by hankinslawrenceimages | Nov 10, 2010 | Flowers
UPDATED: November 17 – identification of the camellia flowers corrected – thanks to Amy for providing the correct identification.
On Monday morning, I spent a coupe of wonderful hours photographing at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond. I’d just finished the Craftsmen’s Classic and decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and do some photographing. I’d hoped to catch the Japanese Maple Trees in full color. A couple of years ago, I got some wonderful photos of fall color there. Unfortunately the trees didn’t cooperate.
Instead I found some late blooming flowers and wonderful berries to photograph.
First was a camellia bush – still full of blossoms.
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
Some bright red berries on a Heavenly Bamboo bush (Nandina Domestica)
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
Two varieties of American Holly (Ilex) – Canary with wonderful yellow berries
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
And reddish-maroon berries on an Emily Brunner Holly Bush
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
There were also lots of wonderful pansies in bloom
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
And finally I spotted a Purple Toad Lily (tricyrtis X sininome) plant with several blossoms
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is a wonderful place to visit and photograph. Every time I’ve visited – there have been many wonderful plants to photograph. Their staff is always friendly and helpful. If you are on Twitter – you may want to follow @lewisginter – Jonah Holland does a fantastic time keeping people updated on happenings at the garden through Twitter.
Has anyone else visited Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden? If so – do you enjoy it as much as I do? Hope you do. And if you haven’t visited them before – I’d really recommend spending some time at Lewis Ginter next time you’re in Richmond.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Nov 8, 2010 | New Mexico, Photo Locations
I recently realized that I’d never edited or shared some of the photos I took last December on a photo trip Bill & I took with Alain and Natalie Briot to New Mexico. I posted some of my photos from Bosque del Apache shortly after I returned, but that was pretty much it. So here are some of my photos from White Sands National Monument near Alamagordo, New Mexico.
Our original plan was for an late afternoon/sunset shoot one day, followed by a sunrise shoot the next morning. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t cooperate on the morning shoot. The winds were strong enough that I never even took my camera out of my bag – or set up my tripod. Something about not wanting to get all that blowing sand into my gear.
So all my photos are from the afternoon shoot.
For me, the main attraction at White Sand National Monument was photographing the yucca plants. The yucca plants bloom in May & June – so instead of photographing them in full bloom, I photographed the dry stalks where the flowers had been months before. Someday I hope to photograph the yucca in full bloom. But even six months after they finish blooming – they are quite beautiful.
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
This was the second of Alain & Natalie Briot’s photography workshops that Bill and I have attended. The workshops are always great fun – full of wonderful places to photograph – and lots of great conversations with other photographers. Each year, I seem to come back with a photo of Alain photographing in the field. Sometimes having a person in the photo helps give a sense of the scale of the landscape I was photographing in.
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
The sunset that evening wasn’t particularly colorful. The cloud cover was fairly heavy – so much of the sky had very little color. I did capture a few moments of color along the ridge line at one point.
(c) 2010 Patty Hankins
White Sands National Monument was a fascinating place to photograph. I will definitely return there someday to do some more exploring and photographing.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Nov 6, 2010 | Ericaceae Family, Flowers, New Photos, Wildflowers
Flame Azalea (c) 2010 Patty Hankins
I’ve recently added a new photo – Flame Azalea – to my Beautifulflowerpictures.com website.
Flame Azaleas (Rhododendron calendulaceum) are one of several species of azaleas native to the southeastern United States. I love the bright yellows and oranges in the flame azalea. I photographed this cluster of flame azalea blossoms along the Blue Ridge Parkway earlier this year.
This photograph is available as either a 12X15″ or 20X26″ gallery-wrapped canvas. You can order Flame Azalea from my website and I will have it available at shows.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Nov 5, 2010 | On the Web
Grape Adventure Iris (c) 2010 Patty Hankins
Here are some sites I found interesting this week. Hope you find them interesting as well
Flower and Gardening Links
Homestead Gardens has Organic Mulches for Fall
Beautiful Wildlife Garden has The Value of Trees to Wildlife
National Park and National Wildlife Refuge Links
National Parks Traveler has The Value of a View: New River Gorge National River Adds Key Acerage Under Landmark Bridge,
Wildlife Links
BBC Has Snake Gives ‘Virgin Birth’ to Extraordinary Babies
Environmental Issues Links
Christian Science Monitor has A New Effort to Preserve Iraq’s Rich Biodiversity, From Mountains to Marshes
National Parks Traveler has Report Counters GOP Arguments That Environmental Regs, Agencies Hampering Border Security
by hankinslawrenceimages | Nov 3, 2010 | Flowers, News, Photo of the Month, Wildflowers
Yellow Lady’s Slipper (c) 2010 Patty Hankins
A few years ago, I saw and photographed my first Pink Lady’s Slipper. Since then, I have been looking for a Yellow Lady’s Slipper to photograph. A native orchid, Lady’s Slippers are one of my favorite wildflowers (and they seem to be very popular with others as well). I’ve done a fair amount of hiking in the Smoky Mountains and along the Blue Ridge Parkway when the Yellow Lady’s Slippers should be in bloom – but I still haven’t found one in the wild. This one was photographed in a private garden in the Gatlinburg area. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to photograph in the garden of a wonderful woman who saw my work and a show and invited me over to her house to photograph. I hope you enjoy my Yellow Lady’s Slipper photograph as much as I do.
Until November 30, 2010, SAVE 20% off the regular prices for Yellow Lady’s Slipper. The photograph is available through my website in two sizes of gallery-wrapped canvases.
Save $ 20 on the 12X18″ Canvas – regular price $ 99 – November Photo of the Month Price – $ 79.00
Save $ $ 80 on the 20X30″ Canvas – regular price $ 399 – November Photo of the Month Price – $ 319.00
Free shipping to U.S. Addresses for either size photograph.
As with all photographs from BeautifulFlowerPictures.com, Yellow Lady’s Slipper comes with my Unconditional Happiness Guarantee. You have one year to decide that it is the perfect photograph for you. If it’s not, just return it (in original condition) for a full refund.
