Category Archives: Nature

Rule of Thirds

Posted on February 20, 2015 by | 36 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Another oldie but goodie… The red leaf conforms to the Rule of Thirds, and there is some colorful bokeh in the background—as requested by this week’s Photo Challenge, Rule of Thirds.

The red leaf

36 Comments

Posted in Nature, Photography

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Christmas in February

Posted on February 15, 2015 by | 7 comments

By Johna Till Johnson

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Maggie’s Magic Garden

Last week I did something I’ve been meaning to do for a while: I went to Maggie’s Magic Garden to take a few photos.

Vlad and I had passed this space many times. It’s a community garden, a small, open plot of land surrounded by buildings. As the seasons changed, it provided a lovely glimpse of nature amidst the urban setting.

So I was curious to see what I’d find in midwinter, after the first few snowfalls of the year. I don’t know what  I expected, but it wasn’t what I found: Christmas in February!

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Christmas in February

My favorite part of the Christmas decorations was the homemade creche, with what looked like a bedsheet draping over the figurines. (Also note the angled angel over the manger.)

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Homemade creche

And there were more secular decorations as well…

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Bright candy canes

Alas, I wasn’t able to get into the garden to explore—despite the sign, it was closed when I visited. But it clearly lives up to its description: Magical indeed. I’ll be back there in the spring, to see what magic is afoot then!

7 Comments

Posted in Culture, Nature, New York City, Society

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Valentine’s Day Symmetry

Posted on February 14, 2015 by | 59 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

An oldie but goodie—

Happy Valentine's Day!

A second contribution to this week’s Photo Challenge, Symmetry (the first contribution was here).

And, of course, Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Posted in Nature, Photography

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Symmetry

Posted on February 13, 2015 by | 61 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

These birds have a great sense of translational symmetry—

Symmetry 1Symmetry 2Symmetry 3Symmetry 4

A contribution to this week’s Photo Challenge, Symmetry. A second contribution is here.

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Posted in Nature, Photography

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Details

Posted on February 7, 2015 by | 41 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

In the early spring, crocuses are just details in the bare landscape—

Details 1

and yet, on closer inspection, each flower reveals among its petals a host of insects, each a detailed world of its own—

Details 2
Details 3(more photos are here)

This was in early March 2012, a year in which spring came very early. Let’s hope that, in spite of some groundhogs’ predictions, it comes soon this year too…

A contribution to Ailsa’s travel-themed Photo Challenge, Details, and also a second contribution to The Daily Post’s Photo Challenge, Scale. The first contribution was here.

41 Comments

Posted in Nature, Photography

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Scale

Posted on February 6, 2015 by | 30 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Big fleas have little fleas,
Upon their backs to bite ’em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas,
and so, ad infinitum.

And the great fleas, themselves, in turn
Have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still,
And greater still, and so on.

The Siphonaptera

Scale 1 Scale 2Scale 3

But, big or little, they are all overwhelmed by the incoming tide—

Scale 4

A contribution to this week’s Photo Challenge, Scale.

30 Comments

Posted in Nature, Photography

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Panorama

Posted on February 5, 2015 by | 55 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Adobe Photoshop certainly makes nice panoramas. Here’s a 180-degree panorama of NYC’s frozen Central Park Reservoir, stitched together from 10 individual photos.

Central Park Reservoir panorama

I haven’t posted many panoramas on Wind Against Current, because the results have always seemed unsatisfactory. The panoramas are long and narrow, and so unimpressive when wedged into the 500-pixel width of our page. You can always click on the panorama to expand it (try it on the panorama above), but even so…

How about presenting the panorama this way?

Central Park Reservoir panorama, rotated

All you have to do is rotate your device 90 degrees, and scroll through ;-)

Maybe this will start a trend—but I wouldn’t count on it. :-)

55 Comments

Posted in Nature, New York City, Photography

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NYC’s Magical Snow Day

Posted on January 31, 2015 by | 46 comments

By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Johna Till Johnson and Vladimir Brezina

Johna exploring a snow fort in Central Park (photo by Vlad)

By rights, New York City should still be digging out from the blizzard that was to be “historic, catastrophic”—except that it wasn’t.

The storm was predicted to bury New York in up to thirty inches of snow. In anticipation, the Mayor and the Governor declared a state of emergency, shut down the subway system, and banned all vehicles (including taxis and delivery bicycles) on the grounds that stalled vehicles would impede emergency efforts.

And then the blizzard didn’t happen. True, Long Island got a couple of feet of snow. And coastal New England, including Boston, got hammered.

But here in New York, we awoke to a mere eight inches of snow in Central Park… and a government-mandated, universally observed, snow day.

It was great!

Continue reading →

46 Comments

Posted in Life, Nature, New York City

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Depth

Posted on January 30, 2015 by | 52 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

At the bottom of the depth above—

Depth 1
Depth 2
Depth 3

A contribution to this week’s Photo Challenge, Depth.

52 Comments

Posted in Nature, Photography

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Mischievous

Posted on January 16, 2015 by | 9 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Mischievous? Thieving is more like it.

Everywhere in our travels through the Florida Everglades, we encountered creatures that wanted something from us.

There were the mosquitoes, of course. But there were larger creatures too. The campsite in Fort De Soto Park, at the start of the Everglades Challenge, was infested with raccoons that, as soon as the sun went down, prowled through the camp without fear in search of food.

But the worst were the crows, those famously mischievous birds. Almost everywhere, as soon as our back was turned, there was a crow trying to fly off—sometimes successfully—with that apple or bag of cookies.

Here are some of the crows that laid siege to us as we were repacking our boats in Flamingo—

Expectant crows

And then there are the black vultures of Flamingo,  which—as signs in the parking lot warn—have acquired a distinct taste for the rubber lining around car windows…

A contribution to Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Mischievous.

9 Comments

Posted in Kayaking, Nature, Photography

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