“Meadow Pan #2”
Heatherwood, Summer
Continuing my exercise from yesterday, I picked a grouping of grasses and vertical spiked perennials for my subject. I was inspired to create the pans for today and yesterday’s post by Laura Zimmerman, a fellow workshop participant in a recent John Barclay workshop in the Palouse. Laura’s work takes in-camera motion to a much higher level than what I have previously seen. Thank you Laura!
“Meadow Pan #1”
Heatherwood, Summer
How many ways can I photograph our garden? So many times I walk through the garden and create images with just a little different perspective that what I have done so many time before. I photograph in monochrome, infrared, color, macro, wide-angle, underexpose, overexpose, HDR, on my stomach, up on a ladder, time lapse, long exposure, and on and on. Today’s challenge was to make images using a soft diffuser-type filter. For this image, I picked a section in our meadow that was full of summer color and did a gentle vertical pan.
“Fields of Dreams”
The Palouse, Washington
Watching sun patches and shadows flow across the Palouse fields put my mind in a dreamy state. I squinted my eyes and dream-like patterns passed in front of me.
Fields of Dreams
Across the sky, flowing clouds
cast patterns of dreams
of light and shadows on fields of green.
“Wheat Dunes”
The Palouse, Washington
Conversation to myself: Squinting my I eyes I ask, “Where am I?” “Are these the rolling dunes of Death Valley? I thought I was in Eastern Washington. There are sand dunes in Eastern Washington. Aren’t there?” I slightly open my squint and see a shade of green. “No, this isn’t Death Valley.” I open my eyes further and see the textures of young winter wheat. “It’s the Palouse!”
“T.A. Leonard Barn Abstract”
The Palouse, Washington
Sometimes I feel like I need to play. What more needs to be said.
“Orangeola & Kotoji Abstract”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Today is a very special day full of sweet and happy memories of the past. Many times we spent the day walking through gardens around the areas where we lived. On our adventures, we were always keeping our eyes and mind open to observe the beauty surrounding us, both natural and man-made. We collected ideas on what we could bring home to our own garden.
Other years we would explore various garden centers and purchase new additions for our garden. We couldn’t wait to plant the new acquisitions. Here at Heatherwood, I have been able to draw on these previous experiences to develop a Japanese-influenced garden in part of our property. Strolling through Heatherwood takes me back to prior wonderful memories and stimulates me to enjoy the present and look forward to bright future days.
“Forest Pansy Redbud”
Heatherwood Spring
Heatherwood continues to give up something new and interesting every time we stroll around the garden. Little elements of nature abound at every turn. These gifts are for the taking. I just need to recognize them and add a little creativity.
“Impressionistic Variegated Redtwig Dogwood”
Heatherwood Spring
As I stroll around Heatherwood, I am constantly on the alert for those little vignettes that catch my eye. For this shaded scene, I first noticed contrasting blue and green colors. Looking closer, the contrasting textures of grasses, the variegated redtwig dogwood, and the background blue spruce add to the interest. Reviewing the image on my computer, I thought that it would be interesting to view it as a painting. I added an impressionistic flair to achieve this image.
Spent Rose
Heatherwood Winter
Nothing is perfect … nothing is permanent … nothing is complete. Wabi-sabi is a characteristic concept of our Heatherwood garden. I find beauty in every aspect of imperfection throughout our garden. This spent rose was a beautiful red flower in its prime. The summer flower’s fleeting beauty transitioned to these stems and rose hips in the fall and winter. In nature the hips would release the seeds to the ground. Its life is incomplete as the seeds create new plants.
I admire the beauty of this rose stalk and hips every day as I sit and read and look out our family room window. They fascinate me. I do not have the heart or desire to prune the winter roses to make them look neat. I just simply enjoy them as they are. There is plenty of time to prune the roses before the spring growth.
Beebaum Multi-exposure
Fountainville, PA Garden
While searching through old images to help me come up with new ideas for enhancing our meadow for Heatherwood, I came upon several images of an arrangement of red and purple beebaum perennials. Aha! … the images blurred in my mind and I came up with the above abstract.
More practically, the image did give me an idea. We currently have red beebaums in the garden. They are relatively sparse and the tall blooms droop after a wind. The purple beebaum is a lower growing species and will prop the taller growing red blooms up as well as provide a nice complement shade to the arrangement.