The Quiet Picture

Another trip to Messlingen, with a mission. I’ve gotten over the disappointment from the last time, and I’ve actually made some significant process – I’ve found a reliable craftsman who can finish the cabin. Although it won’t happen until after midsummer, but I don’t have any vacation until July so that’s perfect. Today’s job was to do some cleaning and furniture assembly because I intend to spend my first night in the cabin in two weeks’ time and I wanted to prepare for it. No toilet or running water so I will have to rough it, the cabin is kind of a glorified tent at the moment… with solid walls and proper roof, and a microwave oven.

But I’m getting ahead of things.

Before I even got to Messlingen, I checked out the calypso orchid which is just a short detour. Normally they are in bloom in late May/early June, so there should be some buds by now. And yes there were buds, and also a number of individuals in full bloom so I reckon they will peak in about a week. I already have a lot of closeups so I will attempt some environment shots instead, like the one here.

When I arrived at the cabin, I set to work straight away. Out with all the junk, clean the floor and put together a table and a chair. The floor will take more work though, even after vacuuming and washing there was still a layer of dirt on it so I will have to take more cleaning equipment with me next time. While I was working on the furniture, I heard a knock on the door. A neighbour! I was really nervous, I had been avoiding to speak with any neighbours because they must be furious at me for letting this construction work go on forever and the place looks like it does. So I was absolutely amazed to hear that he had no grudge against me, he understood that my contractor was the problem here and told me that I should absolutely not worry about any neighbours, they’re all nice people. I can’t tell you how relieved I was about that conversation, I was almost floating on air! I have been so worried about what the neighbours think that I have been embarrassed to park my car at the cabin every time, just hoping that nobody would notice me. When I finally had finished the table and the chair, I was truly happy to sit down and have my first cup of coffee in my cabin!

Time was flying by and my choices were to put together more furniture, or go for a walk. So I went for a walk, and I didn’t even consider other alternatives than the Fiskhålsgraven ravine. It’s just a 3 km hike on a good trail, but about half of it ascending – about 200 m to the top of the ravine. I’ve been to Fiskhålsgraven many times before, but this was the first time I came from the Messlingen direction and the trail gave me a pleasant surprise, which in the future will make the ascend a whole lot easier. The trail follows a small brook which is of course constantly falling so you just need to take your pick which particular section you want to shoot. Because this is still early spring in the mountains, there’s nothing growing along the brook and it’s not looking very nice. But come summer and come the green, it will be a whole different story!

When I was walking up, I had an epiphany. It was a real feeling of belonging, something I rarely experience. Normally people would have that feeling when they’re at home, I mean that’s were you belong, right? But not me… my home is just a place where I live. I’ve never felt that I’ve grown roots anywhere, it seems like everything is just temporary in my life. Even if I’ve had the same job for years and lived in the same flat for years, it’s still somehow temporary (it’s very evident in my flat, it’s full of temporary solutions!). Never trust anything, because the moment you do the earth will cave under you. So I’ve never belonged. Until that moment walking through a naked forest… I belong here. Amazing. The cabin that has been killing me in the past year is now saving my life, if you please pardon the dramatic license!

Back at the cabin, I had another cup of coffee. Do I dare to trust?

I think that summer just started for me. It’s green everywhere, the sunshine was warm today and I was attacked by swarms of mosquitoes in the forest. The day was so good that I’m not even complaining about the bites!

I drove back to the calypso orchids. There were in full bloom now, but I also found some buds. This time I counted 29 individuals and I also tried to keep track of the white vs coloured individuals and I guess it wasn’t quite fifty-fifty as I speculated last week. About one third of the flowers I found now were white. Sunny day as it was, I got a spotlight on one of the white ones while the background was shaded. Sometimes black backgrounds work and sometimes not, and in this case when the subject is white, it’s like an inverse silhouette!

Having done the macro, I tried a new thing – landscapes. Ok nothing new about it as such, but it certainly was the first time since the winter, apart from a few intimate landscapes here and there. I drove to one of the nice spots I found last year, this one north from Fågelsjö. It’s not an ideal location for the afternoon light because most of the photogenic scenery will be backlit, but the place is so good that there’s always something.

When I arrived, I was greeted by a family of canada goose. It’s also possible that they were urging on their young to swim faster to get away from me… anyhow, I soon found many more canada geese and I had my cup of coffee looking at the birds, they swam to a safe distance of about 50 metres and then they didn’t mind me anymore. Still too far for any meaningful photography, which didn’t matter because I didn’t have a long lens with me and even if I did, all the birds were backlit. So I could enjoy the coffee in peace and then concentrate on the landscapes, until a couple of the canada goose decide to swim right into my frame! They even quite generously stopped for a moment so I could get some pictures (granted, not much a bird picture but a fair environmental shot anyway) until they decided that I was really up to no good and they took off on wings.

Summer, no doubt about it!

I needed to check on the calypso orchid today. This is just the right time for them judging by the past 3 years, but it turned out that 2010 is a week behind. The very first thing I discovered when I got to the location was that it was wet – very wet. The water was streaming down the path at one point, I’ve never seen it this bad even if some water on the path is not unusual as such. But the calypso orchid wouldn’t be growing here if they didn’t like water, so I counted 20 individuals. However, only one or two of them were already in full bloom, and even that is probably a generous nomination. Give them some warm weather and I’m sure that they will look glorious in a week’s time, and there’s probably more of them, too. Considering how small some of the individuals were, there’s a good reason to believe that some hadn’t even popped above the ground yet.

I’ve heard that this location contains an unusually high number of white individuals. Every year there’s been quite a few of them, but I think that this year is exceptional for the colour variation. I didn’t keep exact numbers but it seemed like about half of the individuals I found were white.

The picture is playing a prank in my head, it looks like a big mouth with the tongue hanging out. I’m having a hard time seeing it as a rare and beautiful orchid now! Check my other calypso orchid posts to see what it should look like.

I suddenly realised that our first orchid, the calypso orchid, might already be in bloom. Two years ago I was photographing them at this time, last year they bloomed over a week later. What if they were early this year? So I drove to our secret calypso orchid location and … they looked great! I didn’t see any withered individuals, so my timing was perfect. In fact, I could go back there this weekend and they will still look fine, I ever found one bud. And happily, there were more of them now than last year, May was so warm and dry last year that the calypsos suffered from it. It was dry now also, but maybe the thick snowcover in the winter helped them.

In all of the calypso orchid pictures I’ve taken so far, those top petals have been flat or even curving down. So this time I tried to find individuals with the petals pointed up, but I only found a few such. Maybe it’s an indication that these fairy slippers haven’t actually even reached full bloom yet? To be honest, I don’t really know what regulates the flower’s behaviour. Makes it all the more interesting!

The way I figured it, I would only have one opportunity to get this right. If I wanted a keeper image of the calypso orchid, it had to be today – the flowers were starting to get past their prime. It was another dark and overcast day with a spot of rain, but that only made the flowers that much sweeter. I was able to go down to ISO 200 for a few shots but mostly I kept at 400, not my preferred ISO but I made an exception for this rare orchid and rare occasion. In this image, I used a reflector to light up the underside of the flower.

I am still buzzing about having seen the calypso orchid. I don’t have words to express how special I think it is!

Something very special happened today. I was contacted by a person who asked if I’d be interested in photographing the fairy slipper, or calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa). Say what?! This orchid is very rare and I had known that it was borderline possible that there was one place nearby where they might be growing, but my intel was years old and I was sure that they’d be gone by now. This is the southernmost location for the flower in Sweden, but it doesn’t really get common anywhere in this country. Anyway, suffice it to say that I was indeed interested in seeing this flower. I mean, nevermind photography, just to see it. Imagine my amazement at seeing these flowers in surprisingly big numbers, there on the forest floor. This has got to be the most exciting flora encounter in my history as a flower photographer (or, ever)! It was late evening, overcast weather and dark forest so I was shooting at ISO 1600, cue lots of noise in the image. I don’t care. These could be the worst photographs I’ve ever taken. It doesn’t matter – I got to see the calypso orchid. It doesn’t get better than this!

White variant of the normally pinkish orchid, Wikipedia has more info