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Small Town America ~Wildflower blog to go with the new 'Byways' page #12
~~~ by the photographer, Dorothy Perrucci of Onley Images
It’s been said that wildflowers are misunderstood weeds. While I’m not exactly sure of who said that, I don’t believe it’s true and have discovered some of the most amazing plants. Many of these plants are so small as to be missed unless one was actually looking for them. All of the wildflowers photographed for my series were taken within a 1-2 mile walking distance of our home in Onley, VA.
Nearly all were photographed in late spring before the hot (and buggy) summer weather set in. Many were photographed right in our yard, which required getting down on the lawn since so many of these wildflowers are small. The details in these small flowers were just amazing to me as were the colors. I discovered vibrant blues, yellows, pinks and many other colors as well.
I also learned a lot by going to wildflower books available in the public library and also ordering some reference books. For me, one of the most helpful best books for local wildflowers has been Wildflowers of Tidewater Virginia by Oscar W. Gupton and Fred C. Swope. This book is color coded and has photographs and descriptions that include the common name of species, scientific name, flowering period, and information on the plant size, leaf and flower character, plant uses, miscellaneous comments, and habitat.
Since lots of people have asked about the equipment I used to capture these tiny beauties, here’s the lowdown. I have a Fuji S7000 digital camera with macro capability. For the record, it’s a 6MP camera, which unfortunately is no longer made, but other similar cameras with macro capability would probably do well. I recently purchased a macro lens for my digital SLR but
admittedly don’t use it as much as the Fuji. It’s more powerful, but also heavier and I prefer to travel light when I’m walking around the yard and neighborhood. By the way, wildflowers like many other plants are known by various common names, so if anyone knows other names for the images shown, please feel free to share them. Also, I have a large number of “unidentified” wildflowers and if anyone can identify those, I would be interested as well.
Dorothy Perrucci
Onleyimages@verizon.net
It’s been said that wildflowers are misunderstood weeds. While I’m not exactly sure of who said that, I don’t believe it’s true and have discovered some of the most amazing plants. Many of these plants are so small as to be missed unless one was actually looking for them. All of the wildflowers photographed for my series were taken within a 1-2 mile walking distance of our home in Onley, VA.
Nearly all were photographed in late spring before the hot (and buggy) summer weather set in. Many were photographed right in our yard, which required getting down on the lawn since so many of these wildflowers are small. The details in these small flowers were just amazing to me as were the colors. I discovered vibrant blues, yellows, pinks and many other colors as well.
I also learned a lot by going to wildflower books available in the public library and also ordering some reference books. For me, one of the most helpful best books for local wildflowers has been Wildflowers of Tidewater Virginia by Oscar W. Gupton and Fred C. Swope. This book is color coded and has photographs and descriptions that include the common name of species, scientific name, flowering period, and information on the plant size, leaf and flower character, plant uses, miscellaneous comments, and habitat.
Since lots of people have asked about the equipment I used to capture these tiny beauties, here’s the lowdown. I have a Fuji S7000 digital camera with macro capability. For the record, it’s a 6MP camera, which unfortunately is no longer made, but other similar cameras with macro capability would probably do well. I recently purchased a macro lens for my digital SLR but
admittedly don’t use it as much as the Fuji. It’s more powerful, but also heavier and I prefer to travel light when I’m walking around the yard and neighborhood. By the way, wildflowers like many other plants are known by various common names, so if anyone knows other names for the images shown, please feel free to share them. Also, I have a large number of “unidentified” wildflowers and if anyone can identify those, I would be interested as well.
Dorothy Perrucci
Onleyimages@verizon.net
posted by Shore Towns folk at
9:41 PM
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