Blow away Dandelions — Photoblog

As I cast my gaze on stubborn yellow dandelion, Rolling stones hit number ‘Dandelions’ started playing on my mind.

“One o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock, four o’clock chimes
Dandelion don’t care about the time
Dandelion don’t tell no lies
Dandelion will make you wise. Tell me if she laughs or cries
Blow away dandelion. Blow away dandelion”

I tried my best to capture the beauty of this neglected weed in my camera. Few of these macro shots are shared below for your comment and consideration.

Dandelions have come to my awareness first when I had emigrated to Canada. The bed of yellow flowers spread across the fields were the first welcome sign of the spring. It had a mesmerizing effect on me; but much to my chagrin, I came to know later that these beautiful flowers are considered to be weeds and millions of dollars are invested in order to remove these weeds from the lawns. Weeds ?? I don’t care. When I tried doing the online research on this so-called weeds, I came to know about a lot of eye-opening facts.

This is my first macro shot of Dandelion. The geometrical arrangement of dry fluffy petals was captivating. The scientific name of dandelion is Taraxacum officinale. After pollination and flowering is finished, the dandelion flower dries out for a day or two and then the seed-bearing parachutes expand and lift out of the dried flower head. The dried part of the flower drops off and the parachute ball opens into a full sphere. It’s also known as Dandelion clock at this stage.

 

 

This macro shot was clicked at sunset in very low light. I never expected it to come out like that.  It gives the illusion of fireworks in the sky. Amazing, how an unwanted weed can have so much of  beauty in its composition.

 

 

This is another close-up shot of dandelion taken in the afternoon when sun was in its full glory. The core of Dandelion contains many single-seeded fruits called achene. Each achene is attached to a pappus of fine hairs, which enable wind-aided dispersal over long distances. These pappus act like a parachute to carry the seeds.

 

 

 

Here’s the core of ‘Dandelion clock’. This shot was taken when wind was gushing at 30 km/hr. It took me several of these macro shots and  a lot of patience. The swaying Dandelions were hard to focus especially when you are taking macro shots.

 

 

Light gives different facets to macro photography, so I decided to experiment with flash  in the night. To tell you the truth, I’m satisfied with the outcome. Flash-macro photography has given a new dimension to the shape of dandelion.

 

 

Is it a giant ferris wheel ?? It gives the illusion of ferris wheels with multiple passenger cars in all directions. This macro shot of dandelion was taken at sunset against the sun.

 

Here’s another macro shot of dandelion taken at night with the help of flash. This time , the shot was taken from the low angle to capture the stem of dandelion against the fabric of darkest night.  

 My passion for the photography and dandelions will explore another dimension of macro photography next spring and I’d definitely like to share the outcome with you then. In the meantime you may like to go through my other photo blogs on seagull and forks.