In Dreams…..

“Perhaps,” he said, “I dreamed her….she was too beautiful to be real….”

Friday Musings….

Recent rain has left the landscape a rich, lush green, and with the leafing out of the trees the woods return to a place of magic and mystery, a green goddess guarding secrets. Early flowers are at the end of their blooming cycle….lilacs touched with rust, drooping, battered tulips. Scattered petals dot the grass, lending the illusion of a carpet of small flowers. Iris and peonies are cuing up for their showy debut….spring peppers singing down at the pond. A lone woodpecker picks at peanuts in the feeder….a brilliant orange and black oriole touches down to sample some jam….the first hummingbird of the season appears at one of the nectar feeders, a tiny winged jewel. The scent of apples and spice rises from my morning cup of tea, and together, these sounds and scents and images are interwoven to form the tapestry of my day.

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Every photographer is drawn to certain types of subjects. Flowers is a broad category, and I find them endlessly fascinating–the variety and the shape of the petals, the colors. Equally fascinating is what remains when the flowers are finished blooming; there is a poignancy to spent blooms that has me returning to capture their unique beauty, time after time.

Thanks for stopping by–and if the images moves you, leave me some love. 🙂

Peony

From the archives; shot earlier this year, after a rain shower…

Peony

Peonies, Revisited

New spin on peony images shot earlier this year….

One Shot, Three Applications

I love the range of applications available in editing my images. I don’t always use one; it depends on the look I’m trying to achieve, the audience I want to reach. Black and white is a timeless, classic look.

And there’s no denying that full color shots can be show-stoppers, but if an image is too saturated it doesn’t always print well–at least in my experience. I strive for a natural look and sometimes that means toning down the color a bit.

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There's a third option–and I doubt I'm the first to think of it–that I refer to as "color wash." I take the saturation all the way down to black and white and then add just the tiniest bit of color back. It's a different approach, a softer look, and again, it depends on your audience. And personal choice. I like giving my viewers, and my clients, choices.

Which one speaks to you? I’d love to know. Comments always welcome.

Glory Among The Flowers….

The blooming season of the peony is finished and while I’ll miss the large, fragrant, top-heavy blooms, I can revisit them in my photos. Their delicate scent, however, is something only memory can evoke. This is the way of the garden–one species has its moment of glory and then gives way to the next.

Bejeweled

Shot earlier this morning; liking black and white on this one….

After the rain…..

My camera’s battery was going and I was fortunate enough to get in a few shots after the rain stopped. This was the best of the lot.