Links – July 30, 2010

Azaleas in the Woods (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Here are some links I found interesting this week  – hope you enjoy them

Photography and Art Links

CopyrightZone has More Myths that Will Not Die

PDNPulse has Copyright Infringement? There’s An App for That,

DenverPost has Captured: America in Color 1939 – 1943

Plagiarism Today has What the New DMCA Exemptions Mean to You

Photo Business News & Forum has What’s A CD Cover Worth? and US Open + Craigslist + PR Company = Idiocy

The Last Rolls of Kodachrome Film were recently developed – NPR and Witchita Times have the story

Washington Post has Freedom of Photography: Police, Security Often Clamp Down Despite Public Right

Are they or aren’t they? A group of Ansel Adams negatives may have been found. CNN and PDNPulse have the story

NYTimes has Step Away from the Camera

Gardening, Plants & Flowers Links

UPI has Screw-caps Seen as Threat to Environment

The Natural Capital has Rose Mallow: Our Local Hibiscus

Invasive Notes has Invasive Species Confusion Confounds

NYTimes has Botanical Gardens Look for New Lures

Karen’s Garden Tips has Five Favorite Perennials for Wet Soils

National Park & Wildlife Refuge Links

National Parks Traveler has Don’t Collect That Shell – Unexploded WWII Bomb Turns Up at Cape Lookout National Seashore, Yellowstone National Park Officials Offer Six Alternatives for Winter Use Plans, Smokey the Bear Campaign Enters the 21st CenturyInterior Secretary Sued for Not Following Endangered Species Guidelines in Gulf of Mexico, and National Public Lands Day is Right Around the Corner,

Refuge Watch has Pressure to Open Featherstone NWR, Protests Over Death of Freshwater Marsh at Prime Hook NWR, and Dune Restoration Proposal at Prime Hook NWR

Asheville Citizen Times has 35 Acres Next to Blue Ridge Parkway Now Protected

Wildlife Links

Bush Warriors has Bloodbath in Chitwan National Park: Nepal Goes to War Against Rhino Poachers

BBCNews has New Ponds Attract Rare Wildlife,and Cheetahs Will Run Again in India

The Guardian has Lionfish Boom Threaten Atlantic Ecosystems

US Fish and Wildlife Service Adds Two Ecuadorean Birds to the Endangered Species List

Environmental Issues Links

CSMonitor has Activists Frustrated at Obama’s Environmental Record, What Can Save the Gulf’s Fragile Coastal Wetlands? Salt Water Perhaps,

Wire and Twine has 50 Ways to Help the Planet

BBCNews has UN Declares Clean Water a Fundamental Human Right

WWF Climate Blog has In State of the Climate Report, Scientists From All Continents Confirm Climate Change is Underway

Brookside Gardens in July

I realized the other day that I hadn’t been to Brookside Gardens in several weeks. Brookside Gardens is a public garden in Wheaton, Maryland – located in Wheaton Regional Park. It’s only a few miles from home and one of my favorite gardens to photograph in. No matter what time of the year I visit – I always find something to photograph. Here are some fruit and flowers I photographed yesterday morning.

Black Eyed Susans

Black Eyed Susans

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Peppa Purple Tangering Peppers – capsicum annuum

Peppa Purple Tangerine Peppers - capsicum annuum

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Explosive Ember Peppers – capsicum annuum – I just love the rich colors in these peppers

Explosive Ember peppers - Capsicum annuum

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

A Pink Hibiscus

Pink Hibiscus

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Pink Hibiscus(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

And finally a spectacular Fiesta del Sol Mexican Sunflower – tithonia rotundifolia

Fiesta del Sol Mexican Sunflower - titonia rotundifolia(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Fiesta del Sol Mexican Sunflower - titonia rotundifolia(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Even a brief visit to Brookside Gardens in the summer gets my day off to a fantastic start. If you’re in the DC area – be sure to check out what’s blooming at Brookside – there’s always something wonderful.

Colorado Wildflowers IV – San Juan Mountains

In addition to photographing in the Gunnison National Forest, I spent some time in the San Juan Mountains on my recent trip to Colorado to photograph wildflowers.  While in the San Juan Mountains, I was photographing at a  higher elevation than I was in the Gunnison National Forest so I was finding flowers at a little earlier in the blooming cycle. I was based in Ouray for this part of my trip.

Here are a few of my wildflowers photos from the San Juan Mountains.

Colorado Blue Columbine – Aquilegia Caerulea

Colorado Blue Columbine  Aquilegia Caerulea(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Fireweed – chamerion angustifolium

Fireweed chamerion angustifolium

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Rosy Paintbrush -Castilleja rhexiifolia

Rosy Paintbrush Castilleja rhexiifolia

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Western Indian Paintbrush – Castilleja occidentalis

Western Indian Paintbrush Castilleja occidentalis

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Colorado wildflower photos I’ve been posting for the past week or so. I had a wonderful time on the trip – and am really looking forward to doing some serious editing on my photos – and deciding which ones I’ll be offering as fine art photographs in the weeks and months to come. If there are any of the wildflowers you’ve particularly liked – let me know and I’ll be sure to let you know if I do offer them as photos on canvas.

Colorado Wildflowers III – Gunnison National Forest

Here are a few more Colorado wildflowers I photographed in the Gunnison National Forest outside of Crested Butte. The wildflowers were incredible. I’ve photographed enough eastern wildflowers that I often could recognize what the western flowers were related to. It was wonderful seeing the similarities and differences in the wildflowers between Colorado, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Case’s Fitweed – Corydalis caseana

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Nodding Sunflower – Helianthella quinquenervis

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Orange Paintbrush – Castilleja integra

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Fairy Trumpets – Ipomopsis aggregata

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I saw so many hummingbirds at the various stands of Orange Paintbrush and Fairy Trumpets – they really do like the red wildflowers.

Links – July 23, 2010

Pink Dogwood

Pink Dogwood II (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Here are some links I found interesting this week  – hope you enjoy them

Photography and Art Links

A Photo Editor has Print Your Friends Facebook Photos (if you’re on FB – be sure to read this and decide how much access you want people to have to your photos)

ArtBizBlog has 11 Fast Website or Blog Fixes

Black Star Rising has Don’t Let Your Photography Clients Sell You Short

PhotoAttorney has Trademarks – Basic Info and Registration

Gardening, Plants & Flowers Links

National Parks Traveler has US Fish and Wildlife Service Agrees Whitebark Pine Trees Might Need ESA Protection

National Park & National Wildlife Refuge Links

National Parks Traveler has Thank A National Park Ranger on July 29 and  Independent Review Calls on National Park Service To Bolster Its Natural Resource Stewardship and Science

Wildlife Links

BBC News has New Sea Creatures Found on Barrier Reef

AZ Central has At Wildlife Refuge, 2 Native Species Fight it Out

Refuge Watch has Geese Killings Could Affect Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

The Guardian has Poachers Kill Last Female Rhino in South African Park for Prized Horn

National Parks Traveler has Man Who Poached Elk in Great Smoky Mountains National Park Receives Jail Time, Heavy Fine

CSMonitor has Another Consequence of Global Warming: More Marmots

Environmental Issues Links

NYTimes has After Oil Spills, Hidden Damage Can Last for Years

Cool Green Science has Climate Change: Risks to U.S. Water Supplies Will Increase

Colorado Wildflowers II – Gunnison National Forest

I spent several days on my recent trip to Colorado photographing in the Gunnison National Forest in the Crested Butte area. Here are a few of the wildflower photos I took in the area. I loved all the shades of blue and purple I was seeing in the Colorado wildflowers.

Colorado Blue Columbine – Aquilegia coerulea – the state wildflower of Colorado

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Silvery Lupine – Lupinus argenteus

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Western Blue Flax – Linum perenne

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I’ll be posting more of my Colorado wildflower photos in a few days. I hope you’re enjoying them.

Colorado Wildflowers I

I got back home a few days ago from a fantastic trip to Colorado. I’d headed west to photograph wildflowers. Over the years I’ve seen so many photographs of fields of wildflowers leading up into the mountains, that I just had to go see (and photograph) them.

Prior to this trip, I really hadn’t spent much time in Colorado – I’d changed planes in Denver and attended a conference just outside the city. I had no idea just how spectacular the landscapes I was going to be seeing were.

The photos in this first Colorado Wildflower post are the big landscapes. It was incredible to see acres of wildflowers – leading up to the treeline – the rocky faces of the mountains above – and finally the amazing bright blue skies.

These four photo were all taken in the Gunnison National Forest outside of Crested Butte. I think it’ll be easy for you to see why I fell in love with the area.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

This last photo is from Yankee Boy Basin outside of Ouray.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I’ll be posting photos of some of the individual wildflowers I photographed over the next few days. But first I wanted to give you an idea of the spectacular landscapes I was photographing in.

Most of these photos are quick edits that I did while I was on the road and posted to Twitter and Facebook. I wanted to make sure that readers of my blog got a chance to see them as well.

False Bugbane – Trautvetteria caroliniensis

False Bugbane (trautvertteria caroliniensis) – also known as Tassel Rue or Carolina Bugbane – is a member of the Buttercup (Rannunculaceae) family that I photographed on my recent trip to North Carolina. I found the False Bugbane along the trails at Rhododendron Gardens in the Pisgah National Forest.

False Bugbane - trautbetteria caroliniensis

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

At first glance, I thought it was a member of the Aster family – but then I realized it was something I’d never seen before. The green center and  numerous white stamens on each flower give the False Bugbane a unique look. This summer blooming perennial grows up to 5 feet tall. False Bugbane - trautbetteria caroliniensis

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Named for the 19th century Russian botanist Rudolph von Trautvetter, false bugbane is native to several different areas of the world, including Russia, Japan and areas of North America. In the United States, it can be found in the east from Pennsyvlania to Florida to Missouri and in the west from California to Washington to Montona to New Mexico. It is also native to British Columbia in Canada. It prefers to grow in moist open woods and along stream banks. It is hardy from USDA zone 8b to zone 3a.

False Bugbane - trautbetteria caroliniensis(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

If you’d like to learn more about false bugbane – some online sites with additional information include

USDA Plant Profile for Trautvetteria caroliniensis

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Plant Database: Trautvetteria caroliniensis

GRIN Taxonomy Database: Trautvetteria caroliniensis

Flora of North America: Trautvetteria caroliniensis

WTU Herbarium Image Collection: Trautvetteria caroliniensis

Links – July 16, 2010

Jack in the Pulpit (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Lots of links this week since I didn’t get a links post done last week – hope you find them interesting

Photography and Art Links

Plagiarism Today has DMCA Fail: The 5 Dumbest Takedown Notices

The Online Photographer has It’s Never to Early to Start Planning for an Eclipse

Black Star Rising has Eye on Image-Making: Why the First Amendment Matters,12 Excuses for Shooting Photos for Free – and Why They’re Bogus,

Beyond the Art Fair has Oh Sure! Anyone Can Do This

The Copyright Zone has Is You A Photographer or Is You A Mouse?

Art Biz Blog has Formula for a 3-Paragraph Artist Bio

John Paul Caponigro has Where to Put ICC Profiles

A Photographers Blog has Detained for Photography

Crafting an MBA has What Are You the Best in the World At?

PhotoAttorney has Copyright Infringement for Substantially Similar Works

Scott Kelby has a post from Aaron Johnson of What the Duck for this week’s Guest Blog Wednesday Be sure to check out the special HDR strip Aaron did for this post.

An Eclectic Mind has A Serious Amateur’s Guide to Making Movies – Introduction

Art Calendar has 10 Tips for Improving Your Art Sales

National Park & National Wildlife Refuge Links

National Parks Traveler has Reconstruction of Newfound Gap Road in Great Smoky Mountains will Stretch over 6-7  Years and Judge Tosses Personal Watercraft Rules at Gulf Island National Seashore, Pictured Rock National Lakeshore,

Refuge Watch has NY Times Spins Harris Neck NWR Story

Wildlife Links

National Parks Traveler has Piping Plover Production Up at Cape Hatteras National Seashore,

National Geographic has Lion-Bone Wine Latest Threat to Survival of Africa’s Big Cats

Philadelphia Inquirer has Timicum Scores a New Species

NY Times has Animal Autopies in Gulf Yield a Mystery

Treehugger has Wild Population Dropped by 96.8 % in 20 Years

Newswise has Scientists Find Oil Devastation at Major Gulf Breeding Site

Christian Science Monitor has Large Mammals vanishing from African National Parks

BBC News has Red Sea Coral Growth to Halt by 2070

Environmental Issues Links

MSNBC has Think It’s Hot Now? Just Wait a Few Years

Washington’s Blog has You Are Not Authorized to See These Pictures of the Oil Spill. . . Citizens Do Not Look

BBC News has Comparative Photos of Mount Everest Confirm Ice Loss

Shooting Star – Dodecatheon meadia

This spring one of the wildflowers that I saw and photographed for the first time was Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon meadia). A member of the Primrose Family (primulaceae), I photographed it at Reflection Riding Arboretum in Chattanooga, Tennessee in April and at the Botanical Gardens in Asheville, North Carolina in early May.

Shooting Star - dodecatheon meadia(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Shooting stars bloom in the spring. Growing up to 2 feet in height, they are easily identified by their nodding flowers with backward pointing petals. Both sets of shooting stars that I photographed had white blossoms. The blossoms can be found in a range of colors from white through the pinks and into the purples. They grow in open woods, meadows and prairies.

Shooting Star - dodecatheon meadia

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

This wildflower got it’s common name from it’s resemblance to celestial shooting stars. It’s botanical name is derived from the Greek dodeca (twelve) and theos (god) – referring to the primrose family’s traditionally association with and protection by twelve superior gods – a relationship first defined by Pliny. Other common names for Shooting Stars include Pride of Ohio, American Cowslip and Johnny Jump.

Shooting Star - dodecatheon meadia

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Shooting stars are native to North America – found from New York south to Floria, west to Texas and north to Minnesota and in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is listed as endangered in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

Shooting Star - dodecatheon meadia(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I would love to find some of the pink and purple shooting stars to photograph. From photos I’ve seen on the web – they can be spectacular.

If you’d like to learn more about Gray’s Lilies – some online sites with additional information include

Hort.net profile of Dodecatheon meadia

USDA Plant Profile for Dodecatheon meadia

Native Plant Network Protocol for Dodecatheon meadia

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Dodecatheon meadia

Missouriplants.com profile for Dodecatheon meadia

Revision of Dodecatheon by James L. Reveal

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