Did I post this one already?

Here are a few more.

That's all for now. More later.

With nothing left but a narrow focal plane and a rigid set of rules (also knowing the extremes to which contrast can be pushed with marco shot in bright sun) I felt more free to compose. These pics are presented uncropped. They have, of course, had contrast played with. However, nothing else. If there are exceptions I shall state them.

I forced myself (purposely) into a very restrictive set of rules after about 3 hours at the Harry P. Leu Gardens. The clouds were scattered so the light was inconsistent. I was constantly changing lenses and changing settings in an attempt to adapt to varying light conditions. Open, dense foliage, monochrome, high contrast, bright sun, total overcast... all oscillating. I was getting very frustrated. Finally I decided to make some choices. I decided 1. Macro only (up close where I like to be). 2. Black and white only (normally I shoot in color and do my own converstions to black and white. however that makes me conscious of color even when I'm intending black and white for the final product. I had been through a fair bit of the garden and had seen lots of wonderful things but, so far, not a lot of flowers. Mostly just brown and green). 3. Aperature priority with lens wide open (fastest possible shutter speeds needed to deal with breeze).

Much to my ire, immediately after deciding on these rules I left my bench, rounded a corner, and stumbled in to a magnificent rose garden just blasted with color in full sunlight. However, I decided to stick to my guns and here's a sample.

YUP!

Can you spot what's awesome about this? Yep. Hendrix. That's right.

I handheld that. If you're thinking "what's so big about that? It's not even perfectly clear!" I advise you to try it. 1/6s. Go on. Try it.

I hand held all the pics during the ceremony (because professional wedding photographers are expensive-because they have a very difficult job- and the last thing I wanted to do was blow how one of their shots with my flash. Subsequently I am quite surprised how clear this picture is.

He caught me taking a picture of him. That is not the expression of one who is pleased with his discovery.

Miles was reading to the cat (yes... yes he was) but I distracted him.

So badass.

Look what he brought back with him!

It was pretty cool when he went by. It was way cooler when he came back.

Note that the spiral stairs are solid stone with no center column. Just overlapping pieces.