Janet Brien's photos

It won't be too long before this cap falls off, but right now these garlic florets are giving this cap a decidedly jaunty appearance as they grow larger and pop out from under the covering!

Here is another view of the cap as it's becoming unseated. By taking a picture from this angle, the cap appears vertical, but it's actually at an angle (look at the previous image).

The bud covering is slowly losing its grip on the florets which are straining for their first peek at the great big world!

The cap is now beginning to lose its grip as the two halves of the covering is pulled apart!

It's such fun to watch the bud covering split more and more, exposing the ever-growing florets inside. Here the covering looks like curtains pulled back!

I looked at the garlic buds every day and took pictures as I saw interesting progress. Here the bud covering has split under the strain from the growing florets inside.

We have a few garlic flowers in our front yard that were planted before we moved here and I love them! They make wonderful photography subjects and in 2012 I decided to take pictures of the buds as they grew and finally bloomed. There are 9 pictures in all, so I will post one each day with the hopes that you don't get too bored by the same subject. Here is the first one, which shows a pair of stalks that form an X!

One of the tiniest flowers that I know of grows all over our property, and it's also the first flower of spring. It's called Spring Whitlow Grass, and its blossoms are only about 1/4" in diameter! Here are what the budding flowers look like. So tiny you can hardly see them, and yet, with a macro lens, I can show you their elegant perfection as they strain to rise above the moss around them.

This exquisite little flower measures about 1/3" in diameter, and is a perfect example of why I love macro photography. Unless I told you the size of this flower, you might have thought it was much larger. The joy of being able to share the details of something so small is hard to put into words, but anyone who's into macro photography will know what I mean! Isn't this tiny flower just beautiful?! :)

Here is another flower I photographed on Daffodil Hill in Shady Cove, Oregon back in 2013. This hill is literally covered with acres of daffodils of all sizes, colors, and shapes! It is an incredible sight and left me dazzled by the time we left!

I learned a bit about myself when I moved from my older Canon SX30 camera to my current Canon 5D Mk II. For a very long time I wanted to distance myself from the old and embrace the new. So, whenever I saw an older picture from my previous camera, I immediately hated it. I could only remember the frustration that built upon itself as I outgrew the capabilities of that camera. I didn't think about all that I learned. The fun I had with it. The joy it brought to me and the gift of being able to take any sort of picture I wanted to take because the lens would go from macro to telephoto. It was--and still is--a wonderful camera! It may not be able to produce the quality of picture I wanted so badly, but for a great many situations, the pictures are very nice! This picture is a great example! When compared to my husband's 5D Mk 1 pictures, I was sick and tired of the richness of his pictures, super details and the incredible background blurring which I so adored. All I could see were the flaws of my images. Now I can look at these older pictures with joy and pride. They are still really pretty and I'm happy to let people see them! :)

I saw this lovely car at the Medford Cruise a few years ago. This yearly classic car show is a full week of oldies but goodies to drool at! Definitely a lot of fun if you have any interest in beautifully restored automobiles.

This was one of the last pictures I took in Oregon with my old Canon SX30 superzoom camera. Steve and I went down to Ashland for autumn photography and spent a few hours taking pictures and enjoying lovely Lithia Park. I would soon have my current camera, a Canon 5D Mk II, but while the SX30 was my main camera, it gave me the chance to learn so much! Here is a study of light glowing through a maple leaf.

I found a mass of vetch growing along the Rogue River one day when Steve and I went on a photo walk. It was a fun challenge to find leaves, tendrils and blossoms in nice lighting that were separated from the background, but after looking around for a while, I was successful!

Did you know that the "petals" you see here aren't actually petals as botanists define them? They are actually called "bracts", and the flowers themselves are the cluster in the very center! I took this picture a few years ago when on a bike ride with my husband.

I found this pretty little penstemon when on a photo walk along the Rogue River. Being so small, I nearly missed it, but this bright blossom caught my eye. Although the top was a bit burned from the sun, the markings on the petals were so pretty that it made up for the scorching on top.

About 15 miles from our home is the lovely little town of Shady Cove. Every spring there is a yearly daffodil explosion on a hill that is covered with an endless variety of flowers. One year Steve and I went for a visit and by the time we left, my head was spinning! Here's a close-up dof shot of a fiery orange cup on one beauty that I saw there.

(+1 in a note) Steve and I went on a bike ride a few years ago and while we were eating our lunch, I noticed this damselfly who rested on a chair nearby. I was able to creep quite closely to get some nice pictures! Roll your mouse over the upper left corner for a portrait! :)