Working It!

Spring is finally coming to the coast of Maine, though very slowly! I'm seeing bits of color, which is wonderful because I have been starving for it! I've photographed the flowers popping up in my yard, but have been feeling like making photos of something beyond daffodils and crocuses. On a trip to the hardware store last week, a woman walked by me with a gorgeous Anemone in her cart which made me head straight to the garden area to see what I could find. I bought a purple Anemone, with one flower in bloom and 4 buds. I kept it inside for 2 days and two of the buds opened quickly. Here's the plant:

Planting season is still at least a month away in my area, but one of the things I love to do is to buy potted plants and photograph them before I put them in my gardens. This gives me the ability to move them to different locations for a variety of lighting and background choices, and I can even shoot them inside when the weather outside doesn't cooperate!  I can also shoot the flowers in various stages from buds to full glory.

Often my students will tell me that they can hear my voice in their head reminding them to "Work It!" when they are out photographing, and that's a good thing because working it works! And one of the easiest ways to work a flower subject is to shoot it with different backgrounds in different places where you have control of the lighting, and I can do that with a potted plant.  Of course I can do this with cut flowers too, but a plant will last longer and I can enjoy it in my garden as well.

Here are some of the photos I made this week, experimenting with different locations in my yard and moving in closer and closer, with different lenses and apertures too:

Here are a few others I've made from potted plants:

Happy Shooting!
Kathleen