More from Balduck Park - Early Spring

A revisit of the nature walk at Detroit's Balduck Park found some new early spring gems:

Ribes nigrum 

 Euonymous obovatus

Staphylea trifolia

Balduck Park in Early Spring

Cheryl English (Black Cat Pottery), our friend Catherine and I were treated to a balmy spring morning at Balduck Park in Detroit. The native blooms were small and occasionally hard to find, but the images show that even in the most ordinary of urban wilds, there is extraordinary beauty to be found if one can only stop and look closely enough.

Lochmoor Club in Grosse Pointe Woods

New work for the Lochmoor Club in Grosse Pointe Woods was a rare treat, photographing extraordinary landscape and architectural views in several visits at all times of day. "Look toward the light" is my favorite garden photography tip. The sun is just out of the frame in nearly all of these images.

Iris, Clematis, Baptisia

Photographed in Cheryl's garden in late May. See Cheryl's Etsy shop for her newest pottery designs.

Landscapes and Interiors for Lochmoor Club

The Lochmoor Club in Grosse Pointe Woods is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. I was asked to photograph the grounds, clubhouse and interiors for Grosse Pointe Magazine. It was a 'picture perfect' morning - sometimes the sky smiles on photographers - so excellent conditions for landscapes prevailed. The interiors and exteriors were somewhat trickier with the high contrast, but nothing we can't handle.

The exterior images were completed by 11am - 'a good landscape photographer gets up early, stays out late, and takes a long lunch!'

Skunk Cabbage Surprises in Summer

The Skunk Cabbage at Seven Ponds Nature Center continues to surprise me. Cheryl English from Black Cat Pottery and I recently re-visited the Seven Ponds Nature Center on July 9 and found the summertime form of the Skunk Cabbage to be just as astonishing as the early spring form.

The foliage that this plant develops is remarkably vigorous, abundant and just plain durable-looking.

This one leaf is fully one foot wide and two feet long. And it grows in the light shade of high branches from a stand of mixed oak and ash trees. The soil conditions are moist - the area is near ponds that flood in the springtime, so early summer moisture levels are still high.

Companion plants like these ferns show how large the Skunk Cabbage leaves are on average - plus the illumination and soil conditions that they favor.

At the base of the clump of leaves is the early development of a seed pod:

For this image, I used my closeup rig with a speedlight in a 24" umbrella with radio poppers and a remote release. I also use the mirror lockup function to minimize camera shake. An aperture-priority exposure with a minus one stop on the ambient makes the flash exposure more dominant and keeps the background a little darker.

Another garden photography tip: "tidy up!" Making sure that the area is free of distracting debris will always help focus attention on the important parts, rather than something that looks lout of place.

And so the cycle continues. We'll be revisiting again in the late fall to see what new surprises this remarkable plant will reveal.

Beautiful Grosse Pointe Gardens

Recently I was astonished by the amazing patio garden at Sierra Station in Grosse Pointe Park. Now I have the opportunity to present some recent photographs from the Grosse Pointe garden that supports it.

The container plants that are always looking so perfect at Sierra Station rely on the nursery beds at an equally amazing garden at the owner's home. A great collection of perennials provides structure for annuals and containers that are part of the restaurant's patio collection.

Just look at that front porch - the abundance of blooms, the profusion of varieties.

In the rear yard a long border of daylilies and oriental lilies is interplanted with annuals and accented by hanging baskets. My garden photography tip of "look toward the light" is well illustrated in these images:

Thanks to Grosse Pointe Magazine for choosing to feature this garden in an upcoming issue. Maybe you will see one of my favorite closeups:

Custom Pearhut Sculpture

This monumental work was crafted in aluminum by Pearhut for the Michigan State University's Clarence E. Lewis Landscape Arboretum.

Photographed on a chilly spring morning, the day was also the occasion of a day of service for professional landscape crews and local volunteers who did a big spring cleanup.

The day started out rather dark and dreary, but the sky cleared just in time to get some nice backlit effects - "look toward the light" is a good thing to remember when photographing in the garden.

Skunk Cabbage at the Seven Ponds Nature Center

Cheryl English of Black Cat Pottery is creating an article for Michigan Gardener Magazine. One of the featured plants will be skunk cabbage. It is not only appropriately named, but also has a unique seed dispersal method that requires certain events to happen at certain times - much like many successful creative endeavors.

The search for skunk cabbage began with locally-available areas that might have suitable growing conditions - this is a plant that is quite particular in its habits. We should be so lucky that the plants might be readily available, but it was not to be.

Cheryl inquired with all her naturalist friends - and the response from Seven Ponds Nature Center confirmed it - skunk cabbage in abundance. So we drove out and there it was - an absolute embarrassment of skunk cabbage in all its scented glory.

We had a perfect day for photography - cool temperatures, variable sun and clouds, but the swampy conditions the plant likes made for some slippery footing for the photographer and his rapidly-chilling assistant Cheryl. We spent the better part of two hours photographing the plants - it could take days to properly document the plants that were there - and ended up with at least one good photograph.

I take no chances when making my portraits of flowers - I use a tripod,  a wireless remote release, plus supplementary lighting. Each image is scrutinized, evaluated, checked, magnified.

Why? Today is the day we have and there will be no better time than now to make what is presented in front of the camera the very best it can be. There is no reason why any photographer should run in, snap a frame and run home and call it a day. The creative glory that is a skunk cabbage deserves no less than our total concentration and our best effort.

Whether the effort is for commercial clients or for personal work, I will not stop striving to improve until a satisfactory photograph has been created.

Can you imagine such things live here among us? Take a moment from the everyday ugliness that is our metropolitan life and just enjoy the abundance, exuberance and sheer impressiveness of nature.

We hope to return and revisit its form in summer and fall - the leaves are large and the seed head is unique. Read Cheryl's post about skunk cabbage here >>

Garden Photography for Grosse Pointe Magazine

This new garden at a Grosse Pointe home was chosen for the Spring issue of Grosse Pointe Magazine. I was pleased to photograph it for them, putting my skills as a garden photographer to good use. I also enjoyed talking with the homeowners who really get into the planning and use of their outdoor spaces.

 

The best time to be in this garden was late in the day or early in the morning. I did both, returning on two excellent days for garden photography - each had good skies and little wind.

Be a Better Photographer by Using Your Heart

My previous post, How to Get Great Photos of Your Favorite Plants, was heavy on the practical and a little thin on the emotional. As a photographer with a strong background in art history, I understand that great work is not just great technique. It is an artistic vision that begins in the heart. Mastery of technique is certainly required to communicate one's vision, but it is this vision thing that is the subject of this article.

My thesis is that strong feelings make for strong photographs. When the photographer is closely connected on an emotional level, it shines through in the work somehow. Maybe it is that little bit of extra time or extra effort that makes a difference. What drives this extra effort is an emotional attachment to the subject and the revelation of it to viewers who sense that bond.

Yes it's all kinda mystical and new-age-y. Even silly. But an emotional attachment is there on some level and that's what we want to tap into when we are trying to get great photos in the garden or landscape.

You've been out there in the perfect stillness of a dewy morning, been rushing out when the sky clears after a thunderstorm to look for the rainbow, been struck by the radiance of a sunset. And you have said "That would make a great picture." But what you have been feeling is "This is a great, emotionally-charged moment."

So what to do? Be present. Be there fully in the moment, with no distraction. Pay attention completely to your little rectangle of the world as you frame and focus. Your connection to your subject needs to be unwavering. There must be a clarity of vision that reveals truth.

If you only see a bunch of plants or spots of color, you are not there yet. Get closer or farther, get behind, in front or to the side, but work your way around your subject until you can feel it there with you. Hey, you've taken the time and effort to get outside and start photographing - why not bring everything you have to the enterprise? Make emotion a part of your technique - all it takes is concentration, connection and clarity.

How to Get Great Photos of Your Favorite Plants

After my talk for the Grosse Pointe Garden Center, several people wanted more information on how to improve their photos using their own equipment.

My first tip is to get out early or stay out late. This means that the best light begins just before sunrise and just after sunset. This period of "magic light" provides a nice low,raking light that defines shapes very well. Trying to get good results when the sun is high - from 10am to 5pm - will be quite difficult.

This time of day will also have low light levels, so camera shake can be a problem. I recommend the the photographer bring a chair with them and use the seat or back as a rest for the camera. (the photographer can sit in the seat too) Most people have seen paparazzi chasing stars with cameras, but never noticed the one thing they have in common: a certain way of holding the camera with arms tucked into the body so that the camera is solidly supported. The right hand holds the right side of the camera; the left hand holds the bottom of the camera. This also keeps fingers out of the lens. (no more pictures with fuzzy blobby things in the upper left corner!)

Another tip is to get out there in all weathers and all seasons. Keep taking pictures of the same plant through the growing season!

Now, I just said something bad: taking pictures. One should "make a photograph" not "take a picture." The act of making a photograph better describes the process. One should be actively looking at the subject, seeing the light and how it reveals the subject, knowing what camera settings can be used to best advantage. "Taking a picture" is just a grab at success. "Making a photograph" just might ensure success.

When composing a photograph, what is beyond the subject or around the subject can make or break your composition. Always check the corners of your frame; always watch your background. Look for power lines. Attend to the neighbor's bright yellow green blue red plastic child's toy monstrosity and keep it out of your photograph!

Take your time. Walk all around your subject; get closer, farther, higher, lower. Don't just run in, ambush the poor plant and fire away.

This might be a good time to talk about the virtues of digital capture. With a digital camera, one can preview each image - an invaluable help. Digital capture also means that there is no penalty for making more images. Take the memory card to Walgreen's and print only the ones that you really want. Try doing that with film. The costliest aspect of an ongoing photographic hobby is now gone.

The final tip for this first installment is to get closer. Your physical proximity to the plant is important - arm's length is a good place to be. You can experiment with walking farther away and zooming in to fill the frame, but things look flat and boring.

More photographic tips will come in future posts. For now, go outside and take another look at your garden - through a photographer's eyes.