Dandelion clock. Close-up shot on green background. Image: Su Leslie, 2016. Edited with Stackables and Pixlr.

Dandelion clock. Image: Su Leslie, 2016. Edited with Stackables and Pixlr.

Who can resist a dandelion clock?

For a long time, I didn’t make the connection between the name given to these seed heads, and the game I played as a child — blowing on the filaments to see how many puffs it would take to dislodge them all. The number of puffs told the time.

I was a terribly serious and terribly logical child and suspect that, had I known, I would have regarded the notion with incredulity. Er, where’s the second hand?

Yesterday, when I noticed a single dandelion amongst the kikuyu and paspalum rampant in our lawn, I resisted the temptation to play the game. Instead I captured a few shots in situ, then took it inside to set against a dark background.

Dandelion clock. Black & white shot. Image: Su Leslie, 2016. Edited with Stackables and Pixlr.

Dandelion clock. Image: Su Leslie, 2016. Edited with Snapseed, Stackables and Pixlr.

Dandelion clock. Black and white shot; low contrast. Image: Su Leslie, 2016. Edited with Snapseed, Stackables and Pixlr.

Dandelion clock. Image: Su Leslie, 2016. Edited with Snapseed, Stackables and Pixlr.

Reversed-out black and white shot of dandelion clock. Image: Su Leslie, 2016. Edited with Snapseed, Stackables and Pixlr.

And in reverse. Dandelion clock. Image: Su Leslie, 2016. Edited with Snapseed, Stackables and Pixlr.

While I quite like the complexity of the seed head revealed in the first black and white shot, I’m definitely more drawn to the simpler, more delicate third and fourth images. What do you think?

And for a post about time, childhood and simplicity, this song by the late Jim Croce seemed perfect.

Written for Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge at Lens and Pens by Sally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: macro

/ Su Leslie / 33 Comments

33 thoughts on “Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: macro”

  1. I took a photography class in college and I brought in a bunch of gone-to-seed dandelions for exposure photography. (My term, I don’t remember what the real term is.) We went into a dark room, laid our objects on unexposed film paper and switched on a light for a certain number of seconds. Then we developed the images. Your first and second images in all black remind me of that process. (I like how you get the edges of the picture all roughed up as if they are ripped or torn. Is that a feature of your photo editing program?)

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    • Hi. Thanks for your comments. I’m glad those images reminded you of direct exposure shots. That’s kind of the effect I was thinking of. I also thought that the second white on black reminded me of an X-ray (which I guess is pretty much the same thing). The ripped edges were done in Pixlr; good selection of frames there. Cheers, Su.

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  3. Love the clarity and green of the first shot. But a real question: Having never heard of a “dandelion clock” … does it really tell time accurately? Because if it does, I wish I had known that as a kid, who never had watch. 🙂

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    • Thanks JoAnn. Hm. I doubt dandelion clocks would be any better at telling the time than pulling petals off flowers (he loves me, he loves me not) would be at predicting the state of a crush’s heart. Unless there is some chemical thing that makes the filaments stickier approaching midday and midnight (which then disappears at 1 o’clock ….) There are so many of these old traditional games; when I remember them I wonder if any had much basis in reality? Cheers, Su.

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  6. Delicate, delicate, dandelion gives us hope in its sustainability and survival. It is much more than it appears to be: an edible wild thing. Great pairing with the song, which brought
    tears–happy and mixed ones. I am drawn to the first for its cheer and detail. Happy Photo Challenge.

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  7. Pingback: Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Macro (and Geraniums) | Lens and Pens by Sally

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