NikonGear'23
Travelogues => Travel Diaries => Topic started by: Bjørn Rørslett on August 27, 2015, 10:42:30
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Just an opening post to remind people, myself included, that I'm leaving Norway right now and will be heading far down south. Hopefully Elsa finds me at the airport of Cape Town some time tomorrow.
Don't dance on the tables in my absence though - I'm promised wi-fi access in the days to come :D Besides, the remainder of the Team will be on patrol.
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Safe journy and to both of you; Have fun ;D
Looking forward to see some of the images...
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I want to see a picture of a South African garden with a bear in 8)
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From my own experience wifi is awfully slow in ZA.
Beautiful country, though.
And excellent wine.
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I want to see the bear with a bear in Elsa's garden.
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WI-Fi has just been CANCELLED :P :P :P
Looking forward to having my own NG get together - with Richard Adcock and Bjørn.
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I may just get reckless and leave the family all on their own and join you guys for a glass of wine ;D
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Adcock? Never heared that name
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Have a safe trip Bjørn. I hope all of you have a great time and really look forward to the pictures.
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SAA South African Airways did their best to kill me with awful poor aircondition and elevated stuffy and hot atmosphere on their flights. Resulted in two in-flight asthma attacks, the last a really bad one one precipated by rushing me to a connecting flight for which the flight interval was too short.
Elsa found me at last at Cape Town International in a slightly ragged state. So I'm here.
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Poor old bear. Hope Elsa will bring you to your feet again.
Funny I just read that Ann Shelbourne is in the arrival too at ZA
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I am certain Elsa is an elixir :)
Take care!
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The FZ crowd is in a different part of the country. No problem as far as I'm concerned.
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That doesn't sound too pleasant, hopefully the rest of the trip will be much better :)
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I may just get reckless and leave the family all on their own and join you guys for a glass of wine ;D
Vinnige Fanie, vat my saam!
Sorry guys, but above comment only works in the language it was written in, and with the inclusion of some local history, and will lose everything in translation, so I will not even try.
But also it is tongue in check, and has no relevance to anything, so anybody who doesn't understand it is also not really missing anything.
Bjorn, I hope you really enjoy your visit, unfortunately the weather in cape town seems to be typically useless right now. A friend of mine says the Cape weather is just like a baby. if it is not wet, it is windy. Perhaps you should have stopped here in Johannesburg, where we are currently in the middle of summer (almost). But then, the wine is served better down there.
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Elsa and I are going on well enough and her garden provided some test objects. I am running on minimal sleep for 40 hours now so creativity is at an all time low. The follwing were just to ensure my newly cleaned Df really was clean .... Lots of chat and wine and bed time is imminent.
(Df with Elsa's 135/2 DC and my own APO 125/2.5)
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Today: towards Cape Point to learn the lie of the land and the physiognomy of the Cape vegetation and landscape.
Loads of stuff to process are remaining of course, but some snaps bring evidence about my current location.
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Very nice poetic renderings
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Symbolic and colorful. Is spring already starting there ?
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Early spring, yes. More and more flowers are coming into full bloom.
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your photos are so gentle and romantic :)
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Nothing to beat the warm and sunny African climate ... Elsa and Richard A propelled me to a Fynbos exhibition at Bredasdorp. We had an entertaining albeit damp experience at the floral show. The AW1 came in handy on the occasion.
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your photos are so gentle and romantic :)
You are describing me so well :) (NOT THE PHOTOS! )
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your photos are so gentle and romantic :)
You are describing me so well :) (NOT THE PHOTOS! )
You sure do know how to read between lines, my dear :)
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You two... ::)
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if you bring the aw1 it certainly will rain :)
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Fons, as a weather man you predict 100% :D
This is my "Nikon - at the heart of the image" image (Nikon SA at Cape Town). Could equally well be labelled 'Inside out'.
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Elsa directed me to the mandatory CUM shot .....
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Erotic literature. Explicit version?
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Elsa directed me to the mandatory CUM shot .....
Hahahaha, a dirty mind is a joy forever :)
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Elsa directed me to the mandatory CUM shot .....
Hahahaha, a dirty mind is a joy forever :)
he is lying!! His mind was in the gutter - I had to keep my pose! :P
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:) the cum store has bible stories books
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Elsa directed me to the mandatory CUM shot .....
Hahahaha, a dirty mind is a joy forever :)
he is lying!! His mind was in the gutter - I had to keep my pose! :P
Yup, that's something a gentle and romantic person is supposed to do. :P
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Did Richard Adcock join the party?
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Certainly did.
Photos courtesy Elsa Hoffmann. She captured us shooting in the fynbos at Olifantbos and surroundings.
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What gear are you using Bjørn , i see some off-cam marked uv flash for instance.
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Nikon D3200 (internal Baader U "Venus" filter) with the Coastal Optics 60 mm f/4, SB-140 flash for hand-held UV work in the field. A Nikon Df with the 125/2.5 APO-Lanthar is seen on the ground. This is for the visible reference shots.
I use the shorter Coastal lens on this DX camera mainly to match (roughly) the field of view of the FX reference camera with a 105 or 125 lens.
In the last shot showing me with Richard, I'm using a broad-spectrum D600 and the UV-Nikkor 105/4.5 lens.
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Perhaps it would be even funnier if you know that that particular chain of stores sells religious literature...
:)
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That's a typical Bjørn R pose - low on the ground photographing flowers :)
Here he is capturing the Polemonium boreale, a plant that in Norway is found only in the north-east corner on a graveyard in a small, remote fishing-village far north in Norway.
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Coastal fynbos community.
(200/2 + Df)
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Sea view at Green Point. Western Cape Province.
Df + 35/1.4
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That's a typical Bjørn R pose - low on the ground photographing flowers :)
Here he is capturing the Polemonium boreale, a plant that in Norway is found only in the north-east corner on a graveyard in a small, remote fishing-village far north in Norway.
I wonder the purpose of the pop-up flash in this case...
Is the "Coastal fynbos community" a double-exposure image?
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Akira: a pop-up flash sometimes can be useful for close-ups to provide a little addtional 'bite', in particular if one is shooting backlit subjects.
The coastal fynbos image was created with the 200/2, a lens eminently suited for multiple exposures.
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Bjørn, thanks for the tip and the disclosure of the shooting info. I just wonder if the pop up flash could light the subject (even just as an additional effect) properly from such a vivinity for the AOV of 90mm equivalent lens. I'm going to experiment with that for myself.
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Local fishermen at Hout Bay. Boats had massive double 150 Hp outboard engines, went far off shore, and nobody apperently cared for any safety measures so each vessel was overcroweded and no life vests etc. They catch 'snoek', a large mackereel-like fish that is very popular in this part of the world.
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Hmmm...so, they should be Fierce Bears of the South?
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No bears down here I'm told.
A "selfie" of Elsa. After missing a step and falling hard so as to nearly break her 24-70, she sees the world in different colours :D
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Elsa is soooo sexy!
Especially when bruised :)
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Elsa is soooo sexy!
Especially when bruised :)
love you too Jakov :)
Bjørn would love Durban though - which is Banana country.... you should see him and a pack of Bananas....
Next time I send him there.
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Elsa is soooo sexy!
Especially when bruised :)
love you too Jakov :)
Bjørn would love Durban though - which is Banana country.... you should see him and a pack of Bananas....
Next time I send him there.
It's best to avoid Durban......
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It's best to avoid Durban......
Exactly, been there and done that ;)
The first NG safari started in Durban in 2009, this is also where I met with Jakov, Erik and BjørnR for the first time not knowing that 6 years later our host would force the four of us to revive the community that brought us and many other NG members together, funny how things turn out...
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There is a Darwinian irony at play here.
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May I propose an NG-Revival Anthem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=909d0RLCL7k
This stylish funky jazz tune from the 70s is giving us vision :)
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Bjørn, thank you for joining Loretta and I for supper on Tuesday evening.
It was a pleasure meeting you and I look forward to hearing more about your trip to SA.
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Thanks, Hilton. I enjoyed the evening very much.
The following day, we went north and found about one googleplex of colours in any colour you can imagine. Sensory overload and headaches were imminent. Sunburn was inevitable.
I protected myself s much as possible by following my initial plan of recording the UV signature of as many species as possible. Now, "all" that remains is identifying them.
As usual, not everything went according to schedule and some things either were lost or recovered by miracles. Unfortunately, my usual UV workhorse lens for the D3200 decided it was time to enable a will of its own and promptly ceased to focus. I had brought the UV-Nikkor 105 as a backup (mainly for the D600 though) plus thankfully had the PN-11 extension tubefor it, so could proceed shooting fairly unimpeded. Then my new 300 PF E Nikkor decided to be capricious and jammed solid on the D800 - impossible to unmount the lens. Oh well. I continued with the 200/2 AFS and the Df. Against all usual expectations, the APO-Lanthar 125/2.5 behaved well on this trip and will not require Erik's attention later.
Although I mainly shot UV flowers up close, I added the occasional UV flower meadow shot done with the 18/4 Nikkor as well. Here is a blue-and-yellow mixture of Senecio and Felicia species set against an old farm house.
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Bjørn, I sincerely love the UV meadow!
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The traditional 'BIF' (Bird In Flowers), D800 with the 300 PF taken while the lens worked ....
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Lovely flowers and a great BIF ;) Is it family of the Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba)?
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i like that uv flowershot with the 18mm,
btw on the fishermen post
snoek is Dutch for pike.
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John G: no idea of the identity of that bird - it just encroached on my framing immediately before I snapped the release ...
However, this is a flower and a species of the genus Ixia, one of those numerous genera in Africa representing the Iris Family. Probably endemic to the regions like most of them are.
Very low light levels in the morning in conjunction with wind made for the "soft look" type of floral shots. Pretty but not very useful as a visible-light reference for my UV captures. Thus I redid the Ixia under more controlled conditions later.
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I like the Ixia. Very painterly quality to it and pleasent color scape.
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I did shoot a lot of flower meadows on this trip, despite my main focus (sic) being set to close-ups in UV/visible for a wide range of species. After all, these meadows are colour fireworks of great visual impact. However, most of the footage is intended for stacking and thus has to wait for their processing until I returm home and can put the files through stacking software (I forgot to load Zererene and Helicon on the small laptop I brought for the trip, and PtGui (which is present) won't suffice for such tasks).
Meanwhile, I have to make do with a few ordinary 'pretty in pink' impressions. D800 with 200/2 or 300PF (as long as this lens lasted).
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Sorry to hear about the lens issues! But it looks like you still enjoy your journey ;)
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Elsa [Hoffmann] and Richard [Adcock] were great and friendly company on the trip and I seriously doubt I could have managed even a fraction of the captures without their help, directly or indirectly.
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Elsa [Hoffmann] and Richard [Adcock] were great and friendly company on the trip and I seriously doubt I could have managed even a fraction of the captures without their help, directly or indirectly.
oh my contribution was small - Coffee and Bananas. and more of the same.
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Beautiful photos Bjorn!
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Jonathan at Nikon Cape Town saved the day by a speedy fix of the 300 PF that had become inoperably stuck to the D800 body. One of the screws holding the stray light baffle had become loose and jammed the lens mount. Probably caused by all the rattling around on outback SA roads of highly questionable quality. I'll seal these screws by loctite when I return home.
For now, the UV-Nikkor is performing well enough on little UV-modified D3200, although the working distance is on the long side when using the camera hand-held with a UV flash. I'll open up the lens later sat home to see whether I can fic its locking-up issue on my own, or whether it has to remain dead until Erik's magical fingers can bring it back to life again.
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A South Afrika Question to all:
Is there an Elon Musk Birthhouse?
An Elon Musk Museum?
A Elon Musk Monument?
A Elon Musk Street or Place?
The one person who is trying to create a permanent human settlement on Mars is kind of a Beethoven of our time.
The brightest living son of RZA....
Collaterally he brought Paypal Tesla and SpaceX to us Earthlings.
Thank you for you help.
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Frank, strangely enough, Elon Musk is not a huge celebrity here in South Africa, unlike Charlize Theron, Arnold Vosloo and even Gordon Murray.
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that he saams to be saying that we are all small-minded (although compared to him we probably are)...
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Frank, strangely enough, Elon Musk is not a huge celebrity here in South Africa, unlike Charlize Theron, Arnold Vosloo and even Gordon Murray.
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that he saams to be saying that we are all small-minded (although compared to him we probably are)...
Peter - I hear a lot about him on radio - but you are right - not enough by far in comparison.
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Oh, and I forgot Mark Shuttleworth!
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After retrieving my revived 300 PF, now unstuck from the D800, it was time to do a test drive.
Cape Fur Seals at Kalk Bay.
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Oh, and I forgot Mark Shuttleworth!
Mark Shuttleworth... now that man I could marry tomorrow...
Bjørn - that close up of the seal is really nice!
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"Bjørn - that close up of the seal is really nice! "
Glad I had a working 300 lens again. The foul smell of these seals really made me want to stay at a safe distance :D
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Glad I had a working 300 lens again. The foul smell of these seals really made me want to stay at a safe distance :D
Would you believe me if I told you I kissed one on the mouth once? 8)
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No. I would not. You are the type to do such things.
This guy was a male in the 300+ kg class and definitively *not* attractive.
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300PF.
put on wishlist again.
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Would you believe me if I told you I kissed one on the mouth once? 8)
omg I am finished!
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Elsa and I managed quite a few trips downtown Cape Town. Ostentatiously to do errands at the offices for Nikon Cape Town, more in accordance with the truth to vist Orms Photo store and sample the divine coffee served there by a smiling assistant. Oh well, we did buy the odd stuff too so the coffee didn't come *entirely* free.
From the usual parking spot for Elsa's little lavender car, a clear view of Table Mountain was available. So i just had to test whether my stuck 300 PF still did work on the D800 it was jammed to. Maybe, maybe not. Hard to say and the subject scene was tricky on its own to
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Surfers at False Bay. The 300 PF acted funny. The heat and humidity may have got to it at last. Or maybe I pushed the wrong buttons.
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Indeed a stunning photo.
Jan, I just have one question: why?
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Because he could - or dared. He's that kind of guy.
This Lobelia capture from a burned fynbos at Cape Point is evidence that I might get the occasional sharp shot. Examples in this thread notwithstanding. Df with the 20/1.8 Nikkor.
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Jan, I just have one question: why?
As a teenager I worked in a local marine mammal park where they trained and performed shows with dolphins, sea lions, seals, walruses, etc.
Sea lions come in a lot of different sizes and flavours, besides a show with the biggest and most dangerous Stellar sea lions performed with the trainers safely behind an electric fence they also did a rather funny kids show with the smaller and much more docile Californian sea lions, kissing their trainers was part of the act.
When cleaning up after a show I was alone in the theatre and watched them play while standing on the edge of their basin when one of them approached me, I stood my ground and received a kiss on the mouth as a reward. When they kiss they make a very loud kissing sound so public can here it, they smell very fishy and their whiskers wrap around your face making it a very immersive experience I will never forget ;D
A few days later I tried it again with an other sea lion btw, she approached me like the other one did but instead of kissing me she decided to start barking a few inches from my face, the instant loud noise combined with the small pieces of fish flying around in my face made me almost shit my pants hahahaha.
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;D ;D JA - So the romance ended quick
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Jan, that must have been quite a shock to the system!
My experience with wild animals indicates that most species never become truly tame, and in such situations one must be ready for a nasty surprise!
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Peter - Agreed - most people forget that part.
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I'm safely, although dog tired, back in the beautiful chill of a Norwegian autumn.... Lots of images to process still, hundreds of species to identify, and much research remains to be done. But I guess it will all come together during the next months.
Besides the opportunity to see the absolute magnificent flower fireworks of the plains of Namaqualand and Nieuwoudtville, I enjoyed meeting a number of nice and generous people. My main aim of this trip, however, was to add more UV flower signatures to the ever-growing database. My aching back and stacks of files tell me I succeeded towards that end.
Here is a "Beetle Daisy", Gorteria diffusa (Asteraceae). Many of the flowers I captured in UV had UV signatures with features never documented before. Maybe Africa really is the origin of species with the longest evolution?
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I simply adore the UV flowers and their mysterious signatures you are showing us!
Don't be shy in ultra-volieNting us with more...
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Bjørn - even I like this one. Simply beautiful and I never thought I would admit that.
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Yes, this is pure 'beauty'.
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This is wonderous, rather than beautiful, to me. I'm strongly drawn to the shapes of the pistil(s) and the anther(s).
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Remember this is a member of the Daisy Family so the "flower" is a complex composite of disk and ray florets. The disk flowers of this species have a very long and narrow fused pollen tube (5 anthers fused into a tube) that is almost whip-like, a disk corolla comprised of 5 fused petals with a two-coloured appearance, and tiny sepals formed into awns between the flowers. I didn't spot any styles (female stage of disk or ray florets). The long ligules (strap-shaped ray flowers) are covered in long hairs plus on every third ligule, a complex bug-like protrusion sparkling in various parts under UV. The bracts subtending the capitulae (flower heads) are shining bright by way of their UV reflective trichomes (hairs). I have never seen anything this complex under UV in any flower before.
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Here are some other endemics, first the small Romulea sabulosa of the Iris Family, then the slighly bigger Gladioulus watermeyeri of the Amaryllis Family. Both from Nieuwhoudtville, D3200 and the Coastal Optics 60 mm f/4 APO lens.
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Bjørn, found this about Gorteria diffusa. Your shot of this flower is stunning. "-)
Fly Pollination of Gorteria diffusa (Asteraceae), and a Possible Mimetic Function for Dark Spots on the Capitulum
S. D. Johnson and J. J. Midgley
American Journal of Botany Vol. 84, No. 4 (Apr., 1997), pp. 429-436
Published by: Botanical Society of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2446018 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/2446018)
Abstract
We investigated the functional significance of raised black spots on the ray florets of Gorteria diffusa (Asteraceae) in South Africa. Field observations showed that G. diffusa is pollinated by a small bee-fly, Megapalpus nitidus (Bombyliidae), which is strikingly similar to the raised spots that occur on some of the ray florets.....
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One of the numerous yellow "Daisy bushes" that are ubiquitous all over the craggy rock formations. This is a Didelta spinosa (Asteraceae) and will be the last one of the UV flowers from this trip. I promise. Indeed I do.
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Remember this is a member of the Daisy Family so the "flower" is a complex composite of disk and ray florets. The disk flowers of this species have a very long and narrow fused pollen tube (5 anthers fused into a tube) that is almost whip-like, a disk corolla comprised of 5 fused petals with a two-coloured appearance, and tiny sepals formed into awns between the flowers. I didn't spot any styles (female stage of disk or ray florets). The long ligules (strap-shaped ray flowers) are covered in long hairs plus on every third ligule, a complex bug-like protrusion sparkling in various parts under UV. The bracts subtending the capitulae (flower heads) are shining bright by way of their UV reflective trichomes (hairs). I have never seen anything this complex under UV in any flower before.
Bjørn, thanks for the detailed description of this enigmatic flower. As no-expert, I was not sure how to call each parts of this particular flower, so I was just referring to the parts where anther(s) and pistils usually are or can be seen. :D
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Even trained botanists need from time to time to refresh their memory of all the details of these advanced flower structures. The basics might be simple, but there are virtually endless permutations and modification of the basic parts. The Daisy Family is the largest of all plant families with around 25.000 recognised species.
Read this summary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteraceae#Flowers to get a hands-on appreciation of the complex flower heads seen in this large family.
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Bjørn, thanks for the link. I bookmarked it for the quick future references.
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The flowers look like they're from space!
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The visit to South Africa is formally contained on a series of digital media, around 500 new entries into the main archive, and pleasant memories of the landscape beauty and nice people I met and worked with.
Now all that remains is the tedious work of identifying all the unknown flowers and add the captions to the data base. Nearly all processing of files has been completed so no longer an excuse for *not* doing the chores :D
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Here are some other endemics, first the small Romulea sabulosa of the Iris Family, then the slighly bigger Gladioulus watermeyeri of the Amaryllis Family.
Gladiolus is also a member of the Iris Family.
John Maud
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There are a lot of of family and species rearrangements these days due to molecular and DNA systematics. Sometimes an improvements sometimes a disaster not at least on the nomenclature level.
The African species eventually posted on our specialist sister site www.ultravioletphotography.com will be named according to AGP (2009 or newer) and the Kew plant list. Names used in this thread are from the various handbooks I obtained in South Africa and do not necessarily reflect the latest family placements.
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Just back from a trip myself, I thoroughly enjoyed this thread! Thanks for sharing.
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Bjørn your attention to detail is amazing! Not only in the technical / gear and image shooting part of photography but also the detailed documentation descriptions location spices and keywords,,,, Impressive
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Weeks after weeks of heavy processing have elapsed and I'm finally seeing light in the end of the image processing pipeline ... oh yeah.
Well, almost. Still pulling files and pumping them through the work flow, but images without captioning and taxonomic evaluation for the first time have dropped below 200 so can be optimistic.
My last SA image, hailing from Murdock Valley, Western Cape according to Goggle Maps. Might or might not be useful information?
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Bjørn, I would love to see more!
This one is so mysterious :)
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I used to be fairly surrounded by the flora of South Africa; immersed in it's beauty; sustained by its commodity. Tragically, I have now come to realize, I never saw any of it. No, not really. Not until now, that is.
Thanks for the primer! And armed with this knowledge... well, who knows? But I will, soon enough. Cheers!
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Reading this whole thread brings back great memories. I am impressed that you have managed to get though all the processing and documentation of all your captures and am looking forward to seeing them on your UV site. Can't wait for the next spring to see what other surprises are in waiting. - I will be visiting this area again and again.
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Thanks, Richard, you and Elsa made really great travel companions. Don't overlook the possibility of my joining for another spring event ....
I do have processed all my images and by and large completed the taxonomical identifications. However, spells of cold weather-induced pneumonia unfortunately have kept me back on the publishing side. Wading through the nomenclature of the flora in this part of the world is a gargantuan task and challenge in itself, apparently.
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well off you go Richard and Bjørn - I am doing overberg tours only from now on :P :P
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Bjørn I hope your health is on the mend. We only got to see about 200-300 of the approx.. 9000 species so lots of work still to be done!