New Photos on Our Website – January 28

Update – June 10, 2009 – all my flower photographs have moved to my BeautifulFlowerPictures.com site.

I’ve just added twelve new flower photos to our  Hankins-Lawrence Images website. The new photographs include

Eyeliner Lily

Eyeliner Lily (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Agave Potatorum

Agave Potatorum (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

and Trillum and Blue Phlox

Trillium and Blue Phlox (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

All the new photographs will be available printed on canvas at our shows this spring.

Hope you enjoy taking a look at the new photos.

.

Sugarloaf Crafts Festival in Chantilly VA Jan 30 – Feb 1

Bill and I will be at the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia this weekend.

Show hours are Friday Januray 30 10 AM – 6 PM, Saturday January 31 AM – 6 PM and Sunday February 1 10 AM – 5 PM.

Our booth number is 305 this weekend.

Directions to the Dulles Expo Center, discount admission coupons and additional information is available on the Sugarloaf website.

We hope to see you this weekend.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

As I’ve been exploring and photographing at local botanic gardens, I’ve spotted several wonderful hibiscus plants. They are all Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, a member of the Malvaceae family, an evergreen shrub native to East Asia.

The first Hibiscus I photographed was a Jason hibiscus. I’ve seen Jason hibiscuses in a few places now. Each time, I marvel at the combination of the reds, pinks and yellows in the flowers.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

The next hibiscus I photographed was a Sweet Violet hibiscus.

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

The most recent one I’ve photographed is a Night Fire Hibiscus. The deep reds and purples in the flowers are incredible.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Night Fire Hibiscus (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

As I discover other Hibiscus cultivators I’m sure I’ll be photographing them and adding them to my Flickr photostream and posting them here on my blog.

In the meantime – please enjoy the wonderful flowers.

Photography Links – January 23, 2009

Just a few links this week. Hope you find them useful.

Photo Business News & Forum has an excellent post on Derivative Works Liability – Copyright Infringement.

Black Star Rising has posts on Silhouette Photography Made Simple and Once you Licensce Your Work with Creative Commons, the Cat’s Out of the Bag.

Plagiarism Today has 5 Stupid Copyright Questions That Aren’t and The 3 Biggest Kludges of Copyright Law.

Jim Goldstein has an excellent post about the Flickr Collection on Getty.  Be sure to read his post and consider the points he raises if you get an offer to participate in the Flickr Collection on Getty.

The NY Times has an article about Polaroid Fans Try Making New Film for Old Cameras.

Joshua Tree – Yucca brevifolia

As we drove from Death Valley to the Lone Pine, California, we stopped to photograph some Joshua Trees in the mountains. It was really surprising to suddenly see trees growing in the harsh environments we’d been driving through. I spent most of my time photographing a joshua tree that had one branch lying on the ground. It really made for some interesting photographic opportunities.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

The leaves of the joshua trees are long green spikes radiating out from a center point. The ones lying on the ground offered a unique perspective on the plant.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

The leaves at the end of the fallen branch were still green, while the leaves further back had dried creating a nice contrast of the green and brown.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

In late winter/early spring, the joshua trees bloom with white flowers. You can see one of the dried flowers on the end of one of the branches in this next photo.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Someday I’d love to see the Joshua Trees in full bloom – from photos I’ve seen, the flowers are spectacular.

Smoky Mountain Wildflowers

Last April, I spent a wonderful week photographing wildflowers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park when I attended the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage. Longtime readers of this blog have seen several photos I took that week. So far, most of the photos have been macro photos of a single wildflower.

Recently, I’ve taken another look at some of the photos from the trip and discovered several that show groups of wildflowers. As I looked at the photos, I remembered just how amazing it was to see so many types of flowers growing together – not in a planned and planted garden. Rather they were growing where they happened to be.

So here are three of my most recently edited photos. I’ll have all three of them available at shows this spring.

First is a hillside of white trilliums, blue phlox, yellow violets and wood anemones photographed along the Cove Hardwood Trail.

Trillium and Blue Phlox (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Next is a grouping of columbine, purple phacelia and meadow parsnip photographed along Little River Road.

Wild Columbine and Purple Phacelia (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Finally, some fire pinks and purple phacelia photographed along the Chestnut Top Trail.

Fire Pinks and Purple Phacelia (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

These photos give just a taste of how beautiful the wildflowers are in the Smoky Mountains in the Spring. The 2009 Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage is scheduled for April 22-26. I’ve already made plans to spend that week in the Smokies – photographing more amazing wildflowers.

More Photos from Badwater Basin in Death Valley

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

On our last morning in Death Valley, we headed to the Badwater Basin area for sunrise. Badwater has a few spring fed springs, and miles of salt flats.

For me, there were two scenes to photograph – the first was the amazing sunrise with the mountains, the second was the salt flats. The repeated freezing and thawing of the ground has created incredible patterns in the salt.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

One the sun rose, I spent some time photographing the salt formations. There were endless repetitions of hexagonal shapes.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Here’s a ground level view of salt formations. The crystal structure really reminded me of the structure of a coral reef.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Photography Links – January 16, 2009

Just a few links this week . . .

Paul Burwell has a post on Getting Eye-to-Eye with wildlife photography.

PhotoAttorney has information on how Facebook Can Use Your Content for Promotional Purposes

The National Park Service has a list of events in the parks connected with the Presidential Inauguration.

Phosita has information on the differences between copyright, trademarks and patents.

EpicEdits has information on updating your camera’s firmware.

Your Photo Tips has 3 Quick Tips to Better Photography.

Andy Smith and Jeff Kuhns are organizing photowalk in Harrisburg PA on April 18 at 10 AM.

Shrimp Plant – Justicia Brandigeana

On a recent visit to the U.S. Botanic Garden I spotted an unusual looking plant. My first reaction when I saw it was that the flowers looked like shrimp! You can imagine my surprise when I read the sign identifying the plant that it was a Shrimp Plant – Justicia Brandigeana Variagate.

Shrimp plants are native to Mexico and is also grown in Florida. Apparently they bloom almost year round.

When I photographed it, the shrimp plant at the U.S. Botanic Garden was upper walkway in the Jungle area on the left almost directly opposite the main entrance of the Botanic Garden.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

The underside of the flower has petals that look like the legs of a shrimp.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

As I finished photographing the shrimp plant, I had to wonder – was there a cocktail sauce plant anywhere nearby?

Badwater Basin in Death Valley

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

During our trip to Death Valley, we stopped at Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the continental U.S.  Badwater is a salt flat, essentially the remnant of an ancient salt lake.  You walk out on the a crust of crystalline salt overlying mud and dirt.  The area is surrounded by mountains, with Dante’s Peak rising over 5,700 feet above Badwater Basin.  Below, the park (quite amusingly) has placed a marker on the cliff overlooking Badwater marking where sea level is (that little sign you see in the photo near the top of the photo).  It does give you a sense of perspective as to how low the land is here.

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

The area heading out to Badwater is quite desolate; mainly fields of rocks with the occasional desert holly or sage.  Below is a shot of the road heading out to the salt flats showing the landscape.  Bill included the empty road dwindling towards the mountains in the haze as part of the shot as he thought it added nicely to the feeling of solitude in the photo.

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

As with much of Death Valley, the terrain was quite unusual, contributing to the feeling of being in another world.  The photo below shows the sculpted foothills at the edge of the salt flats.

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

We photographed a sunrise at Badwater Basin, to get the salt flats in the morning light.  We were lucky to have a brief but spectacular sunrise, with the sky lighting up in a variety of pinks, purples, and oranges over the course of a few minutes.  The color of the sky is reflected off the salt formations of the salt flat in the photo below.

(c) 2008 William Lawrence

We hope you’ve enjoyed Bill’s photos of Badwater Basin. My photos from Badwater will be up later in the week.