On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions. From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
This series was created by Alain Chamot (1971-2020).
Mike in Oly
In my wanderings about western Washington and other nearby areas I am always taking photos of the things I find. One of my favorites types of photos to create are what I call texturals, for lack of a better term. They are often macros, but not always. They highlight color, texture and/or pattern over scenery or narrative. I find them fascinating and beautiful. I hope you will too. I’ll start the series off with Flora, showcasing some of the beauty of patterns in growing things.
Mature trees in the PNW often host their own ecosystems on their bark. This is an alder carpeted with an assortment lichens. (Yes, not technically a flora, but close enough).
Cattails in the breeze create rhythmic patterns with their leaves while the stalks provide counterpoint.
Scene from a still pond.
Branches making patterns at once calm and chaotic.
Ferns can often be fractal in effect.
Vine maples heading into fall.
Curves and swirls wherever the eye flows.
The tenacity of moss.
By the seashore.
Winter light thru the alders. One of my favorite shots I’ve captured. Hope you enjoyed these. More themes to come.
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JanieM
So much variety — thanks for sharing what your eye catches.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Lovely. I particularly like the bark lichens.
Lapassionara
These are stunning. Thank you for sharing them.
Yutsano
I love how stuff that is even familiar for me comes to life in pictures. I really wish everyone could get lost wandering through our forests at least once in their lives. You definitely come out with a greater appreciation of the world.
Mike in Oly
@Yutsano: I’ve been here 25 years now and I still find new and wonderful things everytime I go out into the Washington wildernesses. So grateful to live here.
Falling Diphthong
Thank you for these. “Patterns in nature” is one of my favorite art subjects.
SiubhanDuinne
Gorgeous photos. I love the last one particularly.
Yutsano
@SiubhanDuinne: I always love fern fractals.
arrieve
Love this collection! The moss is my favorite I think — hard to pick one.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano: Yes, that one’s stunning too.
StringOnAStick
Gorgeous! I hope you’ve applied your obvious talents to Ponderosa pine bark* and we’ll see it soon.
*Personal fave
Fair Economist
Amazing pictures! These could be in an art book.
Dan B
Your Lemna minor (still pond) is entertaining since we have it in two water features in our garden – about 120 square feet of it. And there was acreage of it at a 70 acre ecological restoration project I worked on for ten years. Our house is two miles from the closest water so how did it get here? Birds like the Great Blue Heron looking for fish one day or the occasional Racoon troupe?
BTW I love the sun through the Alders.
randy khan
One thing that I hope to keep with me after the pandemic is over is a greater appreciation for the natural world around me. I’ve been walking nearly every day in my wooded neighborhood and over time you notice more and more about the patterns and rhythms of what happens in the woods. It’s something I knew, but didn’t really feel before this, and it’s been a gift.
StringOnAStick
Also: lichens are seriously cool. What amazing symbiotic life forms, love the lichen photo, and the rest of them too.
namekarB
Winter Through the Alders. Yep, there is a watercolor painting there waiting to happen. Just crop the upper right quadrant and in the painting bring the foreground into focus. I hope you don’t mind that I saved that photo and put into my “ideas” folder
VeniceRiley
These are great. Some of my own favorite shots are much like this.
Mary G
These are also some of my favorite kinds of pictures. Before I went to college in 1972, I liked a lot of bands, but I cut up old magazines from the thrift shop to have things like this all over my bedroom wall.
Jay
Love it all.
Embra
I like these a lot. While I love spectacular scenery, I appreciate even more the quiet beauty in the everyday surroundings we too often take for granted. When one bothers to take a close look, it can be astounding. These photos do that very well.
Betsy
Fantastic, just fantastic.
Tehanu
Very nice, thanks.
Chris T.
Light Through the Alders is amazing.
I’m curious as to whether you captured other versions with more or less depth-of-field. I’m not sure any other DoF would be any better, any worse, or just “different”, I’m just curious.
sab
@Yutsano: I didn’t even know until today that there are fern fractals.
Mike in Oly
@namekarB: I do not mind at all! If you paint it I would love to see it.
Mike in Oly
@Chris T.: This was the only shot I took of this. We were on the move past the little grove trying to get off the trail before total dark and I just snapped this quickly in passing. Most of my photography is more ‘photojournalist’ snapped in passing than anything set or planned.
I am so glad everyone enjoyed these. Can’t wait for you to see the others. And sorry, no ponderosa pine, but there is a set of ‘wood’ coming up with some fun textures.
J R in WV
Great stuff…
I love it that newer lenses can focus down to 1 cm or so!
Thanks for sharing these with us.
Steve from Mendocino
Lol. I’ve got a similar post planned for some future date. These are very nice. Thank you.
way2blue
These are great. Thanks for sharing.