Weekend Wanderings: A morning in the garden

Here we are on Easter Sunday and I haven’t been doing a lot. This morning I spent some time in the garden with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 and Samyang 100mm Macro lens.

The garden is starting to shut down for the winter, but there are still enough flowers to get some photos. I was experimenting with the close up filter and one of the extension rings I have. It was nice. A friend came over and we found a praying mantis, so we set up a dahlia so we could put it on it and take photos.

It was a fun morning. I hope you enjoy the photos from the morning.

Happy Easter to those that celebrate Easter, or happy weekend to those that don’t.

 

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28 Comments

  1. I absolutely love the praying mantis photo! Your photos are always fabulous, though. šŸ™‚ For several years I wished that praying mantises would take up residence on our property. Then one day I was going around a big bush on the riding lawn mower when I suddenly had one on my face! That was a shock!

    For a moment, I forgot where you live…I was confused when you mentioned the approach of winter, as I’m in the northern hemisphere and am just getting my garden planted for spring!

    1. Thank you, that so lovely of you to say. Oh no, what a great story, thank you for sharing it.
      Yes, we are going into winter, one day I hope, the summer is really hanging on.

    1. Thank you Truels, I do love being able to take photos in my garden.
      It was very cute, back in the garden now and on its way. šŸ˜€

  2. Hi Leanne, Your photos of the mantis are really wonderful. You speculated about whether the one you found here is indigenous. Here’s some food for thought. My recent experience is in New Zealand. There is a South African variety (Miomantis caffra) that has settled in NZ. It’s technically not considered a pest, but when the females mate with the native New Zealand species (Orthodera novaezealandiae), they tend to kill the males (and, unfortunately, the native NZ males seem to prefer the invasive females, so there is actually a problem. It’s pretty easy to identify a NZ native, because they are always green and have prominent blue spots on the medial (inside) aspects of their forelegs. If you’d like to delve deeper, here’s a website: http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/local-insects/praying-mantis.html). I haven’t the time justd now to research the status of the native Australian mantises, but–at least at first glance–it looks like the one you found might be an African immigrant. Cheers-Gary

    1. Thank you, and after reading your comment I did some research and it seems there are quite a few indigenous praying mantis here. I think the one I photographed is also a native. There are quite a few like it here. Thanks for getting me to do some research on them.

  3. Lovely images Leanne. Can you tell me where you bought the lensbaby from please? I’m in Australia and have not been able to find a local distributor. Thanks for your time.

    1. Thank you, I don’t know where to get them from in Australia, when I’ve bought any I have got them from B&H in the US. I’ve been given quite a few as well. Sorry, I know not much help, but B&H are great.

    2. I think there is a distributor here, but they haven’t been doing a good job if distributing them, if you know what i mean.

  4. If your garden is shutting down for the winter in Australia, your camera tells me otherwise. I just took a picture of our first violet. Thank you, Leanne, for those lovely photos!

    1. Summer is the worse time for flowers here, it is too hot usually, but there is a calmness in early winter and then all the natives start flowering, they do in winter, which makes sense for here. That’s wonderful, violets are so pretty. Thank you Peter.

    2. In other works you are looking forward to the fall and winter season. I guess too much heat and dry weather can be just as bad as a long and cold winter.

    3. Yes, most definitely. I love Autumn and winter is my second favourite season. The summers are hot and the light is horrible for photography.

  5. I like the shallow DOF in your flower close-ups and absolutely love the praying mantis at the top of your post, not only her “attitude” but also the colors and of course your processing to (probably) eliminate everything except what’s necessary.

    1. Thank you Linda, I like that too, I like to get as close as I can and get very little in focus, sort of highlight something. The praying mantis was an absolute bonus and so patient with us while we took photos. Back in the garden now.

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