Spring Camelias to Enjoy

I wish I could grow camelias in my yard.  Unfortunately, our land was a garbage dump for Native Americans a long time ago and is high pH (lime soil).  I couldn't grow azaleas here, even with extra stuff added to the soil.

Fortunately, there are some camelias not to far away that I love to photograph.

Camellias in Bloom

There are some beautiful pink Japanese camellias nearby.  Unfortunately, they probably won’t grow in my yard, which has more of a limestone soil.  The local Native Americans used our property to toss their used oyster shells, sort of a garbage dump.  So I find other places to photograph them.  They are quite beautiful and delicate looking, with heart shaped petals.

Cherry Blossom Time in St. Marys County

The cherry blossoms were quite early this year.  The ones in my yard still haven’t bloomed yet.  I found plenty on display at the Lexington Manor Passive Park, and in parking lots everywhere in Lexington Park and Leonardtown.  The headquarters for St Marys County Schools had some gorgeous ones with lamp posts and reflections.  Generally, the photos are enhanced by having something else as the subject with the flowers used like a lovely frame.  The blossoms themselves or several trees are pretty too.

Reflections

Lamp post

Backlighting

Framed with a Tree

Delicate 

Frame a Cloud

Spring Flowers 2022

Spring is my favorite time of year.  Enjoy it while it is here!  I’d like to share some camelias and dogwood.

Playing with Tulip Still Lifes

I bought a few tulips to photograph since they don’t grow well in our garden.  They are white with light pink edges that was subtle.   I played with window light, curtains and a pink wall.  These are all cell phone photos, edited with Snapseed on my phone.

Photographed in window light with lace in front of the window.


When the petals fell off, I liked the view of the stamens inside.

The Clematis Bloomed This Week

Sarita in Pink

Our sweet toy poodle is blind with cataracts in her left eye (on right in the photo) and we are treating her with eye drops to remove or reduce her cataracts.  It worked at first, but now she is bumping into walls.  Her right eye is worse.  Blind dogs often do well since vision is not their strongest sense (smell is better).  She is still adorable in pink and at 7 pounds, strangers often remark at her cuteness.

Toy Poodle All Dressed Up

 I was practicing my pet photography.  We dressed Sarita up in her best clothes with adorable pink bows.  Isn't she sweet?

Apricot toy poodles are so cute, but maybe I am a little prejudiced.

Please e-mail me if you would like to plan a pet photo session in St. Mary's County, MD at calmreflectionsphotography@gmail.com

Pretty in Pink

Our new 10 year old rescue toy poodle, Sarita, looks really cute in pink.  She's apricot colored and we are training her.  We had to house train her first and she is doing fairly well.  She can be fairly good at a loose leash and doesn't care for snow.  It is a little tricky to get her to behave in the snow.  After all, the snow is pretty high if you are only 10 inches tall!  I taught her to sit.  Easy!  Then I tried to teach down. Not easy.  We are still working on it.  I know this is more of a photo blog, but please share any ideas for teaching her to lie down. I use a treat, say down, and let her lick the treat as I drag it toward the floor.

Update:  I think she finally understands Down!  😀😄😃  That's cause I just posted this.  Next we learn Come.  

A Christmas Gift : Orchids

Orchids can be a little bit of spring in the dreary winter weather.  A friend gave us this pretty pink one.  I took a few cell phone photos of it so we could remember the blooms.  I just used a blank wall in my hallway for the plain background.

You may also like my blog from last March, with a lovely blue orchid photographed with a " real"camera.

http://calmreflectionsphotography.blogspot.com/2013/03/february-winning-photo.html?m=1

I've been very busy lately.

I finally posted a little album of photos of the Cherry Blossoms in April 2013 in Washington DC on my Calm Reflections Photography Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/CalmReflectionsPhotography.  Please check it out!  I was practicing some unique techniques, panoramas and focus stacking in Photoshop.

I want to share two of my recent favorite photos.  Neither of them won the April competition at our local camera club, but I liked them.  Maybe you will too!

The pier photo was taken on an early special morning in February when the mist was lovely and the sky became pink.

The squirrel was outside my window.  He/She was running up and down a maple tree looking for nuts.  He almost looks like he is smiling.

Exotic Water Lilies

I recently photographed some gorgeous water lilies. It was a little too early in the day, but I liked them anyway, even with strong shadows.
I have photographed water lilies 3 or 4 times in recent years. I find that I usually need a long lens to get good "closeup" photos of these lovely flowers, rather than a macro lens. I used a 70-300 zoom for these images. The flowers never seem to be near the edge of the pond!
If you know the names of these beautiful lilies, please comment. 😊