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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

[Exceptionally] Pretty pictures: transmitted light -- Part XLV

I woke up on Monday depressed, and remained that way. This is something that's happened before, though usually it spontaneously dissipates after about six hours without me having to do anything. Occasionally I have to watch Beavis and Butthead Do America to shake it.

Yesterday, it didn't dissipate after six hours. More like twelve (it started to lift around 8-8:30 PM last night). But I've scraped the bottom of the posts barrel1 to bring you a post anyway, because I love you.

Though it's only a transmitted light post. I don't want to marry you or anything.

(The previous transmitted light posts can be found here.)

Spathoglottis NOID.

Zea mays.

Chlorophytum 'Charlotte.'

Aglaonema 'Maria.'

Cordyline fruticosa NOID.

Philodendron pinnatifidum 'Spicy Dog,' dying leaf. Unexpectedly, this is probably my favorite from this set.

Colocasia esculenta. Though this would be a close second place. Colocasia pictures are almost cheating, though, really.

Stromanthe sanguinea 'Triostar.' Turned out badly, which seems like it ought to be impossible with this plant. Not sure what to blame.

Caladium 'Cardinal.' Caladium pictures are cheats too. Also Codiaeum. Any of the "C" plants, really.

Episcia NOID.

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1 Metaphor, obviously, but I picture it as being your standard staves-and-hoops barrel. Wooden (oak?), about 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter, and filled with white pieces of paper about the size of a receipt, which are the posts.

12 comments:

  1. Beautiful! This definitely brightened my day. Thank you for sharing, sorry to hear you were in a funk.

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  2. If you flame the oak barrel, you can age some whiskey in it.

    Making something ridiculous always helps me feel just a little better--I have had a lot of midnight baking sessions in the kitchen!

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  3. I like these. Which mean, go visit my blog and see the link to my Etsy leaf shop. Just to look. Nothing like light through leaves, except, well, the obvious.

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  4. I like wild animal pattern on Aglaonema 'Maria'.

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  5. Re: Monday blues. Me, too. It happens. Hang in there.

    Re: Colocasia esculenta. Natural beauty is never cheating! Those are the leaves that got me into plants in the first place. Love them.

    Thanks for sharing a little beauty. I'd love it it you'd do a "behind the scenes" type post on how you shoot these photos.

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  6. Derek:

    It's not a "Monday blues" situation at all. It's a "two or three times a year, I'm on the verge of tears about everything I hear, read, or see, for absolutely no reason whatsoever; I'm convinced that everything I've ever done in my whole life was not merely wrong, but also evidence that I am a terrible person; and I have a soul-deep conviction that I will fail at anything I attempt, am a complete fraud, and will very likely die penniless and alone in a ditch somewhere after everything that I love is taken from me. And then everything suddenly snaps back into perspective again without any obvious trigger and I'm fine" situation.

    It's basically a less frequent, less intense, and much abbreviated clinical depression. As far as I can tell, these episodes are completely unconnected to any actual events or stressors: I just suddenly come over all despairing and have to ride it out until it stops. It's most common for them to start around noon or 1 PM and end around 6-7 PM, though this one didn't.

    Before I started taking bupropion, the same thing happened, but slightly more often, and it would normally last a week or two at a stretch instead of six hours, so this is way better. Also the week-long ones were way less Beavis-responsive.

    As for the behind-the-scenes post on the transmitted light pictures, my first impulse was to say that there really wasn't much of a trick to it: you just stick a leaf between a light source and a camera and take pictures. But after thinking about it for a while, I suppose I've learned enough about what works and what doesn't to justify a post on the subject. So maybe someday.

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  7. There's a lot of really good pictures in this post!
    As for the depression, maybe it's hormones ... that's what I always blame it on anyway!

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  8. Mister S: I didn't mean to trivialize with the "blues" comment. Without going into much detail, let me just say that I totally understand what you're talking about and have similar battles. I wonder how many plant people do. Anyway, hang in there, ok?

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  9. Ugh, I know what you mean with the random bouts of depression. The other day EVERYTHING was setting me off. I was at the grocery store and DONUTS putting me at the verge of tears, a pile of fallen leaves on my bedroom floor made me want to go throw myself in lake michigan because I was too stupid to realize spraying a delicate leaved plant with hort oil would cause it to completely defoliate. This of course has me convinced that I'll get fired from my job because I can't even keep a bamboo looking good in my own private house that has absolutely nothing to do with work whatsoever. Nothing makes it go away. It's so obnoxious. Glad to hear you snapped out of it though!

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  10. Philodendron 'Spicy Dog' is Philodendron pinnatifidum.

    http://www.aroidpictures.fr/LYON/philopinnatifidum2.html

    The red pores on the petioles give it the name 'Spicy Dog'.

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  11. Taylor:

    Thank you. All I had to go on when I bought it was the cv. name. I'm somewhat distressed to learn that both P. bipinnatifidum and P. pinnatifidum are valid species names, though. That just seems mean.

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  12. I get depressed too. I think mine is linked to the change in light as the seasons change (Seasonal Affective Disorder). When you consider how light sensitive plants are, it is kind of annoying to realize as a plant person, I should probably be under some kind of plant light...some people treat it with basically a set of lights.

    KM: I liked the idea of midnight baking very much.

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