Full Blog Album
Week One
Image descriptions: Simple illustrations of a cuttlefish, hercules beetle, leafcutter bug, paper wasp, Pacific blue-ringed octopus, and squid. Each illustration is done in a style with bold black outlines and vibrant, minimal, unblended colors.
Image descriptions: The first photo is of a pair of small, pale brown mushrooms. They are growing out of mostly bare dirt, though there is a green vine growing behind them and leaf litter on the ground. The second photo is of two pink-ish brown mushrooms growing in grass. The larger one is more centered and visible, while the smaller one is slightly hidden. The third photo is of a bright yellow slime mold (likely a Physarium species) growing on the roots of a tree alongside some moss. The fourth photo is taken from underneath the overhang of a columnar basalt formation, showing the distinctive 'woodpile' look of the rock.
Week Two
Image description: A drawing of a cerulean warbler, done in pencil and watercolors. It is facing left and perched on a small stick.
Week Four
Image descriptions: The first photo is of a grey birch tree with leaves that are beginning to go yellow. It has four separate trunks brancing out from the ground. The second photo is of moss growing on a small rock, which is covered by water. The third photo is of a bald-faced hornet nest built around the stems of small, weedy plants on the ground. The fourth photo is of a small fern growing between the cracks in a moss-covered rock.
Week Five
Image descriptions: The first two photos are of a four-toed salamander, one showing the dark brown dorsal side and one showing the black-spotted white ventral side. The third photo is of a small eastern-spotted newt being held by someone wearing blue nitrile gloves. The newt is displaying the adult brown coloration despite being incredibly small. The fourth photo is of a clean deer jawbone on the forest floor, placed next to a yellow Rite in the Rain notebook to show that it is roughly 6 inches long. The fifth photo is of hen of the woods fungi growing on a log. The sixth photo is of a large brown shelf fungus growing out of a stump.
Week Six
Image descriptions: The first photo is of an eel inside a white pvc pipe tube. The second photo is of a pair of taxidermied river otters. One is posed standing on its back legs and it wearing an orange witch hat. The other otter is on all fours.
Image descriptions: The first photo is of a wetland with a series of large clear cylinders and other equipment set up. The second photo is of a small snail on a blade of grass. The third photo is of a yellow garden spider perched on her web, which spans the gap between tall grasses. The fourth photo is of a small brown spider with an orange abdomen perched on a piece of pvc pipe. The fifth photo is of a small grey jumping spider on a wooden railing.
Week Seven
Image description: A photo of a small red-backed salamander positioned between a set of calipers, which show that the salamander is at most 35 mm long.
Image descriptions: The first photo is of a small streem running through a sharp ditch in the forest. The sunlight has created a rainbow. The second photo is of another stream, taken from above to show the flow of the water over the rocks. The third photo shows another stream, flowing over large rocks in such a way that it seems to vanish and reappear. The fourth photo is of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with a clear and uninterrupted view of the different ridges vanishing into the distance.
Image descriptions: The first photo is of a crayfish being held facing the camera. It has one front pincher raised up in a way that looks like it is waving. The second photo is of the Shenandoah River, taken from the bank of the river.