The fig tree in the garden is blooming. The first leaves unfold. I enjoy its shape, but also its fruit :-).
The fig tree is a peculiar plant. What some interpret in spring as small, unripe fruit sets are initially just the flowers. The inflorescences are inside.
In the Mediterranean region, this tree uses the fig wasp to bear fruit. In our latitudes, figs can only be harvested with self-fertilizing trees.
Very lovely presentation. Love the selective color. And the lighting, too. Did you light it yourself? Or use flash? I enjoyed your description, as well. I was interested to learn that in many tropical rainforests, the main food source for monkeys, apes and others are the fruit of fig trees, which form much of the canopy of the forest. Individual groups of animals will stake out and defend the territory of their tree from other marauding groups. Though I doubt that there is any such drama occuring in your garden. Your photo is a definite fav.
What a beautiful presentation of a perfect fig leaf and the budding fruit. I do LOVE fresh figs and these little beauties promise deliciousness in the future!
Sumptuous. Some say the fig is actually the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden... Why on Earth, otherwise, shouldn't Adam and Eve wear apple leaves? I see a disappearing Cheshire Cat in the background, too, but my fantasy is apparently too fervid after 40 days quarantine.
Seeing this makes me smile and realise just how much I have missed your posts Jerome. I do hope that you are surviving well in these troubled times. You have brought out every fine detail of the fruit and the fig leaf in a perfect presentation.
@domenicododaro@jerome I daresay we have a coming together here of two Masters of Photography and Creativity! Jerome, I was staring at your image, simply stunned by the precision clarity and the beauty of your presentation. When I saw Domenico's name as I scrolled down, I had to see what he had to say, as I admire his work (and the workings of his mind!) so greatly! When he said he thought he had seen a Cheshire Cat I thought he had perhaps gone too far, "but he made me look"! Of course. I never should have doubted it! It's all to much for my little mind to take in at this late hour... I feel as though I've been in the company of "Great literature and Fine Art" when you two pass by... Enjoy your Sunday and I'll be back to check it out about 9 hours hence ; )
@mbrutus Thank you for asking, dear Brutus. About the lighting: I waited for daylight with good side light. I wanted the spherical blossoms to be plastic and to emphasize the veining of the leaf. I rarely work with a flash. The light is difficult to control with the built-in camera flash. There are often unwanted "ghost shadows". I held a board behind the motif, over which I had pulled a black T-shirt. I wanted a matt black background for this shot. You can imagine that taking pictures under these circumstances was not easy: I did gymnastics on the ladder at a height of about two meters, held the blackboard with the T-shirt in one hand and took pictures with the other. I chose a very small aperture in order to achieve the greatest possible depth of field. The difficulty is that you have to choose a long exposure time, which increases the risk of blurring, especially when taking macro shots. If there is even a light breeze, you can forget about such projects. Unfortunately, the smaller flower in the lower part of the image is slightly outside the focus range. You usually only see something like that when you sit in front of the big screen later.
It's actually new to me that the monkeys prefer to eat figs. Thanks for this interesting note! So far, I have not had to fight against monkeys that target my figs in my garden. If global warming continues like this, it can happen at some point in this country ...
@domenicododaro You see a Cheshire cat - great. Now I see it too. That was not the intention. But that makes the picture one facet richer :-).
The tree of knowledge. I don't really want to start a Bible argument. But why didn't God really want people to learn about good and evil?
To lead to a more harmless aspect: on some paintings Adam and Eve are covered with fig leaves (Rubens), on others with apple leaves (Dürer, Cranach), Michelangelo was not very squeamish in this regard. Apparently, people weren't always as bashful, not even in antiquity. But now - contrary to my intentions - I walk on very thin ice ... So I better close this topic now.
@golftragic I would miss the fig tree in the garden very much. It is now about thirty years old. It stands directly on the southern wall of the house. In the first few years it almost froze to the roots and always had to sprout completely in spring. This has not been the case for several years. The past winters weren't really severe. In this case, global warming has a positive effect, but against this background the joy is somewhat clouded. The fig tree has meanwhile - for our latitudes - a considerable size of about five or six meters. I even cut it back last year so harvesting doesn't become troublesome.
@Weezilou Louise, how kind you are. I spent the Sunday very calmly.
Kind regards to California! A great country. "A Nice Place to Live" is the motto of Fountain Valley. I like to believe it.
The fig tree has many flowers. The harvest was very good last year. The fruits were not only numerous, they were also large and very fruity.
Well, maybe not this year during Corona-non-travel-summer.
It's actually new to me that the monkeys prefer to eat figs. Thanks for this interesting note! So far, I have not had to fight against monkeys that target my figs in my garden. If global warming continues like this, it can happen at some point in this country ...
The tree of knowledge. I don't really want to start a Bible argument. But why didn't God really want people to learn about good and evil?
To lead to a more harmless aspect: on some paintings Adam and Eve are covered with fig leaves (Rubens), on others with apple leaves (Dürer, Cranach), Michelangelo was not very squeamish in this regard. Apparently, people weren't always as bashful, not even in antiquity. But now - contrary to my intentions - I walk on very thin ice ... So I better close this topic now.
Kind regards to California! A great country. "A Nice Place to Live" is the motto of Fountain Valley. I like to believe it.
Take care, Helen.