A Story
The theme of A Story brought a wide range of subjects. Some were powerful in themselves, all had backstories that gave them even more force. As well as lots of entries, there was plenty of voting and for the first time we had a tie for #1. So I have chosen the one I didn’t vote for myself as the first in this group:
Pilgrims' Rest, Mpumulanga © Gabi Elliott 2010
Note the grave on the right, about halfway up the terraces. Gabi says: “it is the only gravestone which has been placed facing in the wrong direction in this cemetery. It has a cross of bones painted on it and the name etched is ‘Robber’s Grave’. The story is that the man buried there was a robber and was not afforded the privilege of being buried facing the sun as it rises over the mountains and the cemetery. He was damned for his sins by being placed in the wrong direction. Nobody seems certain whether it is fact or just a story..it is, however, the only grave that is facing in the wrong direction!”
This evoked quite a lot of discussion and Gabi responded: “…it is severe and it was the times! This apparently happened in the 1800’s…and it was a rough time…miners/immigrants/locals all vying for that elusive piece of gold to strike it rich. This cemetery is on the mountain above this small mining town… one of the first in this area many many moons ago. It is called Pilgrims Rest in Mpumulanga. The old part/original part of the town is now used as a tourist attraction but people still live there in the “newer” part.”
Crosses
The theme Crosses produced the usual range of interpretations – but a very odd result. One picture won narrowly, followed by a host of runners-up. Marie chose a Christian cross – but with a dramatic twist, the tops of the spires at Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. The driving force behind this remarkable building was Anton Gaudi, who started work in 1883, when the building work had just started – and construction still continues.
Sagrada Familia © Marie Pugh 2010
Crosses: old tree
Cross in wood © Ingunn Bjørnstad 2010
Ingunn found this marvellous natural structure:
Crosses: Alcazaba
Claire found a traditional cross but looked at it from the inside:
Alcazaba © Claire Benson 2010
Crosses: old fence
Marita noticed the crosses in an old fence, and what a spectacular backdrop:
old fence © Marita Blomberg 2010
Out of the Ordinary: bees
bees' cooling their hive © Gabi Elliott 2010
This photo led to lots of discussion: another member thought the bees might be about to swarm, but Gabi assured us the hive has been there for some time. This is what she said:
A fully developed and thriving bee hive I discovered in/out of a tree in a friend’s garden. The worker bees are all outside the hive fanning the queen bee and her eggs inside. It was an amazing sight to see and even more amazing taking photo’s of it!!
I, thankfully, then had a 300mm zoom lens but still had to stand on a pool pump housing to get close enough for the photo’s!! I could hear, not only the immense buzz of the worker bees, but I could hear the whisperings of their wings as they fanned the hive. The other amazing thing was, and it was rather sad as well, was that it was quite hot that day, probably about 26/27 degrees Celsius and within the mass of worker bees fanning the hive a couple dropped, dying from, what I am assuming, was heat exhaustion and within nano-seconds their place was filled by other worker bees. And….**lol**…another amazing thing was watching the mass of bees..that mass was a constant movement.and you could just feel that energy. It was a magical moment! 🙂
…
This was definitely a swarm but they weren’t moving the Queen at all.this tree has been home to this particular swarm for a couple of years now: the whole swarm is inside during the Winter months and outside during the Summer months! 🙂 And my friend and the bees seem to have an extraordinary arrangement:.she lets them ‘bee’ and is rewarded with the most beautiful garden every year. This whole swarm seems out of the ordinary! 🙂
Out of the Ordinary: wasp’s nest
Wasps' nest, Santorini © Suzanne Hutchinson 2010
The members of Fotogruppa are a brave lot – Suzanne too thought more about the shot than beating a retreat. This is a wasps’ nest she spotted on holiday.
In season
Our latest theme was “In Season” and when Jeannie suggested it I thought immediately of fruits and vegetables as well as flowers. But we deliberately use themes that are open to interpretation and the group had quite different ideas. We started with lovely water shots, which sadly didn’t get enough votes in the end. Flowers were by far the most common though, and most had insects with them. So these are the six we collectively chose to show off ….
In season
© Scott Yeomans 2010 Buttonwood Farm: butterfly sunning on sunflower
This was the overall favourite and it was nice to have the technical detail: shot with a Nikon D300 and Nilkkor 24-120, hand held with fill flash at -2/3 stop. It isn’t easy capturing butterflies at rest but the shot is beautifully composed as well.
In season
© David Westlake 2010 Rose in Elizabeth Park, Hartford, Connecticut
Sadly I don’t know much about this shot except the subject is a rose! The colour is glorious – one can almost smell the flower. (Updated 29/8/10 with location)
In season
© Scott Yeomans 2010 Buttonwood Farm: bee gathering pollen
Another lovely shot, this one with a Nikon D300 and 105 Micro nikkor lens, sitting atop a solid tripod. The caterpillars in the centre of the flower drew a lot of comments – perhaps the butterfly had been by earlier?
In season
© Jeannie Mazur 2010 In the Canadian sun
Summer in Canada, and the flowers are greeting the sun. The colours were admired here.
In season
© Suzanne Hutchinson 2010 A garden in Newcastle
This was taken in the garden of a residential home in Newcastle – what a lovely view to look out on. There were several comments on this one: “I like the shallow depth of field – had all of the flowers been in focus, I don’t think this would have been nearly as interesting.” “Nice shot.” “lovely shot …want to lie down in them”
In season
© Henrik Moesgaard 2010
Several people commented on how wonderfully crisp this is: not just group members but people at a BBQ when I was showing off Fotogruppa while we waited for a heavy rain shower to pass over. It was taken on an Olympus.
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