Friday, January 28, 2011

Floral Friday!

Late Summer Peony
(1/320 sec @ F/6.3, ISO 200, 110mm fl, 55-200 mm Tele Zoom)

I'm thinking about devoting themes to my blog. To help keep me focused on the different areas of photography I love to work in. And I'm thinking Fridays will be floral... hence "Floral Fridays". A fun way to go into the weekend, to add some color, drama, and beauty to our final week day. I'll add links to great places to photograph flowers and fauna. And local botanical events coming up. And always include a botanical image for your viewing pleasure. What do you think of this idea? Let me know in the comments below.

I particularly wanted to post something floral today. Here in Southern Ontario, we've had snow, snow, and more snow. And as fun as that can be, I'm just hankering for color! The image above was taken this past summer. It was part of my job to capture the color and beauty of the Perennial Beds at Gage Park, overall AND up close and I will admit the close-ups are my favorite part. And I love peonies. This was one of the last fresh blooms of the summer, and was pristine. I composed the shot in the late morning shade before the bright day's heat had a chance to wilt her. I set up the tripod and remote shutter release, and used my telephoto for the close-up so I could soften the shot slightly without losing too much detail. Almost like photographing a beautiful lady.

Using public greenhouses and nature centers through the winter is a great way of making sure those photog skills don't get too rusty while you're waiting for the nicer weather to come along (unless you're one of my many friends living in a toastier climate for much of the year, you know who you are) so keep an eye out for local bulb shows, orchid societies, and growers associations having exhibits. Many of them are free, and hoping to see more of the public come out. You'll stay warm, and get some great images to lighten your winter!
So thanks for letting me ramble on, and drop me a line to say what you think of themes through the week. Gosh, now I need ideas for Monday.... hmmmm.
Have a good one folks!



3 comments:

  1. Just beautiful, Christine. Your floral images have always been some of my favourites :)

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  2. Thanks Tracy... it's been a long while since I posted some, so I thought I'll make it a regular feature. Glad it made someone happy! Awesome new portrait btw! You always have a great smile.

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  3. I am looking forward to reading the feature, and thanks for the compliment :)

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