Figure 1 – Cattails, loosestrife, and Queen Anne’s lace. July 25, 2020, Great Meadows national Wildlife Refuge, Concord, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

In Figure 1, I have tried to capture the essence of a hot and humid mid July day. It was taken at the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord, MA. Quintessential to summer in New England are the cattails, loosestrife and Queen Anne’s lace. I love the way that all the plant forms are vertical as they reach up to the sun and sky. The vertical lines, I believe, great a dynamic sense in the photograph as if all things are rushing upwards.

Canon T2i with EF 70-200 mm f/4.0L USM lens at 126 mm, ISO 800, Aperture Priority AE mode at 1/400th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.

Figure 1 – Blue dasher on a lotus bud, Great Meadows national Wildlife Refuge, Concord, MA. July 25, 2020. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

Continuing with yesterday morning’s heat visit to the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord, MA I took the image of Figure 1, which truly captures a sacred pair of memes. The lotus blossom is symbolic of the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The dragon fly is an object of magic and imagination. Here we have the beautiful and iridescent blue dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) spreading its delicately constructed wings in the warm sunlight. The appeal of the dragonfly is the hovering flight and their magical ability to catch the light as if they themselves were on fire.

“Dragonflies are reminders that we are light and we can reflect light in powerful ways if we choose to do so.”
― Robyn Nola

Canon T2i with EF70-200 mm F/4.0L USM lens at 200 mm, ISO 200, Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/250 th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation. 

Figure 1 – Eastern Black swallowtail on Loosestrife, Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Concord, MA., July 25, 2020. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

The heat of summer and the plague rule us now! In this morning’s heat we wandered over to Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord, MA and delighted in photographing the blooming lotus blossoms, the birds, the flowers and the butterflies. Ignoring the strife around us here is an eastern black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) sipping on the nectar of some gorgeous loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria). Focus on the beauty in the world, my friends.

Canon T2i with EF70-200 mm f/4.0L USM lens at 135 mm, ISO 200, Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/400th sect at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation. 

Figure 1 – Passion Pink Coneflowers with bumblebee. Salem Maritime National Historic Site, July 2020, Salem, MA.

I continue to be intrigued and delighted this season by all the glorious shades of the cone flowers. And invariably they are accompanied by bumblebees. Today I encountered these beautiful passion pink flowers and captured the bee close up right on top of the flower. The iPhone is excellent for this.

Figure 1 – Comet Neowise over the Danvers River in Salem, MA, July 20, 2020. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

On July 20, 1963, a very young David was with his father and telescope viewing a solar eclipse in Sullivan County, NY. My passion was ascending to the zenith of science geekdom. In those days, I would have loved to photograph what I saw – especially the silent, cool, luminescent sights in the late evening or early morning twilight skies. It was time to dream. So last night binoculars, telephoto, and tripod in hand I went out to attempt to find comet Neowise as it approached to kiss the Earth.

There were the expected problems. First, was finding it against the background light. Ultimately I could see it both in my binoculars and with the unaided naked eye. Second, was getting my tripod’s camera easy mount to lock in the dark. Third, sighting my camera on it was another story, since I couldn’t see it in the viewfinder. And fourth, there was the dreaded “M” or manual mode. I had preset everything, but my camera refused to shoot, and I finally realized that I needed to turn off the autofocus. So voila friends, here is Neowise, hovering gloriously over the Danvers or North River in Salem, MA. 

Despite the light pollution, this comet evokes all the magic and marvel of comets. There is the bright core and the nebulous and spectacular tail. And there is the sense of wonder and predilection. The David of 2020 thanks this beautiful comet on behalf of himself as well as the boy of 1963.

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 70 mm, ISO 800, Manual Mode 15 sec at f/4.0.

Figure 1 – Honey golden Coneflowers, July 2020, Salem Maritime National National historic Site. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

Midsummer, the bringer of dreams, has this year brought with it a marvelous crop of coneflowers. The colors are many and delightfully varied. I offer up the photographs of Figures 1 & 2. 

There is an ancient Indian proverb that says that,

“all the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of today.”

This seems to me very apt for these times of disease, incompetence, racial and political turmoil. We need to be careful what seeds we sow. On the other hand, there is a beautiful garden to be grown, and we must have faith in the future that we bequeath our children.

Figure 1 – Magenta Coneflowers, July 2020, Salem Maritime National National historic Site. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

Figure 1 – Canna lily, July 2020, Salem, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

Despite the isolation, the pandemic, and its mishandling nature and the summer continues to delight us. I took this photograph this morning of a perfect canna lily in front of a Salem, MA restaurant complete with a bee and its gossamer wings. These tropicals are just so spectacular and never fail to delight. Capturing a bee contemplating alighting of the flower, as opposed to stinging me on the nose, is equally wonderful.

Figure 1 – Salem Safe Harbor Marina at Hawthorne Cove in the fog of a July morning. Safe Harbor Hawthorne Cove, Salem, MA (c) DE Wolf 2020.

It was a warm and humid morning in Salem, but when I reached the Marina at Safe Harbor, Hawthorne Cove, I was struck by this unexpected fog bank. It offered up not just lack of perfect detail but beautiful pastel shades and features in the distance struggling to reveal themselves – specters in the mist. Beauty is transformed to greater beauty. It is truly the case that fog works its special magic and makes you see well-known vistas in new and spectacular ways.

“In nature, everything has a job. The job of the fog is to beautify further the existing beauties!”

Figure 1 – Great egret, Salem National Maritime Historic Site. (c) DE Wolf 2020.

With the start of summer the great egrets (Ardea alba) have returned to the Salem wetland. The one in Figure 1 was photographed along the beach by Derby Wharf. They are such a beautiful and elegant sight, a kind of gift from nature. I have generally found egrets hard to photograph, hard to bring the knowing, yet reptilian eye into sharp focus. But here I succeeded with my wonderful 70 too 200 mm L Lens.

I have read that there are 180,000 breeding great egrets in North America. That represents a return of the breed and is wonderful. However, a dear friend pointed out something to me. Humans were meant to stand amidst thousands of herons and egrets – to be literally dazzled by their elegant ballet and to hear the thunder of their flight. We have allowed ourselves to be reduced joyfully pursuing the rare and the few. We have diminished ourselves. We have squander what was meant to be our legacy!

Canon T2i with EF 70-200 f/4l USM lens at 200 mm, ISO 800, Aperture Priority AE Mode 1/4000th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.