Last month we had just about 2 feet of snow in Bethesda. I had a wonderful time walking around the neighborhood taking photos of the snow on the plants and bushes. Most of my neighbors thought I was pretty crazy – to be spending time walking around taking pictures when I could have been inside staying warm. It was so beautiful and peaceful seeing the snow – even if was a little cold.

I posted some photos of berries in the snow a couple of weeks ago. Here are a few of my other photos from that weekend.

Even in December there are usually a few flowers still blooming – so photographing them covered in snow was at treat.

First – one of the camellias down the street

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

A few wild asters near the pond

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

And the remains of a few purple coneflowers in my garden.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

The trees were just as wonderful as the flowers were. Here’s some snow coming down past a few yellow leaves on a tree.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Creating patterns as it piled up on the bark of a tree

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

And finally on some of the evergreen trees in the neighborhood

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

As wonderful as the photo opportunities were for Snowpocalypse 2009 – I’m kind of hoping it’s the only big storm we get this winter. It wasn’t much fun shoveling the driveway – and I still haven’t gotten my van out of the driveway since the storm!

Posted in Photo Locations Tagged: aster, camellia, coneflower, evergreen, flower, photo, snow, tree

Cherry Parfait Rose (c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I’ve just added a new photo – Cherry Parfait Rose – to my Beautifulflowerpictures.com website.  Cherry Parfait roses are a Grandiflora rose known for their red and white petals with dark green leaves. In many areas they bloom all summer long.   I photographed this Cherry Parfait Rose at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Virginia last year.

This photograph is available as a 10X10″ gallery-wrapped canvas.  You can order Cherry Parfait Rose from my website and I will have it available at shows this year.

Posted in Flowers, New Photos Tagged: cherry parfait, flower, photo, photograph, rose

Last month while Bill and I were in New Mexico we had the chance to photograph an incredible sunrise at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro. This was one of locations we photographed at as part of Alain and Natalie Briot’s Bosque del Apache and White Sands workshop.

Our first morning at Bosque was December 5 – and the only way to describe the weather was freezing cold. It was something like 12 degrees – before the wind chill. Fortunately, we had packed our heavy winter coats, long underwear, gloves and hats for the trip. We’d also stopped off at a local store to pick up some hand an feet warmers. Even with all this preparation – it was freezing cold standing outside for a couple of hours for sunrise.

But it was worth it. This sunrise at Bosque was one of the most beautiful sunrises I saw in 2009. The sky was an everchanging array of colors and clouds. The marsh was frozen. The best way to describe it was a contrast of fire in the sky – and ice on the ground. All morning – the colors in the sky were reflected on the ice.

We were photographing from an overlook known as the Flight Deck. This location is very popular with people who are visiting Bosque to see the birds. Each night – thousands of birds overnight in the ponds and marshes of the refuge. Many of the geese and cranes spend the nights near the Flight Deck. So in the morning  just before dawn, there is an incredible moment when thousands of birds take off, circle around the sky, and head off to spend the day foraging for food. We were fortuate enough to see this the morning we were at the Flight Deck.

As the sun’s rays began to peek above the horizon, the light reflected off the clouds making the sky look like it was on fire.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

When the snow geese took flight – they filled the air. Seeing the huge group of the flying was incredible. I’d heard how wonderful it was to see the birds take flight from the marsh at Bosque, but until I saw it in person – I had no idea how magnificent it could be.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

As the sun continued to rise – the clouds higher in the sky took on amazing shades of pink.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

When I realized how beautiful the entire sky was lighting up, I turned and looked 180 degrees away from where the sun was coming up. The opposite was bathed in a beautiful golden light – with pale pink clouds in the sky

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

And finally, some of the marsh grasses frozen in the ice. One of the amazing aspects of the morning was how the colors in the sky were reflected in the ice.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

Once the sun was up – we headed back into town for breakfast. Everyone drank lots of coffee or tea as we attempted to warm up. I have no idea when I’ll next get back to Bosque del Apache, but I know I will head back there one day and I can only hope to see another sunrise as magnificent as the one I saw in December 2009.

Posted in New Mexico, Photo Locations Tagged: bosque del apache, national wildlife refuge, New Mexico, sunrise

White Calla Lily (c) 2010 Patty Hankins

White Calla Lily is the January 2010 BeautifulFlowerPictures.com Photo of Month.  This is a brand new photo – never available before. I’m introducing at the special Photo of Month price of 20% off the regular price.

I’ve been looking for just the right white calla lily (Zantedeschia) photograph to offer on canvas for several months now. I’ve photographed many different ones, but it wasn’t until I photographed this one at the Rio Grande Botanical Garden in Albuquerque, New Mexico last month, that I had a photograph of  a white calla lily that I was happy with. This was an absolutely beautiful flower backed by a one of the large green calla lily leaves.

Until January 31, 2010,  SAVE 20% off the regular prices for White Calla Lily. The photograph is available in two sizes of gallery-wrapped canvases.

Save $ 20 on the 12X15″ Canvas – regular price $ 100 – January Photo of the Month Price – $ 80.00

Save $ $ 73 on the 20X26″ Canvas – regular price $ 365 – January Photo of the Month Price – $ 292.00

Free shipping to U.S. Addresses for either size photograph.

As with all photographs from BeautifulFlowerPictures.com, White Calla Lily comes with my Unconditional Happiness Guarantee. You have one year to decide that it is the perfect photograph for you. If it’s not, just return it (in original condition) for a full refund.

Posted in Flowers, New Photos, Photo of the Month Tagged: calla lily, flower, photo, photograph, zantedeschia

B lack Eyed Susans III (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Happy New Year!

I’d like to wish all of my readers a Happy and Wonderful 2010! I”m going to be making some changes to my Friday links posts, starting this week. I’ve realized that as I’m spending the majority of my time photographing flowers, I’m discovering more and more wonderful resources on the web about flowers, gardening, environmental issues, and our National Parks and Wildlife Refuges. I’ve been sharing them on Twitter and Facebook, and will be adding some of them into my weekly links posts as well. I”ll still be sharing the photography links I find as well.  I hope you find the additional sections of links interesting and helpful

Patty

Photography Link

Scott Wyden has a post on Photographer Facebook Tips.

Adorama has information about Fuji’s decision to discontinue Quickload films

Digital Photography School has 4 Practice Techniques to Develop Photographic Observation and Tips on Early Morning Photography

Photobusiness News & Forum has Privacy Rights, Cellphone Searches and Photographers

Jeff Revell at PhotoWalkPro has When Should You White Balance

Jim Goldstein has 10 Social Media Predictions for 2010 and 10 Photography Predictions for 2010

Gardening Links

State by State Gardening has all sorts of state specific gardening information.

The Christian Science Monitor had These Native Plants Attract Birds to Your Winter Garden and Red and Green in the Garden

National Parks

National Parks Traveler has What We’d Like to See Across the National Parks in 2010

Posted in On the Web Tagged: garden, links, national parks, photography