Reflections in Bull Creek
Click for better detail.
On December 3, 2013, I wandered along Bull Creek and was intrigued by the trees reflected in it. The orange that you see at the left came from a bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, whose needle-like leaves were changing color. Most of the trunks visible here belonged to sycamores, Platanus occidentalis, which, like the bald cypresses, are happy when they’re near a creek or pond.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
It looks like an oil or watercolour, fantastic!
mandajk1
January 24, 2014 at 6:45 AM
You can see how painters over the centuries have been inspired by reflections in water. This is a straightforward, unmanipulated photograph, even if computer programs allow people to create such effects artificially.
Steve Schwartzman
January 24, 2014 at 7:45 AM
Wow, it’s fantastic, I’ll have to go the local park and take some photos and then post on another blog.
mandajk1
January 24, 2014 at 9:39 AM
I’m glad this is a stimulus for you to take pictures.
Steve Schwartzman
January 24, 2014 at 12:45 PM
Nature’s painting…
Dawn
January 24, 2014 at 7:57 AM
It occurs to me that the word picture comes from the same Latin root that has given us painting, and nature means etymologically something like ‘the way things are born.’
Steve Schwartzman
January 24, 2014 at 8:27 AM
Monet came to my mind right away. Beautiful!!!
agnes
January 24, 2014 at 8:20 AM
Now if you could arrange for my work to fetch the price of a Monet…
Steve Schwartzman
January 24, 2014 at 8:24 AM
I agree with Agnes, my first thought was, ‘Hello, this looks just like a Monet! A beautiful photograph 😀
Lottie Nevin
January 24, 2014 at 8:49 AM
I see you’re both attuned to the same Impressionist painter. Bull Creek is my Giverny.
Steve Schwartzman
January 24, 2014 at 11:58 AM
Bald cypress grow as far as southern IL and IN. Your tidbit for the day.
Jim in IA
January 24, 2014 at 8:50 AM
Another tidbit: many of the largest bald cypresses in central Texas were cut down for their wood by German and Anglo settlers in the 1800s. As a result, we unfortunately don’t often see very large bald cypresses here.
Steve Schwartzman
January 24, 2014 at 12:01 PM
I just love reflections. This is just beautiful. 😀
scrapbookingraewyn
January 24, 2014 at 12:22 PM
I’m glad you enjoy it, just as I did when I was there.
Steve Schwartzman
January 24, 2014 at 12:49 PM
i want to dive in (not literally) but with my mind.
sedge808
January 24, 2014 at 8:53 PM
Be my guest. I’ve never dived in, but I’ve walked through that creek with thigh-high rubber boots.
Steve Schwartzman
January 24, 2014 at 11:02 PM
🙂
sedge808
January 25, 2014 at 8:36 PM
This is wonderful!!! Right time at the right place!
dhphotosite
January 25, 2014 at 9:45 AM
That’s why I put myself out there so often, to increase the chances of stumbling into one of those right places at a right time.
Steve Schwartzman
January 25, 2014 at 9:53 AM
This is like a painting. A little bit jealous here, reminds me of fall while we are in the thick of winter, and a thick one it is.
Cheers,
eLPy
eLPy
January 25, 2014 at 10:19 AM
And that was in December, when you were probably already enduring winter (regardless of the official season). Weather varies a lot in central Texas: overnight from Thursday into Friday we had an accumulation of ice pellets, but a couple of days earlier the afternoon temperature had gotten well up into the 70s. Looking ahead, we’ll already have some wildflowers by February. It’s no wonder that Texas has become the second most populous state, even if some people wilt their way through our long and hot summers.
Steve Schwartzman
January 25, 2014 at 10:39 AM
Here I thought our winter weather was bipolar! That is some crazy weather. When you have wildflowers we’ll still have…snow flurries and ice blossoms. Well, your images will just give me more to look forward to!
🙂
eLPy
eLPy
January 25, 2014 at 10:57 AM
This has been an unusually cold winter for central Texas, but it’s not unusual to have at least a few stray wildflowers even in January. For example:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/what-some-buds-had-already-become/
Steve Schwartzman
January 25, 2014 at 11:06 AM
Those are beautiful! Like I said in the comment on that page, they look like clay. And in January!? That’s pretty incredible…not happening here.
🙂
eLPy
January 26, 2014 at 11:22 AM
It’s not happening yet here either, given our unusually cool winter (a bit more of which is forecast for the days ahead), but the cold mixes with the warm in central Texas, so I’m still hoping to see some wildflowers before too long.
Steve Schwartzman
January 26, 2014 at 11:28 AM
I look forward to seeing what you find.
eLPy
January 26, 2014 at 11:33 AM
Me too.
Steve Schwartzman
January 26, 2014 at 11:51 AM
[…] posts back you saw some trunks of sycamore trees, Platanus occidentalis, reflected in Bull Creek on December 3, 2013. Now from the same visit […]
Sycamore seed balls and drying leaf | Portraits of Wildflowers
January 26, 2014 at 6:04 AM
Reflections are always so interesting. One of the many ways nature wields her paint brush.
Susan Scheid
January 26, 2014 at 9:01 PM
Better she than I, who know nothing about wielding a paint brush but have grown accustomed to a camera.
Steve Schwartzman
January 26, 2014 at 11:12 PM
Looks like a tapestry. In fact, it’d make a great tapestry design.
kathryningrid
January 27, 2014 at 8:17 PM
I’d never have made the leap from painting to tapestry without your suggestion.
Steve Schwartzman
January 28, 2014 at 6:00 AM
This is so lovely. Very beautiful 🙂
Jocelyne
January 29, 2014 at 8:18 PM
Thanks. This has proved to be a recent favorite.
Steve Schwartzman
January 29, 2014 at 8:48 PM