Passionate Observer - Variety and Light

With abject apologies to Susan Black here is my (extremely late) offering for the second photo challenge.  The task this week was to try and capture a variety of subjects in different lighting situations and from unexpected angles, even abstracting the images down to simple color, light and shadow.

A seemingly easy topic, I thought, but I actually found it quite difficult.  We've had ten days of extreme weather conditions which made it possible to get out into the garden only during the brief lulls between rain and 60 kilometre an hour winds;  so my pictures are of subjects very close to the house.

The sunny yellow flowers of Bitou reflect back the occasional glimpses of sunlight through fast moving clouds and showers.

Windblown Pincushion flower reaching for the skies





Tree reflections in rainwater puddles



On our way home from a rainy shopping trip a rainbow appeared in the suddenly blue and sunny sky.  There wasn't anywhere safe to drive off the road and park but I managed to grab a shot as we drove past. 

A little further on we passed an area where a fire had swept through and devoured everything in its path.

Someone (you know who you are) left a couple of oranges balanced on top of a CD box next to the sunny window in the sitting room

I call this my wind picture because the gusts made it impossible to get a sharp image of a sugarbird clinging to the swaying topmost flower of a leucodendron. 

Flowers of the False Buchu, make a drift of mauve blossoms and color.  I wanted to crawl under the shrub and take some pix with the lens pointing upwards but the increasing volume of the hundreds of buzzing bees made it seem wiser to beat a retreat and photograph from a safe distance; a wise decision as it turned out, because a short while later I noticed a nosy bird being chased away by several of the irate little critters.

My favourite pink Sunset Leucodendrons in swirling balletic mode ...

... abstracted down to soft vibrant color and shapes ...

... and finally just to color

Windswept beach sand making impressive boulders out of small rocks in the late afternoon sunlight.

Finally, because I'm never far from the beach I tried to reduce water, foam, light and sand to sweeps of color which I hope give a small idea of the delicate shades of a twilight beach.

Thank you once again, Susan, for the thought provoking assignment which forced me to think more carefully than usual about different lighting conditions and how to solve the problems caused by hostile weather conditions.