Category: flower

Soft Light

There is no such thing as bad light.

When I just started photographing the only good light I knew was a sunset or sunrise. Then I added daylight with sunlight breaking thru the clouds which was creating an interplay of shadow and light on the ground. But for longest time I thought grey overcast day is bad light that is not suitable for photographing anything.

Well, I was wrong. I just did not develop my eye enough to see what a beautiful soft light an overcast day can give. That’s the best light for photographing deep in the forest where direct sunlight falling down thru a thick canopy of leaves and branches create extreme contrast.

Overcast day on the other hand creates nice soft light that is smoothly descending thru every opening and canvasing the ground with soft highlights.

What a perfect opportunity to photograph this flower that is blooming deep in Pacific Northwest forests whole spring and summer. I love its perfect triangle of three petals and three leaves.

Tulip Fatigue?

Every year there is a tulip festival in Skygit Valley. It is probably one of the best events in the northwest. It attracts a lot of people and that includes photographic crowd. I’ve photographed there many times of the years.

This year I went to photograph there too. Strangely enough I ended up with no photographs of tulips. I photographed workers picking up bunches of tulips for sale. I photographed dirt roads, fences, trees, and everything else around except tulips. Do I have tulip fatigue and don’t respond visually to fields of tulips anymore?

Workers Picking Tulips
Workers Picking Tulips

Bus at the End of the Road
Bus at the End of the Road

Look Up, Look Down

After taking panorama of cherry trees in blossom at University of Washington campus I started photographing individual trees. Always my favorite shorts of trees looking up into the sky with a wide angle lens. I love the mesh of branches:

And then I focused on individual flowers and brick pattern with a macro lens:

Cherry Blossom

There are so many great photographers around that we don’t know about. Recently I’ve discovered John Song (http://www.johnsongphoto.com/). He considers himself a beginner photographer but he does this amazing work that captivates my imagination. What’s most interesting for me is that he lives in Seattle area too and captures his amazing landscapes of places that I’m very familiar with. It makes me ask myself how I did not see that and inspires on photographing even more.

Inspired by his photograph of cherry blossom at University of Washington campus (http://www.johnsongphoto.com/?p=1876 last photo with a brick walk going into the distance) I went there for several morning trying to do something similar, but as it often happens ended up with a different interpretation of the same subject.

Cherry Blossom at UW
Cherry Blossom at UW

PS Click on the image to see a large version.

Magnolia

Spring time in Seattle is a time of blossom. Lots of trees in parks, in back yards and along the roads are in blossom. As I drive I note places with a nice display of flowers and then return back with a camera.

One of the local favorites is magnolia with its big flowers. One of the challenges photographing magnolia is its really bright petals. This particular tree was in deep shade while background was in an open space with more light. This allowed for some well-balanced photographs.

Simplicity

… Still going thru my photo archives (posted about it before in The Art of… Clean up) cleaning up photos that I feel I would not be interested in looking at ever again, categorizing those I’d like to keep and assigning keywords to them. While doing this I find some little gems that I feel deserved sharing.

Here is one of such photos. This photos is about simplicity; simplicity of color and curve. I like pure yellow of the flower. I like light blue sitting in a shade between petals. The colors themselves bring me some joy but then there is also the perfect curve of the flower petal which is a pleasure to follow.

Color and Curve

Zen

The question that I here the most is where do I get an inspiration. The answer is simple – I don’t get it, I wait for it.

When I’m on a photo trip I start photographing without inspiration, even without clear goal in my mind. I’m photographing and waiting; waiting for that one image after which everything becomes clear. Suddenly, my mind and my soul opens up to the world. I start seeing everything differently. The world becomes part of me and I become part of it.

Here is that photo from my last trip to California. After it I started seeing beyond flowers; seeing lines shapes and light.

California Poppy

What if that doesn’t happen, you may ask. Well, that means I was not in tune with the world was around me. Maybe next time or next place.