From the archives

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:11 am

With all this grey, many of my cacti have formed flower buds but refuse to open them. Seems like a good day for a few shots from the archive and a bowl of warm soup.

Pachyphytum

Globe Thistle

Irwin

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:12 am

Some nice images from your archives there Irwin

. You know my interests are highly diversified, from an early age I was always fascinated by science and nature and about what made it all tick. From stars to microbes I would spend much of my time studying about them. What got you interested in cacti and what do you find most intriguing about them, "inquirinig minds want to know?"

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:51 am

Some super photos Irwin. If I started collecting everything I was interested in I would not know where to start.

Moebius · Post by **Moebius** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:04 am

These are both very nice, almost opposites in a way. The first one is smoooth and gentle, the second is geometric and aggressive. I especially like that second one...my eyes have not one place to settle, they just rove the photo looking for a spot to land. Every part of the picture is interesting to look ath and pleasing

Nice

Ken Nelson

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:00 am

Ken Ramos wrote:Some nice images from your archives there Irwin . You know my interests are highly diversified, from an early age I was always fascinated by science and nature and about what made it all tick. From stars to microbes I would spend much of my time studying about them. What got you interested in cacti and what do you find most intriguing about them, "inquirinig minds want to know?"

Thanks for your kind comments, Ken.

I love science and nature also. I have grown plants and been fascinated by them since I was a boy. I don't remember a time when I was not interested in plants, their pattern of growth and lifecycle. Their tenacity, bizarre almost comical sculptural shapes, and eeze of care are a few of the reasons I grow cacti and succulents. As a boy, I was mezmerised by throwing succulent leaves on a pan of dirt and watching the generation of new plants and roots. To be frank, it still amazes .

That said I grow multitudes of other plants also. Plants are the life that makes all other life possible..

I hope that puts into word a few of my random thoughts. One final curiousity: have you ever notice that the plants of adversity, cacti and succulents, have developed to have forms similar to creatures from the ocean.

Irwin

Irwin

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:01 am

beetleman wrote:Some super photos Irwin. If I started collecting everything I was interested in I would not know where to start.

I guess I am as rooted as the plants I collect.

Irwin

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:16 am

Moebius wrote:These are both very nice, almost opposites in a way. The first one is smoooth and gentle, the second is geometric and aggressive. I especially like that second one...my eyes have not one place to settle, they just rove the photo looking for a spot to land. Every part of the picture is interesting to look ath and pleasing

Nice

Ken Nelson

Thank you Ken. You caught that I was playing with the underlying concept of orbs, surface texture and eye movement in my posting. Since you liked the spiney version, I will post another.

Irwin

svalley · Post by **svalley** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:17 am

Irwin, very well done! Individually and as a set these images are supurb. I especially like the visual sense that the un-opened buds in the 2nd image are exploding from a single point.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:10 pm

Irwin asked:

...have you ever notice that the plants of adversity, cacti and succulents, have developed to have forms similar to creatures from the ocean.

Can't say that I have Irwin but now that you have mentioned it, I do see what you mean. I seem to have read somewhere that all multicellular life may have generated from plants but then again there are the protozoa, the single celled animals which are also hearlded as the precoursers of multicellular life on our planet, dating back millions or more years also and even some of them do contain chlorophyll. Yet some algae, like protozoans, are very motile and their forms of locomotion are quite similar to that of some protozoans i.e., flagellates, so there does seem to be some sort of inter-relationship between them all. The Volvox, is somewhat strongly considered to be the start of multicellular life too!

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:56 pm

All three images are truly beautiful Irwin. More than just being good photographs of interesting plants, they are also intriguing studies in composition, colour and form.

Bruce

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:16 pm

Bruce Williams wrote:All three images are truly beautiful Irwin. More than just being good photographs of interesting plants, they are also intriguing studies in composition, colour and form.

Bruce

Thank you Bruce. Your kind comments state everything I work towards and hope to accomplish.

Best regards,

Irwin

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:03 am

Very nice Irwin!

I like #1 the most. Very sculptural and plastic with pleasing delicate colours.

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 5:10 am

Thznk you Nikola.

Irwin