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.
… 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.
One of the advantages of having a great place to photograph close to my home is that I can always quickly get there. Brooks Jensen – one of the photographers I highly regard – likes to say “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”. Well, I’m always prepared. All my photo gear is in the car. As soon as I see a great sunset, I hop into my car and take off to those flower fields that I mentioned in the previous post.
Here is one of the lucky moments I think:
Chamomile at Sunset
Sometime all it takes to get a nice photo is to step out of your door.
I live in an area that had a lot of construction sites in hey days of housing bubble. When recession started a lot of them were abandoned. In just a couple of years nature reclaimed them and turned them into meadows with a beautiful display of wild flowers. There are lots and lots of different kinds of flowers. What’s interesting is that every year there is a predominant flower. This year is a year of lupines.
Now I don’t need to drive or fly far away – it takes only 5 minutes to get into a wild flower meadow. I guess there is something good about recession after all.
Not Like Others
Remember the times when we were kids and it was so much fun to run into the middle of a flower field and lye down on your back and look into the sky? I remember it.
The same works very well in photography too: get down to the ground, to flower level and feel the connection. Look at the flowers, breath flower scent filled air, listen to the field.
In the morning the ground is cold and the air is fresh. Dew drops are covering flowers that are still asleep. Air is filled with birds singing.
As the sun gets higher it gets warmer. Flowers open up and flies wake up. Buzzing is all around.
When it gets closer to the dusk the field goes to sleep. It gets quieter and quieter. Flowers close up. Only lonely crickets disturb the stillness.
vitali prokopenko | fine art 