Whenever I visit the Blue Ridge Parkway, I make frequent stops to explore the woods away from the roadway. That's how I found this Indian Pipe. (Click on photo to enlarge.) Often mistaken for a fungus because it has no chlorophyll, Indian Pipe is actually a member of the blueberry family. It is found in dense woods with moist soil made rich by lots of decaying leaf litter. You won't see anything like this from the road; you have to get out of your vehicle and explore!This plant only gets to be about four inches tall, which would normally require laying on the ground to photograph it at an angle like this. Fortunately, this one was growing on a rather steep bank which allowed me to set up my tripod below it. I only had to squat down to peer through the viewfinder instead of laying on the moist ground. Even though I didn't have to lay on the ground for this shot, an articulated LCD screen and live view like on the new Olympus E-620 would still make setting up the shot so much easier. Maybe one day.
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What happened?
It seems that only about 5,000 people showed up outside the Staples Center for Michael Jackson's memorial service, not the zillions that was forecast. Did the hype finally reach saturation level?
3 comments:
Really nice shot, John. I've never seen nor heard of these.
The latest digital cameras are starting to have abilities I once would have thought to be pure magic. CMOS sensors with amazing low light images is my favorite new thing. Hope you get that Olympus soon.
I just couldn't believe they really expected 3/4 of a million people to stand outside Staples Center for the M.M. memorial. Heck, I didn't want to believe it. Didn't happen.
What an interesting plant this is! Like JAM,I've never seen or heard of these; they make a beautiful photo.
As for the M.J. memorial and it's low attendance, I would think the hard economic times have many thinking twice about what, where, how and when they spend their money these days. As was recently pointed out to me, M.J. entertained while there are American soldiers who stand in harm's way, many who have died, so that we can have the freedom's we enjoy. Do we as a nation grieve for these fallen ones with the same fervor that this country as a whole grieve for a lost entertainer popular and well loved though he/she may be? Hmmm...
I never saw anything like this plant before and I find it fascinating that it belongs to the blueberry family.
Too much pomp for MJ. Theresa's point about the incongruiety of the fallen average person and the celeb. I guess the city got the point across. Stay home...It only cost 1.5 million to stage it. Whose going to pay? Probably us CA taxpayers. I think they should write an IOU like all the other payments going out from the capitol.
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