The Snowiest Winter

It has been the snowiest winter here in my part of Indiana. The snow is beautiful but it has been accompanied by brutal cold this winter. They called it the Polar Vortex-- I call it challenging. We have had over 50 inches so far! I must say I am looking forward to spring. Today was the warmest day in a long time-- 50 some degrees! It felt wonderful! 
To commemorate this winter, I will share some of the scenes I captured-- this too shall pass and cycle continues!

"To us snow and cold seem a mere delaying of the spring. How far we are from understanding the value of these things in the economy of Nature!"  -- Henry David Thoreau (Journal -March 8, 1859: Vol.XII)

A Return-- Photographic Study of American Lotus Leaves

I have been absent from my blog for quite some time now. Most recently I have been photographing American Lotus plants at a local pond. I appreciate the owners generosity in allowing me access to this site.
One of the many things I enjoy when photographing is finding a subject and photographing the details of my subject-- seeing it from different perspectives, angles, light, shapes, and parts. Enjoy these images of this marvelous (although prolific) plant of shallow waters. In this study I am sharing images of the leaves/pads. Perhaps more later . . . of flowers & pollinators!

Curling American Lotus Leaf & Reflection

Lotus Leaf & Damselflies

Patterns in Lotus Leaf

"The Maker of this earth but patented a leaf."-- Henry David Thoreau

Pine Trees--Free From Blame

PINE TREE GROVE

I love to saunter through a pine tree grove. The deep needle bed below my feet in inviting. It beckons me to come lie below the arching drapes of green branches as the earth cushions me. The rush of wind through the needles wraps itself around me and I feel comforted. All is well as I melt into Nature. 

Joni L. James Photography/HeronWatch Nature Programs

Nothing stands up more free from blame in this world than a pine tree.

-- Henry David Thoreau

Beauty of Tree Tops

Joni L. James/HeronWatch Nature Programs

                    Nothing is so beautiful as the tree tops.
                                 -- Henry David Thoreau

One Leaf: Forever Go In Search Of Myself

Let me forever go in search of myself--never for a moment think that I have found myself--be as a stranger to myself, never a familiar, seeking acquaintance still.
                                             -- Henry David Thoreau ( July 16, 1851--Journal Vol.3, p. 312)

One Leaf--Search for Myself

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Rainbow

“The true harvest of my life is intangible - a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched”

-- Henry David Thoreau

Double Rainbow                                                                                                                                                     Joni L. James

The Light I Seek

The Light I Seek

The Light I seek.

     Is that not the journey?
The Light. 

Light that seeks to erase the dark?

 Light that splits open the night?

                                                           
                                                         It bursts upon my landscape. 

                                                                It is the primal dawn.

                                                  Sweet Light flows within and without

It  illuminates.

   It spreads its rays in an atmospheric dance

To reveal that which I can not see.

It is the Revealer.

I awaken.

Wash over me

Illumine me

Until I am the dawn breaking.

--Joni James 

"Let nothing come between you and the light."

-- Henry David Thoreau

If a Man Walk in the Woods . . .

If a man walk in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.

--- Henry David Thoreau (Life Without Principle)

Luminous Full Moon

A luminous moon rising tonight.

Moon Rising                                                                          © Joni L. James

Many men walk by day, few walk by night. It is a very different season.

--Henry David Thoreau

Solitude

SOLITUDE

                                                                                                   ©Joni L. James

"I have lately got back to that glorious society called solitude."-- Thoreau