Flowers

Summer 2009 - gallery - One of the first specialty lenses I purchased was a micro lens. And I bought is specifically to shoot flowers. I don't know of anything that has the color range of a flower. I have dreams of printing and hanging huge canvases of flowers all over my walls.

The summer 2009 set was shot at the community garden down the street and at Brenckles Garden Center. The community garden has hollyhocks. Who would have thought I'd find them here in Pittsburgh. (An old Italian gardener in Sault Ste Marie perimeters his yard with hollyhocks and I've always admired them. Last summer I wanted to shoot them, but ran out of time.) So when I saw them, I had to photograph them. Finding the bumblebees and the lightning bugs was a perk. The lightning bugs were mating in the morning sun. (These images are in the Additional Pages.) The Garden Center is where I buy my summer plants. I've always fantasized about shooting at the Center and I finally got to do it. The Center covers a hillside with glass-plated greenhouses and miracle-grow colors.

 

Summer 2008 - gallery - The images in this set are from three different locations - the sweet-william is from my mother's garden. She's more tolerant of ugly foliage. The roses are also from my mother's garden. She lives in northern Ontario with its short growing season and still manages to grow beautiful roses. I love roses, and when I first moved into my house there was this amazing blood-red rose bush. However, within three years it had died. I've tried growing roses, but the plants never flower and the aphids drive me crazy. My mother doesn't seem to be as impatient as her son. The buganvllea and geraniums are from my back yard. These are all potted plants that require constant watering and feeding.

The remaining images were shot at one of the many community gardens, throughout Pittsburgh, sponsored by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. These urban gardens fill up street intersections and highway medians. The images are from the community garden on McKnight Road. I took advantage of the many hours that the volunteers put in to produce a field of color. The zinnia is a flower that reminds me of farms and randomness, but in a close up all that's there is the colors. The marigolds are there because of the contrast between the green and yellow. The image with the bumblebee is like the rain drop, a nice surprise. The last image in this set is lantana in my back yard.