Never shoot flowers, is a cardinal rule of the web, I'm told

Gauguin was the symbolist master too

Gauguin was a master of colour, but in his later paintings, he moved into bigger  questions: the meaning of human existence.  He abstracted his picture planes to large colour fields with archetypical gesture.

My interest in memento mori is in the same spirit.  What's it all about?  Surely more than just astro-physics, big bangs and Higgs bosuns.

In constructing a studio still life, one has unlimited choice.  The photographer is on his or her own.  You choose the content, the lighting, the angle of view, the depth of field.

I was thinking about the symbolism of the top photo.  It is a triangle which is graphically stable.  For Christians, the triangle is the Trinity.  The cherries for me are the promise of creation, bounty, fertility; the spilled cherries are the loss of innocence.  For the Japanese, cherries are beauty, immortality.

The lily symbolizes the hope of rebirth, but as a flower, they are fleeting, intense, beautiful and finite.

The mangoes feed and nurture but at their most beautiful, they are near the end: a kind of Keatsian burst of flavour and glory.

But for all that, we do create.  We do hope.  Life does go on and we think that is a good thing.  We are human and we endure and engage with optimism and hope.

When we try to unbundle the power of an image, perhaps symbolism plays a major role: but I don't really know for sure.  It is a non-verbal pursuit in the end.

Consider the lilies of the field......

In honour of the Higgs bosun non-discovery announcement today, I thought I'd mark the occasion by switching from roses to orange lilies with blue pottery.

Besides, I was getting a little, shall we say, over loaded, with roses.

Orange lilies grow wild in our county.  They are nick named "day lilies".   I'm not sure why.  They are ubiquitous.

When I was cutting these particular flowers from the side of the house, my neighbour happened by with her dog.  She is an avid gardener.

"The lilies are nice", she said, "but they don't last long....just a day."

"Maybe that's why they call them day lilies", I said.

Roses....7

I have created several rose still life versions of order with the silverware.  I thought a rose pose with a little chaos would be good, in honour of Higgs Bosun.

Fifty roses.....5

Several times during the short span of the fifty roses project, I have felt as if I have bitten off more than I can chew.  I simply don't have new ideas at that rate.

Then I remembered Georgio Morandi, who had proved such an inspiration to a painting project from earlier.

I got out the Morandi book and looked over his images to see what I could find to help with the roses project.  I got some of my Morandi bottles and repainted them grey, black and white.

I then realized that the thing to do is to meticulously arrange the bottles so the shapes and placement work well.  Then I had to light them to do the same for tonal relationship.

It has helped me move the Fifty Roses forward another step.

Fifty roses.....4

I have done variations on a theme in this series but I don't want to bore people with similar images.  I've decided to rotate between the various variations to keep it fresher.

Here is a black and white image processed in Silver Efex Pro. It is a bright red rose with a red filter, which renders the rose whiter.

Fifty roses....1

Here is the first attempt in the fifty roses project.  As you may recall,  I foolishly decided to attempt fifty roses photos that are different from any done before.  Good luck.

The first was supposed to be simple.  I figured my best hope was to portray absolutely simple images.

It started simple, but then a tin cake plate got into it for dull spectral highlights; then a nice white plate, which just screamed for Death, who wormed his way in with the white plate as a halo.  The dead petals were added with the plate, randomly dumped.  I needed some balance, hence the dried white roses.  My grandfather's chipped straight razor was added to echo the shape of the coffee pot and direct the eye up (and maybe just a smidgen of memento mori).......

And before you know it........anyway.

Do not put flowers....part 2

The lilies are less spectacular than the roses.  They travel in packs.  It seemed to me they only revealed themselves when bunched together in a group; confined to a small space.  Maybe it's just me.

Never put flowers in your portfolio....1

Scott Kelby, a teacher and Photoshop expert advises "never to put flowers in your portfolio".

I think it's because everyone puts flowers in their portfolios and therefore:

a) art directors are so sick of seeing them they hurl,
b) since everyone does it, the odds are virtually certain that someone did better flowers than you and yours suck by comparison,
c) Botticelli had the final word on this in 1547.

So if you agree with Scott, you should find another blog to peruse for the summer.  Our front garden is given' 'er and it's liable to be a floral summer.

The rose bush is in flower (probably till November), the lilies are in and I like the way the Fujifilm X Pro-1 with the 60mm lens renders colour.

Peonies demi-mortes

The peonies are fading fast. I barely experienced the transition from beauty to rest.

But this is the first year for these blooms and I didn't expect them to be full blossoms at all.

Beauty is where you find it.

The peonies bloom, it must be spring

I have always associated peonies with spring.  It was one of my mother's favourite flowers.  Therefore, peonies have way too many Proustian connections to fathom.

They are an heroic memento mori for me.  They burst forth with far too much glory and have heads that they can barely hold up.

And when it rains, as it inevitably does, they fall gloriously to the ground, overburdened, sparkling with wet and full of life as they fade to the end.

Love, hate...no it's love........part 3

This fujifilm X-Pro 1 is quite something.  I am now able to shoot with my big strobe soft box.

I couldn't for a while.   I had the camera in "silent mode" because I dislike the beep: the flash doesn't wortk.  It took me hours to find our why the flash didn't fire.  I guess I'm just not on their wavelength.  I almost lost it, but then read the manaual and had a cup of tea.  It was an epiphany.

The controls aren't intuitive but they are well thought out.  They help make photographs:  tres important!

I'm off to Europe Tuesday afternoon.  I'll try to blog from there.  I'm taking the fuji and two lenses.

Petal me

my flower,

petal me

one by one.

my spring flower,

petals over me,

tender  thrill.

shiver  still.

I eat you with my eyes, 

savour your petal face,

lie down like a clown

in the wake of your smells,

inhale you,

breathe in your graces.






(copyright.paulbailey.2012)

Tulip series part eleven...reprise encore

The tulips in the front garden are almost done.  I decided that I wouldn't diminish their beautiful lives much by cutting them and photographing them.  They are big, colourful and just past their prime.  The red ones have already lost petals in the slight wind and rain.

That I cut them just before they were about to expire reminded me of my ongoing memento mori series. Therefore, the second image is with the skull.  In fact, I have added cracks and white teeth to my skull with paint to spruce it up. Looking good!    I blame Damien Hirst.

The skull is ready for her/his cameo however.

The daffodil just demanded some attention

There is a daffodil growing on either side of our front  door.  Both have those bonneted heads and a glorious tilt and fullness.  I just had to photograph it, so here it is.  It is a little late for Roman Easter but just in time for Orthodox Easter, April 15.

New tulips part 1

These tulips are potted and on the bulb.  I'm not sure where this one is going.  I liked the white colour but I'm not sure I'm getting it.

we'll see.

Light reveals the form more naturally

I have quite a few projects active currently.  Consequently, I didn't post two of my favourite shots from the tulip series.  Here they are.

I quite like the way the beauty light (soft box positioned beside the camera at the front and up at the ceiling) forms the subject.

It takes quite a lot of work to get these images to reveal their secrets, but it is well worth it.  I think the modelling is very interesting.

It is a more naturalistic view in that the forms are lightest on the close surface and darker on the surfaces that are further away.

Do the tulip droop...part 3

I am documenting the tulip droop.  It seems I'll turn anything into a series these days.  Tant mieux !

This time I shot them with the beauty light, not the Rembrandt light.  I was stunned at the result.  The beauty light (soft box high above and right beside camera position) models the forms spectacularly.

Sometimes you have to try different things even if you don't think it will work.  Happy accidents.  This is the second time the beauty light has come through; the first time was with the two portraits of SL.

I will use the beauty light more now.

BTW, if you'd like to look at and perhaps purchase my photography book here is the link   Tools & Silhouettes   .