Six years
Six years ago today I uploaded the first post of now almost 2300 in Portraits of Wildflowers. You might say that tentative entry was like the little fern shown above getting a foothold in the vertical strata along the trail we trekked to New Zealand’s Franz Josef Glacier on February 20th this year.
Those strata, which hadn’t always gotten turned 90°, proved so visually appealing that I took many photographs of them. Below is another one. The pink in both cases is from small lichens. Call these formations waterfalls in stone and you’ll have come up with an apt metaphor.
© 2017 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Congratulations, Steve! That is some going! Great images as always! 🙂
Pete Hillman
June 4, 2017 at 5:52 AM
Thanks, Pete. I’m in the second week of a trip through the north-central part of the United States and will have plenty more pictures to show.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 8:16 AM
I will look forward to seeing them when you post them! 🙂
Pete Hillman
June 4, 2017 at 8:21 AM
Me too! While traveling all I can do is a rough preliminary sorting and a backup for safety.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 8:28 AM
Congratulations on six years Steve!
Cathy
June 4, 2017 at 6:27 AM
Six is a good number. The Greeks considered it a perfect number because it is the sum of all its proper divisors: 1 + 2 + 3 = 6. Another curious property is that 1 + 2 + 3 = 1 x 2 x 3.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 8:19 AM
Congratulations, Steve, to the six years of blogging, and thanks for all those wondeerful pictures. 🙂 It’s always been a joy to follow you.
Have a wonderful Sunday,
Pit
Pit
June 4, 2017 at 6:42 AM
Thanks, Pit, and greetings from Denver on this Sunday morning. On this trip, in addition to deer we’ve seen bison and mountain goats.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 8:22 AM
It’s a long time that I saw bison just outside of Denver. That was in the winter of 2000/2001. And mountain goats in the summer of 2003, on Mount Evans.
Pit
June 4, 2017 at 9:49 AM
We saw the bison and mountain goats in Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We haven’t yet been out in the Denver area, having arrived late yesterday.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 10:49 AM
Thanks for the wonderful pic as well as the education. it is truly appreciated.
Mike Bizeau
June 4, 2017 at 7:39 AM
You’re welcome, Mike. I appreciate your appreciation.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 8:36 AM
“Waterfalls in stone” is memorable. Beautiful shot, stone as a rich fabric.
Robert Parker Teel
June 4, 2017 at 7:58 AM
Thanks for expanding the metaphor to stone as a fabric. I’ve seen lots of those rich fabrics on my current trip through the north-central part of the country.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 8:27 AM
That first photo is perfectly evocative. The little fern brings back feelings that accompanied putting up my own first posts. Your posts and archives certainly have served me well in the past, providing beauty, information, and inspiration, and I’m looking forward to what the future brings.
As for metaphors, the second photo suggested carded wool — smooth and ready for use on the left, but still with some of those green “imperfections” to be carded out on the right.
shoreacres
June 4, 2017 at 8:08 AM
You were ahead of me in the little fern venture. Persistence, persistence, persistence, on both our parts. You’ve done so well in attracting readers and turning them into loyal fans.
Wool is an appropriate metaphor for these pictures from New Zealand, which has several times as many sheep as people.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 8:34 AM
It fascinates me when rock reveals its fluid past, when something so solid and permanent in appearance is in fact only temporary. You’ve captured it beautifully.
melissabluefineart
June 4, 2017 at 8:50 AM
I like the rhythm and phrasing of “when rock reveals its fluid past.” We saw a good example of that a few days ago at Devil’s Tower in northeast Wyoming.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 8:55 AM
Oh yes that is a neat area.
melissabluefineart
June 4, 2017 at 8:57 AM
We loved the Badlands, too. It’s our favorite place on the trip so far.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 10:40 AM
I’ve been enjoying the photos~best to Eve!
melissabluefineart
June 5, 2017 at 7:09 AM
Okay, thanks.
Steve Schwartzman
June 6, 2017 at 12:26 AM
Bravo!
Susan Scheid
June 4, 2017 at 9:59 AM
Grazie, Susana.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 10:39 AM
Congratulations Steve – I love seeing the photos – they are a delight … cheers Hilary
hilarymb
June 4, 2017 at 11:38 AM
I’m delighted to be delightful, Hilary. Thanks.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 11:47 PM
Lichens! That detail confirms why I prefer to work from life; it’s often hard to clarify exactly what one is drawing or painting, unless it’s up close in real life. Your posts always provide amazing scientific clarity as well as beauty.
That petite little fern could represent so many facets of human characteristics… strength of character, hope, endurance, perseverance, bashful/shy – even destiny!
Playamart - Zeebra Designs
June 4, 2017 at 11:39 AM
Hey, I thought about you today when we spent hours and hours at the Denver Art Museum. It has great pre-Columbian and Colonial exhibits from Central America and the Andes. You’d be in heaven in that museum. They’d have to pry you out at closing time.
I’m glad you took my fern metaphor and ran with it. I’m also pleased that you value the information accompanying the photographs.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 11:51 PM
“They’d have to pry you out at closing time.”
I once stated to a man who restored artifacts for the museum system, “I wish I could get locked in the museum after closing hours so I could study my favorite pieces all night without distractions.” He smiled and said, “I can probably help that happen for you…:
Because of that conversation, yes, I now know what it’s like to be in the museum after closing hours – all night in blissful solitude – aside from a respectful guard making his rounds!
That’s great that you had a great museum experience – there were surely some stunning artifacts….
Playamart - Zeebra Designs
June 5, 2017 at 1:19 AM
Yes, and most of the ancient and old stuff is much better than most of the contemporary stuff!
It’s good that you were able to spend time in the museum after closing. That’s an experience most of us will never have.
Steve Schwartzman
June 6, 2017 at 12:32 AM
Congratulations, you’re providing a service by archiving your universe of wildflowers. Well done.
lensandpensbysally
June 4, 2017 at 12:35 PM
Thanks, Sally. You’re providing a service, too, with the tips you offer in your posts.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 11:52 PM
Steve, congratulations! Your photos have brought me daily doses of beauty and I thank you for sharing your unique view of nature.
composerinthegarden
June 4, 2017 at 7:10 PM
Thanks, Lynn. The doses aren’t always daily anymore, but I’ll grant they’re often unique. Let’s hear it for uniquity!
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 11:54 PM
It has been a good six years! Keep it up!
montucky
June 4, 2017 at 8:16 PM
Let’s both do so!
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 11:55 PM
Congrats on your milestone
norasphotos4u
June 4, 2017 at 8:19 PM
Thanks so much, Nora.
Steve Schwartzman
June 4, 2017 at 11:55 PM
Congratulations on your 6 years! Fabulous .. and lucky us 😀
Julie@frogpondfarm
June 9, 2017 at 11:44 PM
That’s kind of you, Julie. Thanks.
Steve Schwartzman
June 10, 2017 at 12:03 AM
Wow, that’s amazing. I’ll have to show my husband who is a ‘rock nut’. (I am too, but not as much as he is!) Congrats on your blogiversary. I first started blogging in 2004 but not on my current blog, obviously! I was following your blog years ago – but hadn’t realised it was soon after you started it. Glad I returned, you’re such a good photographer.
Val
June 23, 2017 at 5:55 AM
Thanks, Val, and welcome back. Your start in 2004 was way ahead of mine. I remember my early days, when almost no one looked at what I was posting. Once I got started I posted for five years without skipping a day. Since then I’ve relented and don’t always put out a post every day, especially when I’m traveling.
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2017 at 8:07 AM
It can take ages before people read a new blog. I was talking to myself in my first one for months but then I thought to tell a couple of bloggers I knew from elsewere to read it and, as is usually the way, that then got the blog noticed via the comments section. In the past I’d tried posting daily but found it too exhausting and it really not necessary – when people like your posts, they return even if you’ve been away from the blog for a long time. I’m glad you do post when you can though.
Val
June 24, 2017 at 6:27 AM
I take a lot of nature photographs. So many have accumulated and keep accumulating that it seems a shame not to show them. That led me to a high frequency of posting. As you say, though, it takes a lot of work.
Steve Schwartzman
June 24, 2017 at 7:10 AM
PS. I just showed him and he said “Pink Feldspar not Lichen” but I think it’s more likely Lichen. 🙂
Val
June 23, 2017 at 5:59 AM
I’m no expert on geology or botany, so he could be right. I was taking my cue from pictures like those at
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-lichen-and-moss-covering-rocks-by-the-waiho-river-franz-josef-glacier-89457409.html
that identify the red as lichen (you can click the thumbnails to enlarge them).
Steve Schwartzman
June 23, 2017 at 8:14 AM
Yes, I see it. I’m no expert either!
Val
June 24, 2017 at 6:28 AM
Just catching up with you, Steve. Congratulations on year 6! Your photos never disappoint!
Lavinia Ross
July 10, 2017 at 11:02 AM
Thanks for your good wishes, Lavinia. I’m glad to hear you’re never disappointed with these posts—more than 2300 of them now!
Steve Schwartzman
July 10, 2017 at 11:39 AM