Summer in our garden

I promised I’d put together a gallery of photos taken in our garden last summer (that’d be the summer of 2018 for those of you who’ll be reading this in future years), and here it is.

Get ready to see 347 photos of summertime, taken between June and August of last year. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy! 😀

A two-frame focus stack
A three-frame focus stack. The little speck you see in the upper left quadrant is a tiny little insect.
A two-frame focus stack
A two-frame focus stack
A two-frame focus stack at f2.8 🙂
A two-frame focus stack
I prefer them unpicked 🙂
Apparently that’s the name for this kind of blossom 🙂
A three-frame focus stack
Apparently that’s the name for this kind of blossom 🙂
Apparently that’s the name for this kind of blossom 🙂
A two-frame focus stack
An adorable little creature
A two-frame focus stack
A four-frame focus stack
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018
A four-frame focus stack
A three-frame focus stack
A two-frame focus stack
A two-frame focus stack
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
A three-frame focus stack
In the garden, summer of 2018
In the garden, summer of 2018
In the garden, summer of 2018
In the garden, summer of 2018
In the garden, summer of 2018
In the garden, summer of 2018
An eight-frame focus stack, taken with my Olympus PEN E-P3, the 45mm f1.8 lens and the MCON-P02 converter
One of our small cypress trees is recovering after almost drying out

Places

Objects and details

Something I often find myself doing during the winters is searching the house for things to photograph. Whether it’s something as simple as an object on my desk or something a little harder to spot, such as reflections in glazed porcelain, it’s always interesting to find a novel way to frame everyday things. Our cats often wake up from their slumber to find a camera pointed at them, and they’re surprisingly tolerant, far more than I’d be, were I to be in their shoes. I present you with a gallery of recent images. Enjoy!

His nose is perpetually scratched from spats with neighboring tomcats
His nose is perpetually scratched from spats with neighboring tomcats
The look on Stefanel’s face when he touches Ginger with his paw

Places

Winter at home

Even though I can’t handle being in the cold for a long time, I love winter. I love the smell of it in the air. I love the scrunch of the snow under my shoes. The world’s a (mostly) dirty place and I love how clean the snow makes everything look. I love the grey skies. I love how the pure white of the snow makes other colors more vibrant. I love going out into the cold to take photos, then coming back in to a hot cup of coffee or tea while they download to my computer. And I have gotten to love sharing these seasonal galleries of photos with you. I know I didn’t post photos of the last summer and autumn, but I have them and will get to them soon.

It was still spring (26th of May) and a soothing spring rain had just fallen over our town. Raindrops were hanging on flower petals, leaves and blades of grass. The air had been freshened up and any breeze flowing through the garden made you shudder, now that the air and the earth had cooled off. You just wanted to curl up with a nice cup of coffee — which is just what I did after I took these photos. Enjoy the gallery!

A four-frame focus stack

Also a three-frame focus stack

A three-frame focus stack

A three-frame focus stack

A four-frame focus stack

A four-frame focus stack

A two-frame focus stack

A two-frame focus stack

Pinna is the name for the little fern leaflets

Droplets on a sycamore leaf, seen from underneath. A focus stack.

Places

A rainy day in the garden

Events

On the evening of the summer solstice

It was the summer solstice a couple of days ago. On that longest day of the year, I thought it might be interesting to take photographs in our garden, just as the day drew to a close. I was especially interested in capturing the evening primroses, because we have so many of them this year, and because I was curious to see whether they’d open up sooner or just as dark fell, as is their custom.

Well, they didn’t open up sooner, I still had to wait until it was almost dark, but I found out something new; having never watched them open up before, I had a wonderful surprise in store for me. As it turns out, the blossoms open at a pace that can be observed live, without the aid of time lapse photography. It’s not as fast as a mimosa pudica’s reaction, but it’s fast enough for a person to stand (or sit) there and watch it open. Nature is wonderful!

I hope you enjoy this set of photographs. I took them with my PEN E-P3, whose IBIS mechanism was recently repaired by Olympus Czechia and is now working so well, it’s tempting to use it as my main camera. I plan to use it a lot more than before, that’s for sure. By the way, my setup included the M.Zuiko 25mm f1.8 lens and the lovely and inexpensive MCON-P02 Macro Adapter. It works with several more lenses from Olympus and it’s small and lightweight, so it even fits in your pocket.