Still more from Coron’s island-hopping tour on December 13

with 30 comments

Written by Steve Schwartzman

January 9, 2020 at 4:39 AM

Posted in nature photography

Tagged with abstract, clouds, landscape, Philippines, rocks, sea, trees, water

30 Responses

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So many colours and textures in these scenes.

Heyjude

January 9, 2020 at 10:54 AM

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- That’s a succinct way to describe this nature photographer’s delight.
  
  Steve Schwartzman
  
  January 9, 2020 at 2:43 PM
  
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Easy to see why it’s so popular.

Michael Scandling

January 9, 2020 at 11:30 AM

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- Yes, fortunately and unfortunately.
  
  Steve Schwartzman
  
  January 9, 2020 at 2:44 PM
  
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  - Both sides. Yes.
    
    Michael Scandling
    
    January 9, 2020 at 3:55 PM
    
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    - Someone once sang about looking at clouds that way.
      
      Steve Schwartzman
      
      January 9, 2020 at 4:25 PM
      
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      - Yes. And after that, she still didn’t know clouds at all.
        
        Michael Scandling
        
        January 9, 2020 at 4:34 PM
        
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        I’ll have a take (actually three) on that theme two posts from now.
        
        Steve Schwartzman
        
        January 9, 2020 at 5:07 PM
        
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The color of the water is gorgeous! That rock formation reminds me of Devil’s Postpiles here in the Eastern Sierras though not all that surprising since there are volcanoes all over the Philippines.

circadianreflections

January 9, 2020 at 3:08 PM

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- Not till now have I ever heard of Devil’s Postpiles, which I see is a national monument (though I don’t like the fact that our government has dropped the apostrophe in geographic names). Thanks for alerting me to its existence. As for the volcanoes in the Philippines, they erupt a lot more often than the ones in California.
  
  Steve Schwartzman
  
  January 9, 2020 at 3:35 PM
  
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  - I forget that they drop the apostrophe and I add it on another park too when I write it down. Sigh. If you’re ever in the Eastern Sierras it’s an interesting place to visit.
    
    circadianreflections
    
    January 10, 2020 at 9:25 AM
    
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    - For me, Devil’s Tower will always have an apostrophe. I visited it three years ago and would now be happy, thanks to you, to follow up with a visit to Devil’s Postpiles, which appears to have similar rock columns:
      
      https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2017/07/12/did-you-get-any-closer-to-the-tower/
      
      Steve Schwartzman
      
      January 10, 2020 at 10:12 AM
      
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      - Oh, I hope to get back to Devil’s Tower one day. We camped there for a day and night back on our Epic trip in 83. I’ve wanted to return for a bit longer stay to explore and do more photography.
        
        circadianreflections
        
        January 10, 2020 at 5:25 PM
        
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        Go for it! As you know, it’s a great place for photography. It’s also close to South Dakota’s Black Hills and Badlands National Park, both of which are also highly photo-worthy.
        
        Steve Schwartzman
        
        January 10, 2020 at 8:46 PM
        
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        They are! We saw a little of both when on our Epic trip in the 80’s.
        
        circadianreflections
        
        January 11, 2020 at 9:15 AM
        
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        Then it seems high time for the epic’s sequel.
        
        Steve Schwartzman
        
        January 11, 2020 at 11:24 AM
That tour is the gift that keeps on giving.

Steve Gingold

January 9, 2020 at 5:03 PM

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- That’s a good way to put it, even as I’ve tried to keep from going overboard on the subject. I was going to follow up with one more post in the sequence but decided to skip ahead to the next thing.
  
  Steve Schwartzman
  
  January 9, 2020 at 5:11 PM
  
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While those rocks are amazing, it’s the mangroves that take my eye. Mangroves are so essential to a healthy ecosystem, but these also look like they are “walking’ on the water.

eremophila

January 10, 2020 at 5:00 AM

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- Like you, I sometimes get the feeling that the elements of a mangrove just above the water line are legs and therefore that the tree is walking on water. Four days after the Coron island-hopping tour we got to see many more mangroves, and of varied species. Pictures showing some of those should appear here in a few weeks.
  
  Steve Schwartzman
  
  January 10, 2020 at 6:15 AM
  
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The color change in the last photo is glorious. We can see the same kind of distinction in the Gulf off Galveston, but we have to make do with brown and green. It’s rare to see blue water move in toward shore, thanks in large part to the rivers and near-shore shallowness.

I like the way the point of land and the streaks of water-borne vegetation in the first photo compel the eye to the right, almost to a point even outside the frame. It’s a wonderfully dynamic image, and my favorite of the group. Even the clouds seem to be moving to the right.

The abstraction of the second photo’s appealing, too, but a comparison of the rocks and mangroves in the third and fourth is interesting. The mangrove roots and the striations in the rock are remarkably similar. I might not have noticed it if you hadn’t put the photos next to one another.

shoreacres

January 11, 2020 at 8:12 AM

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- I thought you’d appreciate the distinct color change in the last photograph. As for Galveston, you may recall that some years ago I complained about never seeing waters along the Texas coast look anywhere near as good as those on the southern end of the Gulf of Mexico.
  
  I felt the first photograph worthy of standing on its own due to the colors and surface texture of the water, the overall sweep to the right that you mentioned, and other elements. Still, given the backlog of trip pictures, I’ve been bunching them up and posting only once every two days.
  
  I hadn’t thought about comparing the third and fourth pictures. They ended up together merely for an extrinsic reason, namely that I wanted to alternate between horizontal and vertical orientations—unless my subconscious was at work.
  
  Steve Schwartzman
  
  January 11, 2020 at 11:18 AM
  
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I particularly like the varying hues of the water, Steve, always a source of fascination to this observer.

tanjabrittonwriter

January 11, 2020 at 8:45 PM

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- You’re not alone in enjoying those changes in the colors of the water. Shoreacres noted it, and of course I was very aware of it as I took my pictures. The last one in this post exists for no other reason than to highlight the two-tone water.
  
  Steve Schwartzman
  
  January 11, 2020 at 9:22 PM
  
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  - Which just goes to show that we share similar aesthetic taste. 🙂
    
    tanjabrittonwriter
    
    January 11, 2020 at 9:38 PM
    
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    - So it seems, in this matter and others.
      
      Steve Schwartzman
      
      January 11, 2020 at 11:23 PM
      
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Oh, that water, and those rocks. Eye candy! Thank you Steve. 🙂

bluebrightly

January 15, 2020 at 11:59 AM

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- You’re welcome, Lynn. I mentally rearranged a few of your words and came up with rock candy to supplement the eye candy.
  
  Steve Schwartzman
  
  January 15, 2020 at 3:04 PM
  
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Ah more super photos … 👏

Julie@frogpondfarm

January 15, 2020 at 2:14 PM

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- In such a scenic spot, getting good pictures wasn’t hard, although I did have to deal with the boat’s movements.
  
  Steve Schwartzman
  
  January 15, 2020 at 3:06 PM
  
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