Ready for their close-ups

I have a prejudice against close-up photographs -- those artsy pictures of wavy lines of rust on a piece of metal, say, or the veins of a flower petal. How much talent does it take to shove a camera close to something and push the button? And since the pictures show so little, they lack context. They could have been taken anywhere, anytime by anyone -- maybe even a stock-photo agency.

But when I was set loose with my iPad camera this summer, there were times I couldn't help myself. Sometimes I saw things that didn't look like much from a distance, but were interesting close up. Evil forces made me get my lens as close as possible and go click. So here are some of my summer close-ups. Forgive me.

This is a flower at the end of a monkey-puzzle tree plant. I had never seen one before. The white stuff looks like snow, but it's part of the plant.

And here's some context. This is how the flower looked on the tree.

The interior of the monkey-puzzle tree. I liked the pattern of its cascade of monkey "tails."

Berries of a mountain ash are usually orange, but these were quite red. They made a very Christmasy sight in August.

A hump of moss in the Camosun bog. A whole area of the bog floor is made up of sweeping curves of moss.

Moss and leaves on a tree in Duck Creek Park on Saltspring Island.  Many trees are covered in this moss, which gives the park a ghostly air.

 Yes, I know it's a cliche, but I couldn't help it. The blue of the flower, the yellow of the bee were irrestible. At least you can see the bee.. Earlier this year I tried to photograph a dragonfly, which I learned is essentially invisible. 

Hedges of bean plants were all over the city this summer. If you get close enough into the greenery, there are fine long green beans waiting to be picked.

Not quite a close-up, but a day lily combined with the blue and grey of  autumn-exhausted borage plants at False Creek needed to be recorded.

Another of those mossy tree trunks in Duck Creek Park.