks on it with edits and corrections. I’m working on it right now for the version 2 due out hopefully by the end of the year.

To me, these books represented all those hopes and dreams the authors had. They were all in a pile at a swamp meet market in Mobile, Alabama, looking like they could fall over at any moment. That’s fairly symbolic to me.

One of my favorite quotes by the outrageous Quentin Crisp is:

It’s no good running a pig farm badly for 30 years while saying, ‘Really, I was meant to be a ballet dancer.’ By then, pigs will be your style.

When I look at these books and my own inadequacies in getting my second book out the door, I often wonder if I’m the ballet dancer of the pig farmer.

Rows of Tulips – Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Lorelle VanFossen

Rows of tulips at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

There were several intriguing things about this composition that compelled me to take it.

First, the leading rows moving into the distance towards the cars. Then the cars at the end of the line. It’s like a strange parking lot in the flowers.

Second, the building and mounds of compost in the background. They echo each other and look like mountains, which would be in the distance if the overcast sky permitted.

I like the lines, the rows, curves of the cars, then triangles of the building and mounds. It’s a busy image, but somehow, it still appeals to me.

Patterns in Nature: Spiral Kale

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Lorelle VanFossen

We are always on the lookout for fascinating patterns in nature to photograph. This beautiful ornamental kale at the Bellingrath Plantation near Mobile, Alabama, is a wonderful spiral pattern. I positioned the center of the plant in the traditional rule of thirds corner and the whole image popped off the viewfinder in my camera.

Photographing a deep, lacy, and complex patterned plant can be a challenge when it comes to focus points and depth of field. I choose to go with the maximum depth of field to capture as much of the lacy leaves as possible, carefully positioning my camera parallel to the plant, directly over it. Some diffused light from the sky and a careful bouncing of the gold reflector into the center, and I’m very pleased with the results.

More helpful articles on photographing nature, plants, and patterns, see:

Photography Patterns: Putting the Spin on Tulips

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Lorelle VanFossen

I love patterns and shapes, inherent in nature as well as manipulated. A favorite manipulation is to spin the camera at a slow shutter speed when photographing flowers, specifically brightly colored flowers like tulips, creating fascinating whirls of light and color.

In this series, I was working with tulips from La Conner, Washington, and the annual International Tulip Festival, a rainbow resource of color and light.

To create the spin effect, there are several methods. Let’s start with the equipment options. Continue reading →

Gallery: Patterns in Nature

Posted on April 2, 2005 by Lorelle VanFossen

Patterns in nature are to be found everywhere you look. Diagonal lines,
squares, rectangles, circles, spheres, and spirals of every kind. We teach workshops and classes on photographing patterns in nature, and we are fascinated by the amazingly diverse number of patterns, textures, and artistic joys found in nature.

Click on image to see large version.