Early September in the farmer's field
Almost time to harvest the field corn:
Mist in the morning:
Signs autumn is approaching.
Cleome spinosa
One of my favourite places in this city in which to walk in circles — literally — and an excellent place to practice multiple-ing is Queen Elizabeth Park.
The Large Quarry Garden & Bloedel Conservatory
After I arrived at the Large Quarry Garden on a Friday evening in late August, I quickly picked my subject: Cleome spinosa (Spider Flower).
By visiting the park in different seasons I discover new-to-me plants with blossoms, berries, and/or foliage that delight and fascinate me. After learning about Cleome’s many desirable features — and especially that it attracts hummingbirds and butterflies when it flowers in late summer — I easily decided to reserve space for a few specimens in our front garden bed.
The World Around You (Week 1, A Month of Multiples)
At the end of the first week of Kim Klassen’s newest photography course, I decided to practice “multiple-ing” and story-telling near one of my favourite places along Hope River Road: a farm I pass by whenever I visit my mom on weekends. And so this past Saturday evening, I set out with camera in backpack and walked a familiar route past fields of corn to the farm where sunflowers and dahlias bloom exuberantly in late summer. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know I have photographed these sunflowers several times before. During this session, I applied the fundamentals of multiple-ing and as many of Kim’s tips as I could recall, and focused as much, if not more, on the process as on the subject. In Kim’s words, I made “time to slow down, breathe, be, see, and capture intentionally.”
Heading home, just before the golden hour:
From golden to blue
The magic hour of the day
On the flight path to the feeder
A hummingbird checks out the red poppies…
…and creates a delightful photobomb.
Painted Lady Butterflies
The first Painted Lady arrived in early July, just as the liatris in the front garden began to bloom; by the third Saturday in July, at least a dozen butterflies were gathering nectar at any given time from morning through early evening.
I was so captivated by their alternating fluttering and stillness, I dropped my gardening tools and picked up my camera whenever I needed a stretch and rest break from the gardening chores — which was often.
Painted Ladies (Vanessa cardui) in the front garden, gathering nectar from the liatris,
photographed on three Saturday afternoons and evenings in July.
Bouquets on the balcony
After sowing, thinning, and transplanting…
after supporting, protecting, and pruning…
after watering, weeding, and waiting…
after releasing expectations and gratefully receiving nature’s abundant, sublime gifts…
this…
a series of still life moments created and captured during recent gardening days at my mom’s home.
Papaver rhoeas (common poppy)
‘Parisian Pink’ larkspur
A mixed bouquet of zinnias, lavender, larkspur, and one long-lived hydrangea
Lathyrus odoratus ‘April in Paris’
Lathyrus odoratus ‘Jilly’
A mixed bouquet of ‘April in Paris’, ‘Jilly’, and ‘Mollie Rilstone’ sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)