Wintertime Close-ups

On a cold, gray winter morning with the feel of snow in the air I walked in the Big Woods. For those of us who enjoy taking photographs of small things like insects and flowers, winter doesn’t offer many opportunities.

I take pleasure in making what are called macro photos and close-ups so, in spite of the season, there I was, camera in hand, on the search for small things.

The first opportunity the day presented was a fallen tree with beetle galleries that had been exposed when the tree lost its bark –

Then there were leaves frozen in ice: first a beech, then a maple leaf –

In a small stream running water and ice made intriguing abstract patterns –

And then there were the puddles in the old road and the air bubbles trapped in the puddles’ ice –

The day’s final photo was of an old larch cone upon which grew at least two species of lichen –

There were a lot more small things to photograph, but lunch in the form of a bowl of warm soup beckoned. Snow was beginning to fall as I headed out of the Big Woods.

There’s always something to see in forest and field, even on a bleak day in mid-winter.