Mainly about reeds and rushes.

This week’s Nature Photo Challenge from Denzil is about water plants. My archive has not been especially revealing, and if you think I’m going out on this day of torrential rain to find more, you’ve got another think coming. Perhaps this is a chance to join in to with Jez’s Water Water Everywhere challenge too?

I’ll issue a challenge of my own too. I rather like the images below of spiky, statuesque reeds and grasses in black and white. But perhaps you prefer the original colour?

My first one is from the lake at Kiplin Hall, North Yorkshire

Then we’ll move to Lake Prespa in Greece, where the reeds obscure a handsome egret.

Then back to England, to the River Wye in Derbyshire.

This is a local Nature Reserve at Staveley, North Yorkshire on a bitingly cold day which at least the bulrushes could endure.

My header photo is also from Lake Prespa. I thought the egret and his reedy background demanded colour. Just as my final shot, taken in the gardens of the National Museum, Seoul. South Korea rather requires that splash of orange.

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

51 thoughts on “Mainly about reeds and rushes.”

  1. Well, well done with your trawl through the archives! Not quite as empty as you initially thought them

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  2. I prefer the black and white for the Staveley and Kiplin Hall shots but colour for the others. Perhaps it’s the shapes against the sky that have swung it for me. Hope it clears enough for a walk for you.

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    1. Actually, I tend to agree with you. It’s the Kiplin Hall one that I initially converted to b/w. The rest were an experiment. Today – only – will be dry. The rest of the week is … rain.

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  3. Love that last one with the fish and the water lilies. Very calming. Shame about the weather, hope it clears up a bit. Enjoy the one promised dry day, at least!

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    1. Yes, I’m fond of that last one too. South Korea, like Japan does Calming Gardens very well. After today, I have a week of entertaining a Spanish toddler, my granddaughter, in the rain. First stop? The wellie-boot shop!

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  4. That’s what I call using your initiative, Margaret. The jury’s out on all but the River Wye. For me that has to be in colour. I am, as you’ve maybe noticed, a colour person, but I can see the attraction of the others.

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    1. You and I agree. I only put that one in b/w because I was doing this ‘compare and contrast’ series. It’s much more woodlandy and peaceful in green I think.

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    1. I agree. The sliders slightly annoy me though, because I at least never seem to manage to get the whole of one image, and then the whole of its pair. It’s probably just me.

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  10. I like the way you’ve focused on some plants that haven’t featured much in other responses, even if it was out of necessity! I’m going out on a limb to disagree with many of the comments I’ve seen above! I prefer the Kiplin Hall shot in colour because I’m drawn to the profusion of green (what I call almost a monochrome colour shot, since monochrome really just means of one colour, not necessarily black and white!) Most of the others I think work similarly well in either but the one I personally prefer in B&W is the one most people seem to like in colour, the River Wye! Yes, the colour version is lovely but the B&W has an interesting depth and moodiness which makes it more unusual imho 🙂

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    1. Ah Sarah, nice to see another point of view. That Kiplin Hall one was translated into B/W some time ago and I really liked it, so I gave the other shots a go. And no, for me the River Wye has to stay green. Each to her own eh? But thanks your thoughtful comment.

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  12. The comparison of these images are very interesting. I like the color version of the Nature Reserve at Staveley. The last one is beautifully captured.

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  13. On the whole I prefer the colour ones here, though a couple of them are nicely atmospheric in black and white. The fish certainly wouldn’t have worked as well in b&w!

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  14. I’m with you on the first and last shots – colour definitely needed. The inbetweeners are more difficult to decide upon. To achieve that sense of cold, in the Stavely shot for example, the b & w definitely works better. But the River Wye I prefer in colour. As usual, all are compelling.

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  15. It’s dry, humid, and warm here. And there’s smoke from the Canadian wildfires. I would prefer rain. I love your photos and I like the device where you can slide over the black and white to real the same photo. Very smart!

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  16. I’m hardly ever in favour of converting nature shots in b&w even when I can recognise that it adds something to the design. But I do like the rushes in monotone, it just … suits them, I guess, is what I want to say.

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  17. It’s fun isn’t it? And my daughter, over from Spain with our granddaughter would definitely agree about the rain. Is it extremely hot where you are?

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  18. Thanks for playing along, Margaret 😊 In general, I prefer the black & white; there’s more definition & you see the textures better. For the bull rushes, I prefer the original, the blue tinge to the shot emphasises the cold 😃

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  20. Quite an archive you have Margaret. B/W always adds a certain mood, although the one of the bulrushes already looks pretty grey. Thanks for your submission!

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  21. Pingback: Your photos of waterplants – Denzil Nature

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