Photography in the Uinta Mountains

June 23, 2022 -  I had taken photos of all the wildflower species I saw around camp and we were relaxing in the shade. The bugs were bugging everyone, so we would sit in the sun. Soon we were hot in our long sleeves and hats. We stayed as long as we could stand it, then would move again to the bug-infested shade. We were waiting in the Uinta Mountains for our camper.

Occasionally you need to venture farther into the woods. It was then that I began to notice those smaller plants.  The ones that are much less showy. The one that fascinated me the most was only a few inches tall. The tiny plant had basal leaves shaped like the heuchera I had planted in Connecticut, but this was something entirely different.

Basal Leaves

The single stalk carried many flowers each less than 1/4 inch in diameter. The flower stalk bobbed slowly in the wind. I had to capture it with my camera! I made a mental note of its location as it was well hidden by waterleaf and bluebells I had photographed earlier.

Ballhead Waterleaf, Hydrophyllum capitatum

Tall Chiming Bells, Mertensia ciliata

Trying not to step on the surrounding plants but get a clear view of the tiny flowers was awkward.  I needed a clear view of the flowers, but most of them faced the ground.  I also needed to catch the swaying stalk between puffs of wind. And as always, avoid the mosquitoes.

I also wanted to document the shape of the leaves. Were they hairy or shiny? Were there only basal leaves. All this would help me to identify the plant later. I also wanted to note the size of the plant, but I had not brought anything to allow me to measure it.

If I put my hand in the photo I could scale the size of the plant when I got back home. It would also allow me to show you just how small the flowers were. But having a hand in the photo doesn’t make a pretty picture. And no I didn’t pick the flower. I am simply holding it steady with one hand while operating the camera with the other.

You will notice the blooms at the top of the stalk are not in focus. To get all the flowers in focus, I take multiple images, then stack them in Photoshop. Below is one shot of the images I stacked.

By combining nine images, I can get both stalks of flowers completely in focus and provide great detail. Below is the final edited image.

I still haven’t found the name of the plant but I think it is a form of saxifrage. There are about 600 species of saxifrage so finding which species will not be easy. And it could be from an entirely different family of plants. I have looked at many websites and books but most of these sources concentrate on the big flowers that are common.

I have said in previous posts that I am usually attracted to the texture of my subjects. Occasionally I am attracted to things that I think other people will not see, because they are so small, but should see.

This little plant is not the smallest I‘ve photographed. There is one that is smaller than a single leaf of the plant above. That little plant is shown below. I don’t know it’s name either. The ‘sticks’ shown on the right are actually broken blades of dried grass. The diameter of the basal leaf cluster is about the size of a quarter. I think it is just a pretty as the waterleaf and the bluebells.

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