A young greenbrier
Walking in the woods in northwest Austin on April 26th I spied a young greenbrier vine (Smilax bona-nox) with an interestingly shaped new leaf at the top. Light filtering through the trees illuminated the leaf and I realized that if I scrunched down behind the vine I might get the translucence that backlighting often produces. So that’s what I did and that’s what you see.
© 2020 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Beautifully captured for a particularly nice portrait!
krikitarts
May 13, 2020 at 5:06 AM
Thanks for appreciating it. Given the difficulties, I did about 20 takes, both horizontal and vertical, and managed to get a few where the important things all worked okay.
Steve Schwartzman
May 13, 2020 at 7:50 AM
Nice image! Good thing you didn’t get tangled up in those thorny vines! I notice this year the greenbrier is prolific on our property. Tukker deer should have plenty to feast on!
Littlesundog
May 13, 2020 at 7:12 AM
I got the impression that this greenbrier had been munched. Deer are abundant in that wooded part of town. As for tangling with greenbrier vines, I’ve done my share and maybe more.
Steve Schwartzman
May 13, 2020 at 7:54 AM
Fascinating shot crafted by our photography Rembrandt in Texas!
Peter Klopp
May 13, 2020 at 7:30 AM
Yes, there’s that chiaroscuro again. Thanks.
Steve Schwartzman
May 13, 2020 at 7:51 AM
Your scrunching paid off–that’s a great shot!
Tina
May 13, 2020 at 7:49 AM
I don’t exercise as much as they say I should but I’m a world-class scruncher.
Steve Schwartzman
May 13, 2020 at 7:51 AM
Lovely silhouette!
Misti
May 13, 2020 at 10:34 AM
The backlighting worked just the way I hoped it would.
Steve Schwartzman
May 13, 2020 at 3:25 PM
It’s a gem! I love the light and the fine details in the leaf.
circadianreflections
May 13, 2020 at 3:29 PM
At f/4.5 I struggled to get all those fine details in focus. This frame worked out pretty well.
Steve Schwartzman
May 13, 2020 at 3:33 PM
It did indeed!
circadianreflections
May 13, 2020 at 3:36 PM
I love this image for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is that it reminded me of this passage from Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek:
“I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done my share of eating too. I am not washed and beautiful, in control of a shining world in which everything fits, but instead am wondering awed about on a splintered wreck I’ve come to care for, whose gnawed trees breathe a delicate air, whose bloodied and scarred creatures are my dearest companions, and whose beauty bats and shines not in its imperfections but overwhelmingly in spite of them…”
shoreacres
May 13, 2020 at 7:39 PM
A frayed and nibbled survivor it was, and presumably ready to keep on growing. The quoted passage is appropriate.
Steve Schwartzman
May 13, 2020 at 9:26 PM
Hey! That is the one that I have been trying to identify! I got seed from it in Oklahoma. Fortunately, none of the seed germinated. I did not like it much.
tonytomeo
May 15, 2020 at 8:05 PM
People often don’t like greenbrier because its thorns tear at clothing and the skin beneath it. I’ve often enough been snagged. Still, photographically speaking, it offers many possibilities. The new shoots are even edible.
Steve Schwartzman
May 15, 2020 at 10:01 PM
I thought that it was quite unappealing. I got the seeds only because they were there; and I had never seen it before. It really seemed weird though, like something from another planet. I normally do not mind thorns, but these thorns were painful.
tonytomeo
May 16, 2020 at 9:55 PM
I like the lighting in this and especially the bits of thorns with a glint.
Steve Gingold
May 18, 2020 at 1:54 PM
I felt that the lighting would work well, if only I could get back in there behind the vine, which I managed to do. The glint off the thorns appealed to me, too, once I saw the pictures.
Steve Schwartzman
May 18, 2020 at 2:30 PM
Gorgeous, Steve.
bluebrightly
May 24, 2020 at 11:34 AM
Verdoscuro, we might say.
Steve Schwartzman
May 24, 2020 at 2:26 PM