Bumbling Around
Bumblebees are one of those things I take photos of whenever I can, because it’s quite hard to keep them in focus more often than not.
Do You Remember Summer?
A lovely shot taken from a viewpoint along a hiking trail of a river near Annapolis, Maryland, USA. The leaves framed the shot perfectly, I quite literally walked into it.
Stark Absence
I feel like this one should be in a movie somewhere. Ironically, this was taken right down the street from the gorgeous houses with flowers everywhere that I usually walk past.
Melted in Time
Playing around with shutter speeds and water has become a bit of a fascination of mine; it’s amazing how different something can look whether it’s in motion or not. This particular image is an extremely high shutter speed photo of a waterfall.
The Wallflower
I nearly put my camera away before spotting this one. I never know what sort of photos I’m going to find when you’re out walking, so it’s important to keep my head on a swivel and my mind open.
Half and Half
Occasionally in older cities near me, you’ll find these brick townhouses that have been sold off to people who seem to have completely contrasting ideas of what the place should look like. I think it looks better like this.
Every Frame a Painting 2
The sheer variety you can get from looking at the skies during sunrise on different days is incredible, in my opinion.
Black on Yellow
It’s very entertaining to watch bumblebees meander from flower to flower; sometimes I’ll just follow them around to see which flowers they pick.
River of Clouds
A long-exposure shot I took while wading through rapids I wasn’t supposed to be wading through. I came very close to falling and hitting my head on rocks several times.
Blue Heron
I took this image right as I was packing up after a trip to photograph some a river in the area; this heron honked at me and flew down near me to get his dinner. Sometimes, the photos come to you.
Dreamscape
A photo taken in a park in Dublin while I hadn’t slept in about 20 hours, leaning over a railing looking at a rather scummy marsh. The odd perspective and leaning plants make it feel almost surreal.
Somewhere Between
A photo taken at Glendalough, Ireland. You can see one of the lakes in the area, but I was more focused on the clouds and the mountains. The two ladies standing there were unwitting subjects, but I think they add a lot.
Morning Glory
You don’t have to go far to get good pictures; I took this one while I was eating breakfast.
Old Coat of Paint
I think this is one of the few photos I’ve taken where I specifically waited for people to be in the frame; normally I avoid people in my photos like the plague.
Golden Lily
Another photo taken from my mother’s garden. She keeps such a wide variety of flowers in the garden that there’s something different popping up every time I look.
Birdhouse
A birdhouse that’s hung outside my parents’ house for ages. I don’t even remember when the bottom broke out.
Moss Study
I always find moss interesting to look at; there’s so many intricate little patterns and textures. It lends itself well to seeing how light bounces off of it.
Walk the Line
Black and white photography really does feel different once you get an eye for it. In color this shot feels wholly uninteresting to me, but here the sharp contrasts really make it stand out.
Wasting Daylight
The only shot from a whole hike’s worth of shots that I was happy with, and even then only after edits. I learned a lesson about how well black and white photography deals with high-contrast shots.
Flowers 4
These are some flowers from my mother’s garden, actually. She couldn’t remember the name, but we both appreciated how delicate the flowers looked.
Flowers 3
It’s strange how an odd angle of a simple flower bush from a local neighborhood can add so much depth to an image. I appreciate the surreal nature the flowers in the background lend.
Puff and Prim
Skellig Michael is an island off the coast of Ireland, entirely filled with puffins. They’re quite used to the visitors, though.
Every Frame a Painting
One of the benefits of getting up early for work is getting to enjoy the gorgeous early morning skies.
Sunset Stairway
One of my rare excursions walking around a city for the sole purpose of taking pictures. I tend to stay away from golden hour photography but this one felt right.
Wood Falls Like Water
This photo is as much about the framing as it is about the waterfall itself; while the waterfall itself is gorgeous, the rocks and trees around it with the light filtering through the trees really elevates this one in my eyes.
Just Another House
I appreciated how starkly red this door was on this otherwise plain stretch of village road in Enniskerry, Ireland. Didn’t spend much time thinking, just snapped the photo, and it turned into one I really liked.
Touched by the Light
This photo was taken about an hour before sunset in the late spring, laying down on the ground and squinting into the viewfinder.
The Silent Tower
Sometimes a change in perspective is all it takes to find some really interesting photos. This is just a lamppost in the middle of a town.
Rolling Into the Past
My father’s coworker has a son who brought this lovely old Plymouth up to show off unexpectedly, and I had to take a few pictures.
Vastness and Solitude
It’s interesting how often you can find striking images by just zooming in on small objects: this particular flower was no larger than my pinky nail.
Grace Under Pressure
It felt a bit out of place to see wilting flowers in the Irish National Botanical Gardens, but this one was beautiful all the same.
Grim Beauty
A gravesite in Glendalough, Ireland; an ancient monastic settlement which was wiped out ages ago, settled in a wonderful valley.
Small Falls
A tiny little spot, only an inch or so wide, between two rocks on a much wider river. The day I took this one was hot and miserable, so it was nice to sit and just appreciate the water for a while.
Red Raindrops
Yet another sleep-deprived photo of completely random flowers overhanging someone’s garden wall in Dublin. Maybe I work better in those conditions.
Reminisce
Occasionally you take a photo that just strikes an emotional chord. This photo makes me think about people and times that never happened, years before I was born.
Just Another House 2
Sometimes you just snap a photo and it turns out right. I didn’t put a ton of thought into this shot, but when I went back to look at it, I loved the composition.
Castles Made of Sand
This was one of those shots I took and didn’t even think about much until much later on. The beach feels much more forlorn than it actually was.
Ave, Avis!
Yet another heron that walked right up to me, maybe withing 5 feet, while I sat still snapping pictures. They’re gorgeous birds.
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This work © 2024 by David Bolen is marked with CC0 1.0 Universal