Thursday, June 3, 2010

(Day 154) The sweetest thing, I've ever known ....

I'm still taking time to just stroll around with my eyes 'open' to seeing possibilities for making a photo. You know there are times when you're really looking but it feels a bit forced. I find that there are also frequently times when I'm not really looking for an opportunity but it just presents itself. And when I'm looking at photo shoot results I'm left wondering whether I found the opportunity or it found me.

Just the other day I was walking near the duck pen when I noticed that nature's sweetest little fruits were ready for picking - wild strawberries! Did I really notice them or were they flashing their red coats at me ? Now, I don't want to give the impression that we have fields of strawberries just growing wild here. No - you can go to a commercial grower if you want that. I'm talking about those little specks of red hiding amongst the grass and clover that you have to search out. It takes a bit of work because they're small and hidden, but oh they taste so sweet! And they don't come much more organic than this. (Oh, and apologies to Juice Newton).

(Note: my internet access has been very intermittent over the past week; sometimes uploading photos can take forever, well, a long time. Sometimes I get timeouts or blogger.com refuses to load. It's been slowing or preventing me from visiting my followers' blogs. I've been up late nights researching solutions. Bear with me - I find it frustrating - but I will be visiting as best I can while I work on fixing this).

(60mm  f4  1/60 sec  ISO800)
















(60mm  f4  1/125 sec  ISO800)

30 comments:

Julia said...

I love how the red pops out so much and how you focused on the strawberries! Very cool!

Rick said...

@Julia - thank you; I used the leaves, grass and weeds to frame the strawberries.

Scott Law said...

Their not ready yet, but it makes my mouth water in anticipation. Beautiful color and detail on these Rick.

darlin said...

Oh man... now I want to go in search of these wee berries, you're so right Rick, they are the best of the best! My tastebuds are watering now! lol

Wonderful photos Rick and now I'm going to dream of sweet wee strawberries tonight!

I hope you get your net up and running smoothly once again, time and patience and you'll figure it all out. Is it your server? Have you called them yet?

My name is Riet said...

Mooie foto's van de aardbeitjes Rick. Lastig hè als je computer niet doet wat jij wil.Fijne dag!

Pugelicious said...

Mmmm my favourite!! I really like the colour and lighting in these photographs, the bright red against the muted green is gorgeous.

Unknown said...

Wow beautiful green framing!

Greetz,

Joseph

Anonymous said...

I think they were flashing their red coats at you.

Great photos, but love the first one the most.

In regards to your computer problems, I might be able to help but only if you're using a windows operating system. If you are using window, please let me know which version, because I think you're being targeted by a virus.

Katherine said...

What sweet surprises doth your paradise hold Rick!
I love strawberries, they're one of my favourite fruits. Really nice served with vanilla ice-cream & a light dusting of icing sugar. Mmmmm! Or alternativly dipped in melted choclate... Now look what you've done.. I want strawberries and it isn't strawberry season here.
I wish you luck with your technical problems...I hope it isn't anything nasty like a virus! Have a great day!

S. Etole said...

I do like these ... a lot!

Edward said...

Hi Rick. What do they taste like? They are great shots.

Rick said...

@Scott - you'll have something to look forward to. We have local strawberry growers whose product is also good, but the wild ones just seem to have that little extra! Thanks Scott.

Rick said...

@darlin - hope you had sweet dreams about these little (edible) gems. You have to be quick to get them - I think there's lots of competition from bugs and birds :)

Not sure about the internet thing - have tried 50 different 'solutions'; tomorrow will experiment with the router - may need new firmware. Patience, Rick, patience !

Have a super weekend!

Rick said...

@Riet - ja, ik kan er wel meer dan een beetje kwaad om worden, maar dat helpt toch niet. Dank u wel Riet, en ook een fijn weekend.

Rick said...

@Debbie - thanks Debbie; they make my mouth water - I find them a tasty little treat when I'm out walking about :)

Rick said...

@CarreraCaballo - thanks Joseph; down on hands and knees to get in close; get the photo, and then get the fruit! :-)

Rick said...

@M. Hassan - thank you M; I agree.

Re: internet problems - I'm using 64-bit Windows 7; I'm also suspecting a virus but my son who's using our in-house wireless network is having the same problem, and so is my laptop, using the same wireless network. That's why I'm suspecting my Belkin router - will try firmware upgrade tomorrow or swap for another. Have run all sorts of virus cleaners (Malwarebytes, McAfee, Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool ... all come up clean).

Rick said...

@Katherine - wow, you know how to take a good thing and make it even better; mmm - dipped in chocolate!

Fingers crossed re: virus - hope not but it might be.

Rick said...

@S. Etole - thank you Susan, and the photos too ? LOL

Rick said...

@Edward - thanks Edward; they taste like the fruit version of a little slice of heaven.

darlin said...

Yup a lesson in patience! I still love my computer even when it breaks down or I break it down, I think that it's a love/hate thing that goes on when I run into problems. I just thank God that my boys still love their mom and are both computer techs!

The title of your blog today caught my eye tonight... "The sweetest thing I've ever known..." then the song started playing in my head. I hope it doesn't stay there all night! lol

Anonymous said...

Well, there you go! If all the computers are having the same problem, then it surely is the router. Did you try a hard reset? There's a reset button you'd have to push and hold for like 30 sec, but that means you'll have to reconfigure it for the computers to connect again.

That mostly help solve the problems, if not, then you'll need another.

J.J.S. said...

Lovely shot, Rick ! What camera and lens are you using?

imac said...

Sweet strawbs eh, and what a beauty of a piccy Rick.

Rick said...

@darlin - I've worked with computers all my working life (way back to IBM S360 m/f) although the last 20 were on the mgmt side - so my techie skills became obsolete. I'm learning the PC side and the internet is a wonderful resource - if you're careful. Good to have 'in-house' technical help, isn't it.

Glad you caught that title, and I thought the singer's name was most appropriate too! ;-)

Rick said...

@J.J.S. - thank you. I use a Canon Rebel XS, and for this shot I used my 60mm macro. Early in this project I was asked to provide some info on the settings used for my photos - above each photo I list which lens I used, the aperture, the shutter speed, and ISO.

Rick said...

@M. Hassan - I forgot that it was another 'demolition' day today so no chance to test the router theory. One more evening of struggles and hopefully I can solve it tomorrow. Thanks.

Rick said...

@imac - speaking of strawbs, do you recall the Straubs ? And yes, very sweet. Thanks for coming by mac.

Unknown said...

Wild strawberries are the BEST! I love them so much... and these shots are too cute!

re: blogger issues... I hope you get it all worked out soon! As you may know I post via links to my webshots accounts. A few people have difficulty viewing them due to blockers (at work, usually) but I never have any trouble posting because I just include a link in my html draft of the post.

(just some data for consideration, it might help or it might not.)

Rick said...

@Krista - thank you.

I seem to have to refresh the page several times before it loads - whether it's blogger.com, webshots, flickr - just started happening about 10 days ago; I don't have a blocker other than the usual in Firefox re: pop-ups.