Thank you to all for contributing to the discussion yesterday. It was great to hear your opinions. I appreciate that you support my vision.
After leaving the pond, I visited the nearby site where I photographed Greater Fringed Gentian (Gentianopsis crinita formerly Gentiana crinata) which fills the void in late summer for me that is filled in the spring by Painted Trillium. I was slightly early for the full blooms, but the tightly wrapped buds are delightful as well.
There may not have been the expected fog, but the air was moist enough for some dew.
I’ll be looking here again over the weekend for some nice blooms.
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I always appreciate your work; the bud is gorgeous, and the blooms are definitely on the way.
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Thank you, Charlie. I am glad that you like my work.
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That dew adds a wonderful finishing touch.
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I was pretty happy to have the dew drops. Thanks, Lyle.
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I think you timed this perfectly Steve. The colour is stunning.
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Thanks, Andrew. The bloom is pretty spectacular with the fringed petals, but I am quite happy with the bud too.
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It’s a beautiful image, and a beautiful color. I noticed the change to Gentianopsis crinita, and out of the depths came William Cullen Bryant’s “Thanatopsis.” It’s been a while, but the words are as lovely as your photo.
To him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language; for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides
Into his darker musings, with a mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight
Over thy spirit, and sad images
Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;—
Go forth, under the open sky, and list
To Nature’s teachings, while from all around—
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air—
Comes a still voice—
The whole poem is here, although I’m most fond of these first lines.
Now I have to figure out the meaning of “opsis.” There’s coreopsis, and synopsis — I see a pattern here!
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Botanists use opsis to mean ‘looks like.’ Coreopsis, for example, looked to some people like a bedbug (at least the seed capsules did). I believe Bryant used Thanatopsis to mean ‘looking at death.’ In a synopsis someone looks through a work and puts the main points together (syn-). The root is Greek and means ‘eye,’ the organ that looks at things (think of optics and optometrist and of course the Cyclops with the big round (cycl-) eye in the middle of its forehead).
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And let us not leave out Carrotopsis
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Those are indeed beautiful words. I would love to be able to include such lines along with my images. I need to start exploring literature more seriously, I think. I’d rather they be my own, but that’s not as likely as finding them in the wonderful works of the truly talented.
Bryant lived not far from here and The Trustees of Reservations manages his property. I should visit, don’t you think?
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When it comes to tightly wrapped buds you’re a man after my own (photographic) heart.
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They can often be more interesting than the opened flower although I am not so sure in this case. More to come.
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The blue color wins me every time. The blue knocks this photo out of the ballpark. Exceedingly beautiful.
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This is a lovely shade it’s true, Yvonne. When opened, the bloom is not quite as deep a blue, but lovely still. I will visit these again this weekend during the afternoon when they are opened. They close up at night in the cool, so morning won’t work.
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