2006_2298 Surrounded
Lichens are amazing life forms: a fungus and an alga (and sometimes cyanobacteria) in a symbiotic relationship - that is, a composite organism. There are approximately 20,000 lichen species, and they cover 6% of the earth's land surface. Although they photosynthesize, they are not plants, but instead belong to the fungus kingdom (taxonomy has changed a lot since I was in school...) They grow almost everywhere, from sea level to high mountain elevations, in deserts, rain forests, tundra; on wood, stone, garage walls, gravestones, plastic; and some are among the earth's oldest living organisms.
From a purely aesthetic standpoint, they brighten up the prairie that surrounds the little village I now call home. And I have taken the theme "surrounded" and turned it into a photo project over the past decade and a half. Here's how it works. Any time I'm out hiking the prairie, regardless of any specific goal, I keep my eye open for patches of bare rock that have been completely surrounded by lichen growth. I am interested in the negative spaces thus created. They come in fantastic shapes. For a few years everything I shot seemed to be a aerial map of Australia, or even Africa, but I keep pushing for more exotic shapes, and now my collection includes an elongated cat, a whale, a rocking horse, various fish, an antelope on its knees, a shouting man, two satyrs dancing... all fanciful, of course, and most certainly someone else will not see what I see.
Here is the latest... quite possibly my favourite... but I won't try to influence anyone as to what it may be. Imagination is a personal thing. I've always been good at daydreaming; ask any of my former teachers. Once, in high school, I looked up from my desk and realized I was in the wrong class. The bell had gone, my classmates and teacher had shuffled out, new students and their teacher had shuffled in, while I sat there in another world. So... this is easy for me.
Technically, it's not difficult to make shots like this. Tripod, usually a macro lens, parallel plane focusing (align the plane of subject parallel with the camera's sensor), stop down the lens so that there's enough depth of field to keep everything in focus. Soft light is pleasing. Much easier than flowers or insects.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2020 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2006_2298 Surrounded
Lichens are amazing life forms: a fungus and an alga (and sometimes cyanobacteria) in a symbiotic relationship - that is, a composite organism. There are approximately 20,000 lichen species, and they cover 6% of the earth's land surface. Although they photosynthesize, they are not plants, but instead belong to the fungus kingdom (taxonomy has changed a lot since I was in school...) They grow almost everywhere, from sea level to high mountain elevations, in deserts, rain forests, tundra; on wood, stone, garage walls, gravestones, plastic; and some are among the earth's oldest living organisms.
From a purely aesthetic standpoint, they brighten up the prairie that surrounds the little village I now call home. And I have taken the theme "surrounded" and turned it into a photo project over the past decade and a half. Here's how it works. Any time I'm out hiking the prairie, regardless of any specific goal, I keep my eye open for patches of bare rock that have been completely surrounded by lichen growth. I am interested in the negative spaces thus created. They come in fantastic shapes. For a few years everything I shot seemed to be a aerial map of Australia, or even Africa, but I keep pushing for more exotic shapes, and now my collection includes an elongated cat, a whale, a rocking horse, various fish, an antelope on its knees, a shouting man, two satyrs dancing... all fanciful, of course, and most certainly someone else will not see what I see.
Here is the latest... quite possibly my favourite... but I won't try to influence anyone as to what it may be. Imagination is a personal thing. I've always been good at daydreaming; ask any of my former teachers. Once, in high school, I looked up from my desk and realized I was in the wrong class. The bell had gone, my classmates and teacher had shuffled out, new students and their teacher had shuffled in, while I sat there in another world. So... this is easy for me.
Technically, it's not difficult to make shots like this. Tripod, usually a macro lens, parallel plane focusing (align the plane of subject parallel with the camera's sensor), stop down the lens so that there's enough depth of field to keep everything in focus. Soft light is pleasing. Much easier than flowers or insects.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2020 James R. Page - all rights reserved.