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thatch + barrel
When I was traveling with a photography group last fall, a friend of mine let me borrow a lens – it was a very nice lens and I could tell why he was making it real clear that he’d loaned it to me. It was a 56mm, f1.2, and: wow!
And then, of course you know what happened: I had to get one for my very own. And I used it all day on my visit to the botanical garden; as it turns out, shooting short depth of field added some interest to these images that other lenses wouldn’t have gotten.
Springs Preserve
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 2.15.2024
the grasses lie fallow
It’s sort of easy to think all the plants in desert areas are spiky and out to injure you. I mean – there ARE a lot of them that are sort of stabby (Hello? Agave? Looking at you, bud.) so I get it.
But then, there are some grasses that are soft and feathery, even when they are dormant.
Springs Preserve
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 2.15.2024
spalling
Oh, so I lied yesterday when I said I was only posting one photo of an agave. I clearly meant I’d be posting more than one.
But this one’s got the added interest of the way the clay pot is chipping apart. That’s really the reason I made the image – well, OK: it was the second reason.
Springs Preserve
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 2.15.2024
impressed
A thing I’ve recently noticed that I like is going to botanical gardens when I’m traveling. It’s a nice way to get outside and see plants I may not be used to looking at, and to pretend that I am, in fact, the kind of person who likes yard work.
During a visit to the Springs Preserve, I was entirely enchanted at the way the unfolding spears of the agave plants embossed their shapes onto the adjacent spears. I think probably half the photos I made that day were of various agave…but (so far) I’m just posting this one.
Springs Preserve
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 2.15.2024
hydrant, in the sun
I had a conference in Las Vegas. Have I mentioned that I am not one of those people who go to Las Vegas for fun, and in fact I am a person who goes out of the way to avoid it.
But it was a conference that had some stuff I needed for my (real) job, so off I went.
The conference hotel was…not great. Everyplace inside smelled like cigarette smoke from the casino and it was almost impossible to get from one place (like your room) to another place (like the conference center) without having to walk through the smoke-cloud of a casino.
However, there WAS a thing called the “Zen Walkway” or something that did allow visitors to have a chance to breathe actual, non-toxic air. And to photograph a fire hydrant.
(Disclosure: I bitched about Vegas the whole time I was there. And then on the day I came home, I got sick. It’s the karma version of “the house always wins.”)
Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 2.14.2024
One Day | One Image 