As a summer project in 2023, I revisited some of my favorite nature photos from Tandy Hills, experimenting with blackening the backgrounds. I first saw this similarly done in the 1987 book, Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country, by Marshall Enquist. My process is different and is more about art than science.

One of my goals in re-processing old photos, is to help the viewer see and appreciate, with new eyes, the amazing plants and creatures of Tandy Hills without the distraction of background “noise”. Not to take anything away from the original photos that originally appeared in previous Prairie Notes, au naturel. Here they are again, back in black. (Click on each to see the entire photo.)

— Don Young

Crab Spider on Sword-leaf Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium ensigerum)

Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta) on Indian Blanket seed head

Bigfruit Evening Primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa)

Snakeweed Grasshopper (Hesperotettix viridis) on Eryngo

Green Lynx Spider (Peucetia viridans) on Eryngo

Green Comet Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora) & Queen Butterfly (Danaus gilippus) larvae

Showy Prairie Gentian (Eustoma russellianum)

Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina)
on False Gaura — Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) on False Gaura

Grooved Nipple Cactus (Coryphantha sulcata)

American Basketflower (Plectocephalus americanus)

Great Plains Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes magnicamporum)

Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia)

Prairie Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium campestre), white variant

Leavenworth's Eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthil)

Maximilian Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani)

Sideoats Grama Grass (Bouteloua curtipendula)

Leavenworth's Eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthi)

Green Comet Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora)

Prairie Pleatleaf (Nemastylis geminiflora)

Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Orange Sulphur Butterfly (Colas eurytheme)

Southern Dogface Butterfly (Zerene cesonia)

Brazos Rain-Lily (Zephyranthes chlorosolen)

Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella), variant

Tawny Emperor Butterfly (Asterocampa clyton)

Checkered White Butterfly (Pontia protodice)

Narrowleaf Puccoon (Lithospermum incisum)

Palmleaf Winecup (Callirhoe pedata) & Soldier Flies

Prairie Indian Plantain (Arnoglossum plantagineum)

Long-necked Seed Bug (Myodocha serripes)

Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) chrysalis

Hybrid Texas-Purple Paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa x purpurea)

Stiff-leaved Goldenrod (Solidago rigida)

Lady Bird's Centaury (Zeltnera texensis)

Common Buckeye Butterfly (Junonia coenia)

Tobacco Budworm Moth (Chloridea virescens)

Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) on Eryngo

Common Checkered-Skipper (Burnsius communis)

Topeka Purple Coneflower (Echinacea atrorubens)

Barbara's-Buttons (Marshallia caespitosa)

Bigfruit Evening Primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa) bud

Illinois Bundleflower (Desmanthus illinoensis)

Roundhead Prairie Clover (Dalea multiflora)

Narrowleaf Gumweed (Grindelia lanceolata)

Berlandier's Sundrops (Oenothera berlandieri)

Great Spreadwing Damselfly (Archilestes grandis)

Scudder's Bush Katydids (Genus Scudderia)

Assassin Bug on Narrowleaf Gumweed (Grindelia lanceolata)

Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella) w/ Skipper Butterfly

Climbing Milkweed (Funastrum cynanchoides)

Orange Sulphur Butterfly (Colias eurytheme)

Black Series Photographs

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