We’re almost at the end of August. It’s been hot and the landscape looks relatively quiet. The grass is brown; the wildflowers are mostly done blooming. What is there to photograph? The answer is to think small. I put my extension tubes on my camera and headed out this morning. I was determined to only photograph with the tubes on and to see what I could find.

First glances can be deceiving. Realizing it’s a small world, made me pay more attention. Life is teeming out there, at all scales, but if it appears to be dormant at the large scale maybe it’s time to look for the very small. What looks like a quiet landscape is actually very busy.

I was pleasantly rewarded.

Here’s a fruticose lichen. Fruticose means the lichen is branched. While not common, they are easy to find and some trees seemed to be covered with them. The beautiful orange color caught my eye. This one is only about 1 inch across.

Fruticose Lichen

Do you remember what lichens are? They are composite organisms consisting of a fungus and a photosynthetic partner, existing in a symbiotic relation. Lichens exist in some of the planet’s most extreme environments. I guess you could consider our property one of the most extreme!

I also saw a lone Whitemouth Dayflower (Commelina erecta). They only bloom for a day and this seems to be a late season one.

Whitemouth Dayflower