“Hana Matoi”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Across the path from the Hokkoji, a Hana Matoi Japanese maple, captures our strollers eye. It is planted on the hillside and surrounded with rocks, ice plants, and thyme. The vignette created by the maple and ground covers can be seen from multiple spots through out the Japanese garden. It is one of the key focal points of interest. Below are a couple of highlights:
“Meadow Contrasts”
Heatherwood, Summer
This small meadow vignette is full of contrasts: disc-shaped yellow rudbeckia flowers, spike-shaped green grass, ball-shaped blue thistle, and reddish-purple penstemon. A soft diffuser filter helps blend them together.
Different vignettes like this abound in Heatherwood’s meadow. This is its second year and it has started to fill in rapidly. In a couple more years, it should be a solid mass of color, shapes, and textures.
“Meadow Multiple Exposure”
Heatherwood, Summer
I couldn’t get what I wanted with vertical panning for this vignette. I then tried a series of vertical images to create this garden abstract. I enjoy working a subject to try to create the feeling I am trying to achieve. I have several failures for each success. However, I learn from each one.
“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.
“The Color Wheel”
Heatherwood Meadow
Some images are clearly best in Black & White. This is not one of them!!! This image of our Heatherwood meadow has all the colors of the color wheel. Testing myself, I could not come up with a color that is not represented. Two years ago when we designed the meadow, we actually used a color wheel as a tool to identify the perennials we would plant. We are fully enjoying the results of the effort.
“Conifer Corner View”
Heatherwood Spring
This image is the springtime perspective of the view from the southeast corner of Heatherwood looking north. A semi-circle of conifers and junipers surround an Adirondack settee from the back. Specimen conifers encompass the sides. And, the foreground area with shrubs, dwarf conifers, and ground covers focus our immediate interest. We borrow the distant background hills frame the view. We call it our little “Conifer Corner.”
“Meadow, Rock, & Japanese Gardens”
Heatherwood Spring
Heatherwood is comprised of several separate garden areas. Each one has a distinctive feeling and character. Even though the gardens are distinct, common elements link them as they flow from one to the other. The scene above illustrates three layers of gardens; the foreground meadow, the mid ground rock garden, and the distant background Japanese garden. Conifers and rocks are repeated to transition from the Japanese garden to the rock garden. Perennials are repeated to transition from the rock garden to the meadow. Together they harmonize with each other.
“Spring Meadow”
Heatherwood
I was away on a photography workshop in the Palouse for just a week. I came back to a wonderful surprise. Our meadow had transformed from a collection of buds to a burst of spring color. Yellows, greens, reds, and purples burst throughout Heatherwood. It was a wonderful welcome home!
“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.