Today I'm sharing the foliage of passiflora tenuiloba. This one's native to Texas, with a range starting in the Hill Country and extending west and south to more semi-arid regions. It doesn't have flashy flowers, being a small decaloba-type, but I find the foliage fascinating. It's informal name is "bird-winged passion flower," which is self-explanatory. I don't know of many other passiflora species with as elaborate a leaf form. One problem with this plant is that the stems are so thin that I haven't had any luck rooting cuttings from it, which frustrates me to no end, I assure you.

And here's a second view of some younger leaves. Note they start out with less pronounced lobes like other passis, but extend as the leaf grows and matures.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macro
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Yes, I know they're technically green anoles, but I grew up calling them chameleons and still do to this day. Hard to argue with their color changes!

I first saw this little guy last week, hanging out in a potted plant on the front porch. He's a tiny hatchling, barely more than an inch long--I don't think I've ever seen one this small. He's wary, though, vanishing before I've been able to get my camera. Last night, however, I found him sleeping on a leaf, oblivious to my spying. I was able to get several shots before the confused guy woke up fully, then shut off all the lights and let him go back to sleep. Our bushes and thick passion vines around the house are a haven for the little lizards (there's an adult male displaying his red throat outside my window right now) and I like having them around. They remind me of my childhood, when I used to catch them for fun. It's amazing how large a moth these little guys can eat!

This bonus shot shows how sleepy he was. I've gotten this same exact look from The Wife some mornings...

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macro
Lisa On Location

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And here we have a seed from quite possibly the most wide-spread passion flower in the world, caerulea. The seed's a bit smaller than that of incarnata, and not quite so dramatic in its surface texture. This is a seed from last year, stored in my refrigerator in a packet of moist sand. I suspect if I get some fresh seed this year I'll re-shoot it, as tiny sand grains wedged themselves into little nooks on the seed so that I couldn't brush it clean. Note to self: Fresh seeds photograph better than stored seeds.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
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I photographed the seed of passiflora incarnata earlier, for my film photography class, but I used a mottled gray background for that image and wasn't entirely happy with the contrast. So I've re-shot the species for consistency's sake. I like the contrast in this version much better.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
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Inspiration is my next subject in my passiflora seed series, but it's not from the Passiflora Society International seed sale. This one is from my personal stock. Inspiration is a tetraploid hybrid, similar to the common p. Incense hybrid, but slightly larger with deeper violet flowers that reflex more. There are other subtle differences as well, along with one big one--Inspiration is self-fertile, whereas Incense fruits with reluctance. Seeds of Inspiration generally follow the classic, common passiflora seed form, but are significantly larger--half again to twice the size of a regular incarnata seed. It also has more red pigmentation than other seeds I've photographed, which is curious.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
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Herbertiana is my next subject from the Passiflora Society International seed sale. Like p. aurantia, this is an Australian species, once of the few passiflora native to the "Old World." And like aurantia, herbertiana is among the smallest passiflora seeds I've worked with. It's slightly larger than aurantia, but not by much.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
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Aurantia is my next subject from the Passiflora Society International seed sale. This is an Australian species, once of the few passiflora native to the "Old World." A few years ago I bought some seed on Ebay, but they never germinated. Hopefully, I'll have more success with this one.

One other thing--these macro seed photos aren't to scale with one another. Their size varies widely, but I try to "fill the frame" as much as possible to reveal the maximum amount of detail. Aurantia is the smallest seed I've worked with yet--it's actually smaller than the head of a pin. I know, because I Photoshopped out the silver crescent of the pin head I'd mounted it to. Amazing something so small can grow into such impressive vines.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
Lisa On Location

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Bogotensis is my next subject from the Passiflora Society International seed sale. Again, I've never attempted to grow passiflora bogotensis before. It's a decaloba, which I like, and fairly rare, which I also like. However, it is reputed to dislike high temperatures, which means I'll have to keep it indoors throughout the summer lest it suffer the fate of the unfortunate tasconias I've attempted to grow. This might be the oddest seed form I've come across yet.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
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Umbilicata is my next subject from the Passiflora Society International seed sale. Again, I've never attempted to grow passiflora umbilicata before. This particular species has a more traditional appearance to its seeds, at least in comparison to the commonly cultivated species such as incarnata, eulis etc.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
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Here's another subject from the Passiflora Society International seed sale. Passiflora morifolia is another species I've never attempted growing before. I'm exceptionally accomplished at killing passiflora, but I'd much prefer developing my cultivation skills. Compare this seed with the previous image of the serratifolia seed and you can clearly see the dramatic morphological differences present.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
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So, I hang out online with a bunch of other passion flower enthusiasts who are members of the Passiflora Society International. The group recently had a seed sale, and I picked up several packages of seed from a variety of species. Naturally, before I planted them I decided to take some high-magnification macro photos of the seeds. Passiflora are known for their dramatic variation, and guess what? The same can be said for their seeds. This is the seed of passiflora serratifolia, a type I've never grown before. This seed has the most dramatic projectile-point shape I've ever seen, outside of an actual projectile point.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macros with Vivitar 2x telextender
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Working my way through some of my backlog from my posting lapses earlier. Here's one of my color macro shots of the flowering moss outside of work. I find these things fascinating--the number of people who walk past the inconspicuous mosses each day, taking no notice, is astounding. Of course, I got quite a few odd looks as I sprawled out to get the shot...

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macro with Vivitar 2x teleconverter
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Yesterday's posting of the pillbug photo completes my final project for Advanced Traditional Photography. It's quite a nice series overall, and there are way more negatives that I simply didn't have time to develop. A big reason for my success in that class rests with the Canon Elan 7ne camera I used. It is a very nice camera body, well-designed, light, comfortable to hold with a host of nice features built into it that compares well to modern DSLRs. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it is the predecessor to the hugely popular xxD line of semi-pro camera bodies from Canon. In fact, it does the 40D/50D two better--it is compatible with Canon infrared remote triggers, which came in very handy for my macro work--and boasts a late incarnation of Eye Control Focus. I played with ECF when I first got the Elan and liked its potential. When ECF is on, the photographer simply looks at what he or she wants to focus on through the eyepiece, and the camera tracks this movement and correlates that with the nearest focal point. Sadly, this wasn't useful for my macro project, as I had to contort myself at odd angles to focus (which confounded the eye-tracking sensors) and then usually relied on manual focus anyway. But it's a fun option I'd rather have available than not.

But, like it or not, the Elan is going into semi-retirement. I've got nothing against film, but I seriously doubt I'll ever set foot in a darkroom again. Digital offers a host of advantages over analog film, and as I didn't originally learn photography using film, the tactile romantic nostalgia of film doesn't have much of a grip on me. That's not to say I won't ever shoot film again--we've got a large-format Crown Graphic I hope to get in working order sooner or later, and the Elan itself is just fun to shoot. But I won't be developing my own film, so I'll need a high-quality negative scanner, etc. So the Elan is going up on the shelf for now, a well-deserved semi-retirement. It has served me well.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macro
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Of all the prints that made up my final project, I believe this generated the most interest. A simple pill bug, or, as others call it, a rolly-polly. Why the interest? I think because it is so common and therefore instantly familiar, yet fascinating and strange because people rarely see this humble creature in so much detail. And even blown up a hundred times larger than real life, they're still kind of cute, aren't they? My son is obsessed with pill bugs, so I think I'll frame this one and give it to him to hang in his room.

Camera: Canon Elan 7ne
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macro with Vivitar 2x telextender

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I'm not entirely sure what flower this empty, dried seedhead came from (sunflower perhaps?) but there's no denying it sure photographs pretty when given strong side lighting with reflector fill. Simple, yet effective.

Camera: Canon Elan 7ne
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macro

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The kids found this Giant Leopard Moth caterpillar on the back patio, and I knew I had to include it in my project--if only to add more insects to the mix. Unfortunately, the impressive orange-and-black of this fat fuzzy didn't translate very well to black and white film. It's once case where digital color looks much better.

Camera: Canon Elan 7ne
Lens: Canon EF 100mm 2.8 with Vivital 2x telextender

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This is the final image of my seedhead triptych, and what really attracted me to this particular plant. The star pattern formed by the individual pods was quite intriguing. Very dramatic and unusual. I really like the set as they fit together.

Camera: Canon Elan 7ne
Lens: Canon EF 100mm 2.8

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This is the same seedhead from the previous entry. Different angle, different composition, different lighting. Before I knew it, I'd completed my second triptych. Final shot coming up next.

Camera: Canon Elan 7ne
Lens: Canon EF 100mm 2.8 macro
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To my shame, I have no idea what species this seedhead is. I saw it, dry and brittle, seeds long since dispersed, and immediately collected it for my Karl Blossfeldt-inspired final project in Advanced Traditional Photography. I'll figure it out someday, but I've been so swamped of late that simply admiring it in anonymity will have to suffice for now.

Camera: Canon Elan 7ne
Lens: Canon EF 100mm 2.8 macro
Lisa On Location Photography

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I photographed several insects for my Karl Blossfeldt-inspired final project in advanced traditional photography. Partly this was because Blossfeldt--with the exception of a dragonfly while a student at art academy in Berlin--rarely, if ever, photographed insects. Historically, when old-school film photographers would take macro shots insects, they would kill them first using formaldehyde or alcohol or whatnot, simply to keep them still and manageable as they focused and composed. I don't do that. With digital, it's much easier to take a bunch of environmental photos of insects in short order as they crawl around, enough to ensure getting several keepers. This wasn't always possible and practical in the film era. The photographer gets his or her photo, and the bug goes on its merry way. Except for the sumbitch in the image below. I killed him good in the deep freeze, whilst the rest of his tribe died a quick death via neurotoxin spray. I love bees, despise wasps. So now you know the rest of the story.

Camera: Canon Elan 7ne
Film: Kodak T-Max 400
Lens: Canon 100mm 2.8 macro
Lisa On Location Photography

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