Friday 20 August 2010

Mind-blowing design

Some flowers are definitely worth a close look - the passionfruit is one of those - its intricate design is just mind-blowing. To a bee I suppose this indicates a landing zone as clearly as a big H in a circle for an helicopter. If you look closely you'll see that the bee you see in the second photo is already present in the first.
Certaines fleurs méritent qu'on les examine de près. Celle du fruit de la passion est de celles-là. La complexité de sa structure est stupéfiante. Pour une abeille, j'imagine que ceci indique une zone d'atterrissage aussi clairement qu'un grand H dans un cercle pour un hélicoptère. Si vous regardez bien, vous verrez que l'abeille qu'on voit dans la deuxième photo est déjà présente dans la première.

22 comments:

Dina said...

From the thumbnail only, I wanted to say "That's a flower?? No way!"

Michel Benoit said...

Bon anniversaire
Mes vœux les plus sincères
Que ces quelques fleurs
T'apportent le bonheur
Que l'année entière
Te sois douce et légère
Et que l'an fini
Nous soyons tous réunis
(air connu)

Stefan Jansson said...

It's my mothers favorite flower, nice macro photos.

Tilia said...

Waouh ! une aire d'atterissage avec un air carrément futuriste !
Bravo pour ces photos qui valent bien un cours de botanique.
Suis tout de même allée faire un tour chez l'ami Wiki pour informations sur la fleur de la passion.
La plante en question porte le joli nom de Grenadille et ses moeurs sexuelles sont... passionnantes !
Merci pour cette belle occasion d'enrichir mes connaissances.

Pourquoi Avignon parle-t-il d'anniversaire puisque ton profil indique que tu es Poissons ?
Private jock, je suppose...

Evelyn said...

Beautiful macro shots!

hanna said...

Your macro photos are gorgeous, and so is this flower. Nature never ceases to amaze.

Sharon said...

Your post brought a smile to my face. I have photos of this flower that I took a year ago on a trip to my home town in Illinois. I had no idea what it was but was in awe of it's intricate design.

Your two photos are just great.

Sharon said...

Oops...I meant your three photos! All are wonderful.

Virginia said...

your macro shots are amazing. I've had fun scrolling down and seeing all the wonderful street people you found during your marvelous festival. What a terrific job you did capturing the characters and the spirit of the whole event.!!
V

amaraentus said...

bonjour chère Nathalie,
ah c'est tellement Magnifique.Tu nous montre le mécanisme de l'univers de proche.Le mot mécanisme est venu facilement parce que je vois presque une roue au centre de la fleur et je m'envole en essayant de me tenir au volant mais ce n'est pas possbile trop.

Everyone takes macros Nathalie but yours has a special evasive component that every major work of art contains......

Yes I read not long ago that the bee sees the center of the flower in infrared light and I thought that was such a beautiful idea I am going to play with it in my next post in fact.

have another magical day. thankyou

Peter said...

Awesome!

Unknown said...

Amazing close-ups! Great work.

paul said...

Beautiful design and expert capture. Great macro shots.

Dianne said...

How amazing !! it's almost space-age with pretty effects. Great photography - well done!
~Dianne~

claude said...

Quelle découverte pour moi que cette fleur qui a un bien joli et curieux coeur. C'est de toute beauté. Merci de nous la montrer.

lemon said...

We call them "little clocks" these flowers in Greece.
Amazing shot you did!

Jilly said...

Your macros are superb. I so agree with the commenter who said yours are the best. I particularly love the second one which really shows the beauty of this flower.

Hardly suprising to learn it's called Passionflower in reference to the the passion of Jesus in Christian theology. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries adopted the unique physical structures of this plant, particularly the numbers of its various flower parts, as symbols of the last days of Jesus and especially his crucifixion:

* The pointed tips of the leaves were taken to represent the Holy Lance.
* The tendrils represent the whips used in the flagellation of Christ.
* The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles (less St. Peter the denier and Judas Iscariot the betrayer).
* The flower's radial filaments, which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower, represent the crown of thorns.
* The chalice-shaped ovary with its receptacle represents a hammer or the Holy Grail
* The 3 stigmas represent the 3 nails and the 5 anthers below them the 5 wounds (four by the nails and one by the lance).
* The blue and white colors of many species' flowers represent Heaven and Purity.


Aren't I a fund of information!

Have a missed a birthday? If so, happy happy....dear Nathalie.

nathalie in avignon said...

Jilly, thanks so much for this wealth of information. I had never heard of this before.

No, you haven't missed a birthday... yet. Avignon in Photos will celebrate its 3rd birthday on August 23rd and Michel Benoit just jumped ahead. My mistake in fact: I actually got confused in my dates and for about 15 minutes uploaded a message about it. When I got my calendar dates right I deleted the mention (it will appear again soon) but Michel had already commented. That leaves everyone else in the dark - sorry for that.

But if you want to come back soon to celebrate with me, you'll be WELCOME !

jb said...

Jilly just beat me...

amaraentus said...

Nathalie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I have the date marked down on my calendar for avignon-in-photos birthday.

I am ready to rip but please don't expect me to come dressed in Julia Fractals I have lost the Julia Fractal batter. hee hee hee
HUGS see you soon then.

Michel Benoit said...

En tout cas, jolie série !
Anyway, nice series !

lewi14@gmail.com said...

Very amazing photos. The colours, the forms - great!

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