digital photography: techniques: thoughts: photographs

My new stamp (2026)
Angel's Trumpets © Harold Davis | Stamp © 2025 USPS

My new stamp (2026)

4-cent Angel’s Trumpets Per the USPS: This 4-cent stamp follows the 2024 release of other low-denomination flower stamps: the 1-cent Fringed Tulip, 2-cent Daffodils, 3-cent Peonies, 5-cent Red Tulips and…

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Neagiri Goyo-matsu Pine Tree
Neagiri Goyo-matsu Pine Tree (C) Harold Davis

Neagiri Goyo-matsu Pine Tree

This Japanese white pine with its imposing roots was originally a bonsai given by the 11th Tokugawa Shogun, Ienari, to the ninth lord of Takamatsu, Matsudaira Yorihiro, in Edo (Tokyo)…

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Mandala 101
Mandala 101 Inversion © Harold Davis

Mandala 101

The other day I set out to create a mandala using flower petals on my light box. The mandala uses petals that I plucked from alstroemeria, with the center formed…

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Wide-Open at f/0.95
Fern 1 © Harold Davis

Wide-Open at f/0.95

I'm lucky enough to have scored a Leica Noctilux 50mm f/0.95 lens (used, but in excellent condition). The lens is most interesting I think wide-open at f/0.95. Yes, you read…

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My Prickly Heart
My Prickly Heart © Harold Davis

My Prickly Heart

Before planting the beast of a cactus in a pot along our front porch, I photographed the plant in its black, plastic pot indoors using my Leica Monochrom M11 with…

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Split Rock Flower
Split Rock Flower © Harold Davis

Split Rock Flower

The Split Rock Plant (Pleiospilos nelli) looks for all the world like it is made of small stones, each one dabbed with dots (see the black and white images at…

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Sword Fern Frond
Fern © Harold Davis

Sword Fern Frond

To make these portraits of an up-close-and-personal Western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) frond beginning to unfurl, I used my 135mm lens on a bellows. This is the same setup I…

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Gazania
Gazania © Harold Davis

Gazania

The Gazania, commonly known as the African Daisy, is a highly heliotropic flower. This means that it opens in direct sunshine, and closes back up in the evening (or on…

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Falling Water
Multnomah Falls © Harold Davis

Falling Water

I found the magnificent Columbia River gorge somewhat diminished (in gestalt if not in topography) since my previous visit years ago.  Maybe this had to do with the time of…

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Portland Japanese Garden
Heavenly Falls ©️Harold Davis

Portland Japanese Garden

I’ve enjoyed photographing today at the Portland Japanese Garden. The garden bills itself as the most beautiful Japanese garden outside of Japan. This may well be true, and it may…

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Garden Spiral
Garden Spiral © Harold Davis

Garden Spiral

Yesterday I built a small spiral in our garden below a specimen Japanese maple tree. I constructed the spiral using small rocks as the border for an aggregation of miniature…

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Serpentine Sunflower Tree
© Harold Davis

Serpentine Sunflower Tree

Yesterday I decided that my Serpentine Sunflower (Helianthus bolanderi) was getting a bit "long in the tooth" (insert favorite joke about serpents and teeth here). Indoors, I deconstructed the sunflower…

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