Finally spring wildflowers are kicking into gear around here. Yesterday I ventured out with an idea in my head of doing something a bit different this year. It seems as if I go through this every year, wanting to create something a bit different than last season on the same flowers. I suppose I use it to push myself creatively and to not get in a rut of photographing things the same way over and over. Sometimes I go through this type of process where I have a very basic idea, and then it seems like a treasure hunt in attempt to find a subject that fits the idea like a missing piece of a puzzle.
Lone Bloodroot and sunlight
Well, this year the idea came before actually applying it to a subject. I have been learning slowly what works and what doesn’t using my 24mm f1.4 lens wide open. I simply love this lens. Using f1.4 seems to work well if you have a fairly isolated subject in the context of its larger environment. That seems rather common sense I suppose – isolate your subject. I found it harder to accomplish in practice because at 24 mm you are taking in a lot of environment. For wildflowers, you typically get around this by using longer focal length lenses and actually looking for backgrounds that are far away from the flower. You make a tight portrait of a flower, or just use a wide angle and a lot of depth of field for flowers in a landscape. My idea was going in the opposite direction of both of those things.
Once I had a subject, I wanted to then use some textures in post to accent the out of focus background. Now I just needed a subject that worked into this basic concept. It didn’t really matter what it was, but it had to work into that basic framework.
I encountered quite a few lone flowers, but they just had too many other objects around them that would compete in the scene. It might be a dominant tree that is too close, other surrounding flowers or other plants, or distracting angular lines in the background – all were working against the idea I had.
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Monochrome bloodroot & acorns
Umm… no – get your mind out of the gutter. I am referring to black & white vs. color photography! As much as I like to think a photograph speaks to me as wanting to be black & white from the start, quite often it just doesn’t happen that way. I will process an image in color and start to notice certain characteristics that might look great as a monochrome. Or on a whim, it is just a “what if” moment. Actually I am quite fond of black & white imagery, it has a great classic appeal, and removes so many distractions that color may impose.
However, there are images where I am just quite fickle – and I like it both ways – bouncing back and forth between liking one version just a little better. This recent shot of the bloodroot and acorns is one of them. Old wood is nearly always a great candidate – and similar to the contrast of fall and spring that exists in the subject matter – the contrast of fragile and delicate vs. rough and weathered becomes more pronounced in the black and white version. It is one of the instances where I cannot simply show just one version – so now both are out there. I am sure there are people that will prefer one over the other – that’s just the way it goes. That is fine with me – since I like them both – you aren’t going to hurt my feelings by choosing sides.
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Bloodroot & acorns
Spring wildflowers have finally started to bloom around here. A long, wet winter should prove beneficial for the growing season I hope. At least there will be some rewards from it. Most spring wildflowers are closed up early in the morning, so you have to make some time adjustments. I still end up going out fairly early anyway because I either photograph some closed buds, or usually find something else around.
If anything, it is a nice quiet time to do some scouting and just observe what is going on – get into the mood. I watched some deer for awhile feeding on the spring morsels that were popping up. I found an area that might prove to be good for wood ducks. There are a few nesting boxes, and there were already about a half dozen of them hanging around them. Very skittish of course. Nonetheless, it is a nice time just to be outside. On the flip side, getting up and down has served as a reminder for my back and knees that this gets a little harder every year.
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Spring wildflowers are popping up everywhere in Southeast Michigan finally. . With all the snow we had this winter, hopefully it will be a great year. . Through the rest of the season, I will be posting new images in my wildflower photography gallery. . Latest editions include Hepatica and Bloodroot.
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Last year, I completely missed the bloom of bloodroot While walking my dog this morning, I noticed it was already springing up on the side of “Wildflower Ridge.” This ridge is a small section of Clinton River Park in Sterling Heights that has an abundance of spring wildflowers There is a complete progression from the early risers of Bloodroot and Hepatica, then to Dutchman’s Breeches, Spring Beauties, then Trout Lily, May Apple, and Trillium Quite an assortment for a very localized area .
. Unfortunately, it can be a difficult place to photograph because it is, well – a ridge! This is not a fall down 1000 ft on sharp rocks- break your neck – poke your eye – and a hundred other bones ridge – but one that is steep enough to make it difficult to photograph on it It is also by a popular jogging / bike path – so I have to bet people wonder what the heck that person is doing laying down in the dirt Perhaps thinking I broke my neck and poked my eye.
Bloodroot is a wildflower that you can work a lot with because has interesting leaves, and even the unopened flower can yield some possibilities Although depth of field can be a bugger because the flower is often quite far away from the leaves, and the leaves have significant curl to them While I was walking my dog, I noticed this one particular flower that was backlit – and it immediately gave me an idea for a photograph Then she almost stepped on it! Fortunately I stopped her just in time.
This flower is usually only around for a week before the delicate petals end up falling off I was glad I could catch them this year – without losing an eye.
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