Photo credits for Cold Climate Gardening website header images

– Posted in: About this site, Blogging Art and Practice
5 comments

Some photos are more interesting when cropped severely

So many people expressed admiration for the header images that I decided to put them in the Cold Climate Gardening Flickr pool. You can view them here. It is a challenge to find images that are still interesting once you cut them down to 780×140 pixels. On the other hand, some photos are more interesting when cropped severely. I think I’m getting better at finding those.

Speaking strictly as a totally biased mother, I think there are some pretty talented photographers in my family. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a high-resolution digital camera, and the willingness to go tromping in all sorts of weather. Many thanks to all my offspring who granted the use of their images and the Flickr space to show them off.
Second story window view - Photo by Rundy taken January 2005

About the Author

Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She gardens in rural upstate NY, which used to be USDA Hardiness Zone 4 but is now Zone 5. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002. Find her on Instagram as kopurdy.

Now, the digging and dividing of perennials, the general autumn cleanup and the planting of spring bulbs are all an act of faith. One carries on before the altar of delayed gratification, until the ground freezes and you can’t do any more other than refill the bird feeder and gaze through the window, waiting for the snow. . . . Meanwhile, it helps to think of yourself as a pear tree or a tulip. You will blossom spectacularly in the spring, but only after the required period of chilling.

~Adrian Higgins in The Washington Post, November 6, 2013

Comments on this entry are closed.

Betsy March 14, 2007, 2:30 pm

I’m glad you posted this because I have been wondering who the amazing photographers are. Beautiful!

Ottawa Gardener March 11, 2007, 8:22 pm

Ha ha! Fixed! (not so shifted anymore). Very nice.

Kathy Purdy March 10, 2007, 7:23 pm

Craig, I haven’t yet figured out how to use CSS to create captions yet. I miss them myself. The view is out a second story window that looks east into our “backyard.” We own a narrow 14 acres so everything you can see directly ahead in the center of the photo is ours. In the bottom third center you can see the entrance to our chicken yard, and a path in the snow going straight to the chicken coop.

I did take another stab at fixing the IE problem. In my version of IE it still is a bit shifted to the left, but not extremely so. I’m not going to be fighting with it anymore.

Craig Levy March 10, 2007, 7:11 pm

Your statement, “On the other hand, some photos are more interesting when cropped severely.” resonated with me. I also had to crop a picture severely and surprised myself how the dynamics in the picture changed. There was more focus and attention to the details that can be overlooked when looking at the same in full size. It’s like making them new again.

My wish is for captions on pictures, especially when they don’t directly support the subject in the post. I like the crazy “bangs” of ice and it looks like an enclosure behind them, possibly for animals, but I’m not sure. I know you use the tags, which let me know where, by whom, and when the picture was taken but not the subject. It is too intriguing of a picture for me not to wonder more about it.

Technical note: I use Windows XP and 98 with IE, Mozilla, and Firefox and your website looks fine on everything.

Ottawa Gardener March 10, 2007, 10:54 am

Nice pictures! I love this site and am happy that you are keeping it in such great shape.

BTW: For some reason, it is radically left justifying it so that there is no buffer – maybe it’s just my computer.