Portraits of Wildflowers

Perspectives on Nature Photography

Archive for September 5th, 2015

What sunlight through the forest canopy revealed in a new place

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Ball Moss on Slender Branch 3980

Click for better clarity and quality.

The place was a newly opened section of the Violet Crown Trail north of US 290, where the sunlight coming through the forest canopy on the morning of September 2nd lit up the lower of two ball mosses, Tillandsia recurvata. Next to the highlighted ball moss—which is no moss—a dry leaf rotated in the breeze at the end of a long strand of spider silk; here, at the right moment in its cycle, the leaf was fully backlit. Some of the leaves overhead, likewise illuminated, glowed green across the top of the image.

You can read more about the new section of the Violet Crown Trail in an article by Pam Leblanc (who was a calculus student of mine more than 30 years ago).

© 2015 Steven Schwartzman

Written by Steve Schwartzman

September 5, 2015 at 5:10 AM

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