Blue Skimmer at Da Farm

Photo Information

Taken:	6 October 2008 11:07 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Canon Rebel XT / Cannon 18-55mm
Exposure:	ISO 400
	54mm, 0 EV
	f/10
	1/200

Backstory

I usually see these dragonflies near water, but this one wasn’t afraid to venture out into the fields and pastures. Just out taking a walk, burning digital film.

–18 June 2013

Grasses

Photo Information

Taken:	6 October 2008 11:02 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Canon Rebel XT / Cannon 18-55mm
Exposure:	ISO 400
	53mm, 0 EV
	f/11
	1/250

Backstory

Every now and then Nature presents you with ready-made composition complete with symbolism. Here three stages of life overlap in three strands of grass. Make of it what you will.

–19 June 2013

Black Swallowtail on Creeping Oxeye

Photo Information

Taken:	6 October 2005 10:59 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Canon Rebel XT / Cannon 18-55mm
Exposure:	ISO 400
	55mm, 0 EV
	f/14
	1/500

Backstory

It was a good walk. As you can see from the number of pictures I’m posting, the farm is a very interesting place. All you have to do is walk around and open your eyes in the country, and Nature will astound you with wondrous bounty.

I’m always amazed at how cooperative Nature’s creatures are when they aren’t being deadly violent. Here a Hairy Wedelia—I also love the name Texas creeping-oxeye—(Wedelia texans) feeds a Black Swallowtail (Papillo polyxenes) in return for the butterfly’s work as a pollinator.

–20 June 2013

Tropical Checkered Skipper

Photo Information

Taken:	6 October 10:57 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Canon Rebel XT / Cannon 18mm-55mm
Exposure:	ISO 400
	55mm, 0 EV
	f/14
	1/400

Backstory

I believe this little feller is a tropical checkered skipper (Pyrgus oilers), but someone will let me know if I got that wrong. Its little brown and whitish mottling can make it hard to pick out against in the straw of a post-summer paddock. This guy’s wings have seen better days, but he was still flying when he stopped by to pose for me.

–21 May 2013

The House That Was a Barn

Photo Information

Taken:	6 October 2008 10:41 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Canon Rebel XT / Cannon 18-55mm
Exposure:	ISO 400
	22mm, 0 EV
	f/11
	1/400

Backstory

This is another picture of “The House That Was” forming part of an archetypal rural landscape. The shadows from the trees, the overgrown brush blocking the front door, the ancient TV antenna, the rusty fuel tank, and the rust implement in the foreground all provide part of the ambience that screams, “rural” to me. But perhaps that’s because I watched this house’s slow decline from habitable to rubble. At this point, Dad was only using it as an occasional barn.

From a photographic standpoint, I like the way the temperature cools from the blistering sun to the cooler shade under the trees. Rust also seems to be a natural part of the color pallet. It’s a darker hue of the thirsty grass.

–13 May 2013

Grass and Implement

Photo Information

Taken:	6 October 2008 10:41 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Canon Rebel XT / Cannon 18-55mm
Exposure:	ISO 400
	51mm, 0 EV
	f/13
	1/200

Backstory

Farm and ranch equipment is vital and necessary for a few days each year. It often spends the rest of its life weathering in a field waiting to be used.

I love the way the grass seeds washed out in the light to contrast with the rust on this old chisel plow. Even the imprecise focus on the grass, which was dancing in a gusty breeze, adds to the ambiance of this shot.

–13 May 2013

Jazz Cat

Photo Information

Taken:	5 October 2008 21:35 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Canon Rebel XT / Lens not recorded
Exposure:	ISO 400
	21mm, 0 EV
	f/3.35
	1/60 (flash)

Backstory

Dad had already gone to bed, and I was getting ready for bed myself when I noticed Dad’s trumpet laying on the couch by the cat pillows Mom had in place of real cats. Lighting is from a single overhead 60W bulb and the built in flash. The pillow looks as if it could blow that horn better than me. Well, OK. That’s not saying much.

–15 April 2013