Along the river bank

Teasel - Shenandoah River State Park 

Common names for Teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris) include card teasel, gypsy combs, church-broom, clothier's-brush, shepherd's-thistle and venus-cup. Teasel is native to Eurasia and north Africa, and probably came to North America with early settlers. The seed-head is not only ornamental, but was used to card wool and make mohair fabric both in the home and in textile factories.

Teasel seeds float, propagating along streams and rivers throughout North America, which explains the abundance of teasel along the banks of the Shenandoah River, where these specimens were photographed.

Autumn Ferns

Greene County, Virginia

A couple of weeks ago I was in the woods looking at the autumn colors. In the trees the leaves were turning and the woods were beautiful. On the forest floor, weed and bush glowed in the late afternoon sunlight.

Early Autumn #1

Greene County, Virginia 

Last Friday morning, I went down to the small tract of woods by the lake to see how things looked as Autumn comes on. After several days of steady rain, the morning air was damp. The ground was soaked but it wasn't raining so I was happy for a chance to get out with the camera. Here in central Virginia, the leaves are just starting to turn. A few wildflowers are still in bloom and mushrooms and fungi, encouraged by the wet conditions, dotted the forest floor.

After lunch, the rain started again, and it rained all night.

Wild grass

Greene County, Virginia 

This photo was taken with the new Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC OS MACRO lens that I have been working with over the past couple of weeks. My "testing" of this lens consists of simply taking pictures and examining the results. There are plenty of places on the internet that test and report on lenses in great technical detail with resolution figures and MTF charts and such, but I am mostly interested in how the pictures look. This photo is a good example of what I consider to be very pleasing rendering of out of focus areas. This is the first lens made by Sigma that I have owned, and so far I am quite happy.

The wild grass pictured here is very common in this area, but I have not been able to identify it. It might be Purpletop (Tridens flavus) but I am not sure. Anyone know what this is called?

Thanks for reading Photography In Place. Have a great weekend.

Update: A couple of readers have informed me that this is Johnson Grass (Sorghum halepense)

Grand Gulf Military Park - Meadow

Claiborne County, Mississippi 

It was a hot and humid morning when I left Vicksburg and took Highway 61 south towards Port Gibson. My plan was to spend a couple of hours at Grand Gulf Military Park, then spend the rest of the day taking pictures in Port Gibson. At lunch time, I was still at Grand Gulf and nowhere near being done. It was after four o'clock before I finished—Port Gibson would have to wait.

Across from the park entrance there is an open field, full of colorful weeds and wildflowers that had caught my eye when I was driving in. I walked over to take some pictures. When I was done I packed the camera in the car and then stopped in the visitor center/museum to say goodbye. "We've been watching you across the road. What on earth were you taking pictures of in that field?"

"The colors over there are quite beautiful," I said.

"You should have been here last week. The colors were really something then."

Saturday Morning - Overgrown

We have been traveling this spring. When we left in April, the dogwoods were starting to bloom, the redbud trees were illuminated with small red blossoms, and the grass was just starting to come up. After three weeks away, we returned to find we had missed a big part of spring. The dogwood and redbud blooms were gone and lush green had replaced the delicate greens and muted russet of early spring

And the grass was knee-high. Several varieties of weeds had flourished during the three weeks without being mowed, and there were bright wild flowers scattered about the overgrown yard—wild flowers that we normally do not see because they are mowed down before they are able to bloom.

It rained for a couple of days after we got back, but I was finally able to mow at the end of the week and the yard is once again neat. The weeds are gone except for a few bright flowering clumps that I mowed around just to enjoy a while longer. After all, neatness isn't everything.

August - Joe Pye

Greene County, Virginia 

August - Mallow

Greene County, Virginia 

This coming Sunday is Third Sunday, and we will have a picture of the Elkton Presbyterian Church in Elkton, Virginia which is in the Shenandoah Valley. Thanks for reading Photography in Place.

August - Morning Dew

Greene County, Virginia 

August - Weeds

Greene County, Virginia