With the sun out and the air still warm I decided to take full advantage of these last summer days at the lake. I extended my walk and was made aware of the subtle changes in colour and texture. Just a week ago the Virginia Creeper hedge was dotted with a few red leaves here and there. Today it looked like this:

It alerted me to look around  more mindfully. Along the road my attention was drawn to a spot of rust and black that kept moving well ahead of me. What a surprise to capture this Viceroy butterfly folding and unfolding its wings. It rested just long enough for me to capture the image before I flew away.

A huge fan of contemplative photography, also known as Miksang, I treat my daily walks as an opportunity to set challenges to “find” a colour, a texture, line, light… The challenges are endless and set without high expectation. I have found that the challenge to find “red” is an easy one.

The colour is even more appreciated when I move closer and fill the frame.

Sorry about the quality of the images. I had my iPhone with me and the sensor on it is not as good as my regular camera. But this one was all about colour. This has to be my favourite red. Next time I am dyeing fabric I must try my hand at recreating this particular hue.

The Russian Olive trees are laden with fruit this year. Just like the Mountain Ash trees, Choke Cherry  and Pin Cherry bushes the branches are heavy with fruit to keep the wildlife well fed this coming winter. Do I dare venture a guess that this will be a harsh one…? I don’t think that I have seen such an abundance of fruit since we moved here 9 years ago.

Nature at its best! Colour, texture, line, value – the elements and principles of design are all around us – all we have to do is look!

A radial composition… prickly, weedy thistles aside, isn’t this just mesmerizing? The entire plant measured about 24″ across…

…too large to get it all into the frame.

It’s time to head to the studio for some stitching before I head into town to chair my first Camera Club executive meeting as president. Following the meeting is the opening of this year’s photography exhibition inspired by the books and poems from the Saskatchewan Festival of Words.

30 Aug This entry was published on August 30, 2016 at 1:31 pm. It’s filed under Art, Creativity Update, In the News, Journaling, Motivational, Nature's Art, Refocusing Creativity, Something to Smile About, staying in touch and tagged elements and principles of design, first signs of autumn, nature photography, Photography, red leaves, Russian Olive, Viceroy butterfly, Virginia Creeper hedge changing colour. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.