Yesterday, late in the morning, after an hour of swimming and snorkeling, I went searching for interesting details on the stony terrain near the sea. I had mostly spiders and insects in mind, but after taking the first shot ...
... the one that is now the opening photograph of this post, I knew that the thing will turn into a shadow hunt. Here you can see the shadow of the Limonium cancellatum, one of the many small, interesting plants that grow on the harsh coastal terrain.
This was a unique experience for me. I mean, after many years of rambling around this place and exploring its details, only yesterday I noticed the amazing variety of shadows projected on the stones.
This coastal vegetation exposed to wind and waves is short and compact, everything is close to the ground, so the shadows of these plants are pretty sharp ...
... and, since they are projected on the clear, mostly white backgrounds made of various little stones, they are displayed so perfectly, like exhibits in some Museum of Contemporary Shadows. On the following photograph the focus is still on the shadow that you just saw on this shot ...
... but I zoomed out a bit, so you can take a look at the pattern of the terrain ... and on the next photograph ...
... the view is even wider. It encompasses the sea, the sky, and some distant land along the horizon in between those two.
It was a very inspired shadow hunt. I never had so much fun while chasing shadows ...
... and I found some cool minerals along the way.
These fragments of calcite are not rare or anything like that, but they look a bit like pieces of some lost treasure, so it's always nice to find them.
While I was rambling around the same area ...
... from shadow to shadow ...
... with the eyes glued to the ground ...
... like someone who lost the car key or wallet while walking, and now is hoping to find them among these stones ...
... a small, pretty young Podarcis siculus lizard was observing my every move, from the safe distance.
These lizards are shy and curious at the same time. Pretty nosy, but always ready to run and hide under the stones.
I was surprised by the amount of interesting shapes among these coastal shadows. This short, dry grass and its shadow looked very good together.
These two shadows of the Plantago crassifolia inflorescence, created a nice, minimalist composition on the stone.
Although concentrated on shadows, I photographed the real Plantago crassifolia as well. This plant usually forms green patches, or more like carpets, on the rocks ... but sometimes ...you can find a single sprout, or just two of them like on this photograph, and then the thing looks like a little green sea anemone. On the following photograph ...
... you can see a slightly larger growth of Plantago crassifolia.
These are the shadows of the Crithmum maritimum, a plant commonly known as sea fennel. On the following photograph ...
... you can take a look at the entire plant.
After collecting a few more Limonium cancellatum shadows ...
... after this shot, exactly ...
... I noticed another Podarcis siculus lizard. This one was much bigger.
It was probably here all the time while I was comfortably sat down, photographing surrounding shadows, but the colors and patterns can hide a lizard pretty efficiently.
The leaves of short, resilient grass ...
... and stems of some other plants ...
... were projecting undecipherable scribbles and abstractions.
This shadow was created by the succulent leaves of the sea fennel ...
... and this one ...
... by the Limbarda crithmoides, which also has succulent foliage. You can see a bit of the plant on this second photograph.
The Limbarda crithmoides created plenty of photogenic shadows ...
... so this relatively long segment of today's post is dedicated to them.
On this one you can see the flower as well ... I mean, the shadows of those flowers.
This is a shadow of slightly different branches, but the plant is the same ... I mean, it's the same kind of plant.
This is the most elegant Limbarda crithmoides shadow that I found yesterday.
Here I zoomed out a bit, so you can see a bit more real foliage ... and for the following photograph ...
... I zoomed out even more, so you can take a look at the seed - carrying part of the plant that projected the shadow.
Here you can see two different shadows made by fragments of Limonium cancellatum ... on the following two photographs ...
... you can take a better, more up close look at each shadow. This one is more complex ... more intricate ...
... but the smaller, the simple one, has an interesting deformation because it's projected on two surfaces.
Here is another Limonium cancellatum shadow.
These plants produce a nice variety of intricate shadows.
This one stands out. A pretty elegant little thing.
This is a shadow of the dried out inflorescence of the Plantago crassifolia plant. When it comes to composition, one of the best findings from the yesterday's hunt ... in my opinion.
Here you can see a generic mix of lichens and shadows ... and on the following photograph ...
... a cleaner, better composed variation of that mix.
Here you can take a look at another lovely mineral, and take a break from all those shadows.
With this enlargeable shot, the focus is on the Crithmum maritimum again.
Just like Limonium cancellatum, this plant creates plenty of nice, decorative shadows. But the variety of shapes isn't that great.
Here you can see shadows of two different plants. It looks a bit like they are talking, or communicating with each other in some different way.
This is also a mix of shadows. The floral parts of Plantago crassifolia and Limbarda crithmoides are involved here.
This is the first appearance of this kind of shadow in the post. I don't know what plant was involved in the creation. Just took this, and forgot checking what is projecting it.
This was made by some random short grass, or something like that.
This is a very simple shadow of some dry straw.
Here you can see another completely desiccated plant part. It's curved, and the shadow looks pretty cool.
This is yet another version of the Limonium cancellatum shadow ...
... and now, with these artsy edits of the most iconic shadows from this post, it's time to end the thing.
As always here on HIVE, the photographs are my work - THE END.
