flower – David Kotz

A yellow carpet

An endless field of black-eyed susans.

Not far down the road from my home is a luscious meadow, a former farm pasture that the owner has preserved via a conservation easement to the Upper Valley Land Trust. This meadow is popular with local deer, turkeys, and other wildlife. In recent years, the conservators have planted the roadside with wildflowers, allowing me a brilliant commute on summer mornings. Last year, I shared photos of the multicolor feast of wildflowers. This year, the field is carpeted with the yellow and orange tones of Black-Eyed Susan flowers. Today, a mildly foggy morning provide just the right atmosphere for photographs. Click through the gallery!

Wandering the spring forest

When you really pay attention, you notice the small beauties of the forest.

I try to get out at least once a week into the forests of Lyme, NH, where I live. Regular readers see my videos from wildlife cameras placed at undisclosed locations in the woods. Although I enjoy witnessing the secret life of Lyme wildlife, and sharing it with you all, I mostly enjoy the opportunity to wander, off trail, with no particular destination in mind. The month of May adds the opportunity to enjoy small wonders along the way.

Trillium blooming in the forests of Lyme, NH.

Wildflowers in foggy meadow

An hour wading among wildflowers on a summer morning.

A meadow near our home has been planted with wildflowers, bringing smiles to everyone who rides or drives by. One foggy morning I spent a happy hour collecting photographs as the sun rose and started to burn off the fog. Check out the full photo gallery!

Many thanks to the Upper Valley Land Trust (UVLT) for conserving this former farm field, and to the landowners for planting beautiful wildflowers!

All images shot with Canon R5 with the RF 100-500 lens.

Macro pansy

Experimenting with a macro lens.

I’ve done very little macro photography, but while the flowers are blooming in Zürich it seemed to be a good time to pull out that macro lens (thanks dad!) and experiment a little. I found a bed of pansies, beautifully deep purple and dripping from a recent drizzle. Sitting on the sidewalk, while passers-by snickered at me, I snuck in close to these pansies and explored different approaches. Here are a few favorites – I often found it more interesting to zoom in on a droplet, or part of a petal, than on the whole flower. I have a long ways to go to get the right exposure, depth of field, and crisp imagery. Maybe tomorrow.

Same photos (full-res) in the gallery.