Clymer Meadow Preserve, East Side

I don't often take advantage of the outings Sean Fitzgerald puts together for the NANPA of North Texas Meetup group. But I've got to hand it to the man; he always finds really great places to shoot in an area where finding great nature opportunities isn't all that easy. This past Saturday he arranged for us to get special access to the Nature Conservancy's Clymer Meadow Preserve about an hour northeast of my home for a late afternoon shoot.

According to the Nature Conservancy web site, the preserve "contains some of the largest and most diverse remnants of the Blackland Prairie—the Texas version of the tallgrass prairie that once stretched from near the Texas Coast to southern Manitoba."

Also from the Nature Conservancy site, "Because of the prairie's rich agricultural soils, more than 99 percent has been cultivated, making the tallgrass the most-endangered large ecosystem in North America."

I found the three trees in the past three shots to provide a really strong midground anchor around which to compose, while varying the foreground and background elements.

This Climbing Prairie Rose was hiding down in a shallow ravine.

Even down in the aforementioned ravine, I still found myself drawn to that stand of trees.  I do wish I'd removed that dead stalk in the lower right.  It amazes me what I notice in my photos that I didn't notice when I was actually in the place.

Sean encouraged us to focus too much on tight closeups of wildflowers with blurry backgrounds.  But I figured a few wouldn't hurt, like this Texas Thistle.

Same for this Prairie Indian Plantain.

I spent my first hour or so wandering around the east side of FM 1140.  After a quick return to my car for a drink and to apply some more insect repellent, it was time to head to the west side.  So, more to come!