Saturday, August 16, 2008 – Absurdly Gaudy

In West Los Angeles, on the northeast corner of South Citrus Avenue and Edgewood Place, Canna - or Canna lily, although not a true lily – also known as "Indian Shot" as their seeds are small, round, and hard like the homemade lead shot once used for shotguns. Now the seeds are used in African musical instruments – they rattle nicely in a dried gourd.  Canna is botanically related to gingers, bananas and such. 

They are, of course, absurdly gaudy – and just right for August. Hummingbirds like them, as do bats.  And staring at them will mess with your mind.

If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back this site. 

Technical Note:

Photographs after March 3, 2008, were taken with a Nikon D200 – or a Nikon D70 when noted. All previous photographs were taken with the D70. The lenses used are (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto, or (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. Photography here is modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  The earliest photography in the archives was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik