2014 Crocus
Craven,
Friday, May 9 2014
Images by Ken Jones
Craven,
Friday, May 9 2014
Images by Ken Jones
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Every year since 2003 Ensign has celebrated spring with pictures of crocus flowers taken by Ken Jones, a Regina photographer, captured in the Qu’ Appelle Valley near Craven. Some years this happens much earlier than others and this year, similar to last year it is really quite late. From year to year we have seen how the crop of flowers develops and this year is distinguished by the solitary nature of each blossom. The usual formation of the flowers is in bunches but this year it looks like one individual then another. In this picture (above) of the hillside there is little by way of grass as there had been fresh snow only days before these pictures were taken on May first.
Ken is never satisfied with the challenges of getting a good picture and spends countless hours figuring out the right time to be on the scene and get just the right light he wants. He uses a Canon 7D DSRL camera with some excellent lens combinat-ions to get the image that he wants to see. In this case Ken wants to see the
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flower and its stem but also the etherial wispy filaments that with the right light give the flower and its stem the halo effect that he has captured in the images on this page.
Like so many things in life the photographer is always striving to push back his or her personal frontier. In 2005 I remember Ken Jones being so excited with being able to capture the ball during a softball game as it was hurled from the pitchers mound to the plate. Once he had that mastered he was able to repeat the trick at will and show other photographers how to do the same. In a discussion the other day he is considering how to capture a bullet in a shape shooting competition and I am confident he will master that as well.
I am not a fan of what is referred to as “macro photography” which essentially is using the extreme capabilities of the lens and the camera’s technology to capture very small things that are rarely noticeable to the naked eye. But
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I especially like Ken’s discovery of field recycling as three blossoms are making use of something a generous cow had left behind.
The last picture on the page was included because it really says it all about the spring of 2014. Not only have humans and the wildlife struggled with a long harsh winter but so have the trees and plants of all kinds. This image illustrates that ongoing struggle with ice forming over the twig of a tree determined to develop leaves for this year.
It was remarkable to notice on Sunday as we drove from Tisdale to Regina to see how so few of the ponds, dug outs and sloughs are free of winter’s ice. West of Moose Jaw
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there are no traces of the winter’s ice but here in the Lethbridge area of southern Alberta, even though the snow and ice have long departed and the trees are indeed leafing out,farmers can not get out in their wet fields to begin planting for this crop year.
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