January 1 - New Beginnings
A close-up view of the seed head of Red Bee Balm. Nikon Z9 with Z 105 mm Micro lens. Composite of 30 images.
As I rode around looking for potential subjects to cover in my blog yesterday, I was drawn to the multitude of seed heads in the fields at Kenridge Farm. Thoreau wrote a series of essays entitled “Faith in a Seed” dealing with the importance of seeds . He points out that the Mighty oak is simply a means of a tiny acorn producing more acorns……new beginnings for the acorn in other words. Since this is New Years Day, a day for all of us to consider new beginnings, I figured it might be of interest to capture images of plants in a way we rarely really see them. Macro photography allows us to get up close and natural with plants. The image above is the seed head of a plant known a “Bee balm”. Many of us have this pollinator attractant in our gardens and admire its beautiful red flowers in spring and summer. Once the flowers have bloomed, we generally put them in the back of our mind until the following spring. Look now at the beautiful patterns and intricate design of the plant in winter. You can actually see one or two of the time seeds still in the tiny columns where the seeds are “housed” until they are disseminated by birds or wind.
Carolina horse nettle - another macro shot of a plant in winter, this time the fruit of the plant.
Seeds and fruits play crucial roles in the lifecycle of plants, serving both reproductive and dispersal functions. Seeds contain the genetic material necessary for the growth of a new plant. They often store nutrients to support the initial stages of growth once germination occurs. Fruits, on the other hand, develop from the fertilized ovary of a flower and are designed to protect seeds while aiding in their dispersal. By attracting animals and humans with their vibrant colors and appealing tastes, fruits encourage the consumption and subsequent distribution of seeds, facilitating plant propagation across varied environments. This fruit of the Carolina horse nettle was obviously overlooked by foraging birds and animals and remains intact this winter. Interestingly, animals can forage on these plants which happen to be highly toxic to humans. Other common names ascribed to this plant allude to this trait….Apple of Sodom, Devil’s Potato, Devil’s Tomato, Poisonous Potato and so on. Nonetheless, for the plant, this fruit represents a new beginning.
This final image of today is yet another macro photo - Ditch stonecrop. The plant is of interest in that it has what appears to be flowers in the cold of winter. What appears to be flower petals are possibly sepals which support the main body of the flower in spring and summer. I cannot say that for certain but I doubt the flowers would ever survive the harsh winter temperatures we’ve experienced. If any readers can offer a definitive answer, I’d love to hear from you!
Tech Tip - The above images were all made using a technique called “Focus stacking”. When taking extreme close-up photos, it is very hard to get all of your subject in focus due to a shallow “depth of field”. By taking a series of images with different parts of the subject in focus and then blending them together, an image with all parts in focus is possible. I use a program called Helicon Focus to accomplish this. To learn more about Focus stacking, click on the button below.
