JAN CANNON PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG

Columbine

The columbine is just starting to bloom.  I get so excited by a new flower!  I will photograph it as it opens more.  There are more pictures of it as well as other shots from today on my photo journal.

Magic

I had no expectations for photographing today.   I didn't think that there would be that much difference from my shooting the day before but since I felt like being in the woods anyway off I went.  I ended up taking 390 shots for ultimately five pictures and that isn't a complaint.

What struck me today was how magical this whole process is.  I went to one of my regular spots, where there are a lot of violets, and found a clump that I had photographed before and there was one lone yellow blossom left and it was in good shape (a lot of the other flowers are becoming quite worn).  Since I already have quite a few shots of violets I was just going to admire it and take a few shots.  Soon after I started shooting the sun moved a little lower and cleared the forest canopy and began to back-light the flower and a portion of the leaves.  I started going crazy, getting different frames and basically shooting non-stop while the light was so great.  One reason I take so many shots when I am shooting macro, besides getting differently composed shots, is that the depth of field is unbelievably narrow.  The challenge of focusing is two fold, one, I'm shooting hand-held so there is a slight motion just from my clicking the shutter and then if there is any breeze at all the moving flower makes it even more difficult to get good focus.  So, for safety, I just shoot and shoot knowing that I can throw away bad shots when I get home.

It was a great day and I appreciate the grace that attended my efforts, the unexpected sun light on the violet and finding, on my way home, the jack-in-the-pulpit (picture above), again beautifully lit by the setting sun.     

I have a few new pictures up on the photo journal.  It's nice to have sun again after several days of cold and rain and a little snow.  

Trillium

Some new Trillium opened today and more is coming.  I find it a really hard flower to photograph in an interesting way. Maybe it's because it's relatively large for a wildflower and pictures of it aren't the revelation that pictures of the smaller flowers are. 

Flower Words

Since it has been raining and is cloudy I am not in the woods today.  Instead I have been looking up quotes about flowers. 

Georgia O’Keefe said that “. . . nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”  She also added that she would paint the flowers “big” so that even busy New Yorkers would take the time to see what she saw of flowers.

I love macro photographing the flowers and experiencing and sharing them on that larger scale too. In the process I spend the time which deepens my acquaintance with them.  It really is intoxicating; I have at times had to sit down to steady myself from the overwhelming delight of the experience of them.  

One who is unfamiliar with the woods might, from my pictures, imagine a stunning forest display of form and color but I think they would be very surprised by the smallness of the scene.  Granted, some flowers are quite apparent, like the Trillium and Dutchman’s Breeches but others are quite tiny and hidden.

Another thing I love about wildflowers is the absence of human design and control. In “Desert Solitaire” Edward Abbey wrote: “I hold no preference among flowers, so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous. (Bricks to all greenhouses! Black thumb and cutworm to the potted plant!)”  I too have a preference for the wild but I also have friends who are expert plants people and they don’t need to fear my “bricking” their greenhouses!

Here is a part of a poem, “Wildpeace,” written by Yehuda Amichai, an Israeli poet:

Let it come
like wildflowers,
suddenly, because the field
must have it: wildpeace.

Even though this final stanza of the poem has been separated from the context of the whole poem I think it makes a wonderful poem in and of itself.

Finally, in a tribute to the fruit trees that are begining to flower I am including some lines from Kenneth Rexroth's poem, “Toward an Organic Philosophy.”  

The purity of the apple blossoms is incredible.
As the wind dies down their fragrance
Clusters around them like thick smoke.
All the day they roared with bees, in the Moonlight
They are silent and immaculate.

Enough words!  It hasn’t begun to rain; I may yet make it into the woods today.

Pear Blossoms

I knew I wasn't going to be able resist photographing these beautiful flowers so it was in from the woods and up the ladder. Rain was forecast for the afternoon but it never materialized so I was able to get some shots.  I'm really pleased with this shot and how painterly the look is.  In it, and many of the other pictures I am taking these days, I am finding that I'm as interested in the out-of-focus areas of the picture as I am in what is in focus.  That said, in this picture I also love the narrow area of focus and the beautiful, rich red that is there.  I guess in-focus and out-of-focus go hand in hand.  Also, I didn't do any digital processing on the image other than making basic brightness, contrast and highlight adjustments.   

This Wonderful Season

What a thrill today, with the violets and trillium coming into bloom.   Trout Lily is also in flower everywhere and the amazing Springbeauty continues to dazzle.  The light wasn't good for the Trillium so I will try again tomorrow, later in the day, when the light is lower.

I hope the flowers will stay as long as possible in the wonderful condition that they are in now. Yesterday was super warm, in the upper 80's, but today is more seasonable and there is no extreme heat forecast.  I'll keep my fingers crossed that the flowers will last for a long, long time.  

I find it hard to imagine moving beyond this season, which has been so wonderfully sublime. Eventhough there is great beauty beyond the woods, with many trees having recently exploded into bloom and many beautiful flowers in home gardens, I still can't get beyond the woods.  There is a beautiful pear tree in our back yard.  Maybe it will entice me to raise my eyes from the forest floor, I don't know. 

Trout Lily

I've put a few new pictures up on my photo journal but still haven't caught up with the backlog. I hope to get some more pictures up soon but had to go ahead and put up  this shot from this morning.  I like the new color!

A New Flower!

I shot over 300 pictures today.  After I go through them I'll post the keepers on my photo journal.

Another Bee Anaology

My whole being is becoming absorbed by these flowers.  Most days, at this time of year, I spend at least a couple of hours in the woods taking pictures and even more time than that working on them on my computer.  It really impresses these images on my brain.  I close my eyes and see flowers (I guess there are worse visions!). 

I was thinking Wednesday that even nature may be starting to see me as a flower.  I was going into town and had forgotten something in the house and left the door to my truck open.   While I was inside the house one of my honey bees flew into the truck.  As I was driving I realized that I had company and was thinking that I would just leave her in the truck and let her out when I returned home.  Arriving at the meditation center I had a thought.  A few months ago I had fallen on some ice in a field while I was holding a tripod, bare handed.  When I went down my hand was caught in between the tripod legs and even though I didn't break anything I have had some minor discomfort in my hand since then.  Thinking that a sting might be good for it (see bee venom therapy) I impulsively put my hand toward the bee and she obliged me, putting her stinger immediately into my hand.  Not a good idea before a meditation though; while the sting from a honey bee is nothing the itching is fierce. Well, I survived the meditation and my hand does feel better.

While it's not perfectly analogous, as bees don't sting flowers, I liked the idea of a bee coming to me and my being a part of her and the flowers' world.