Visual Reflections: Nature Photography in the Age of Uncertainty – No. 39 (Tulip Collage)

16 April 2018

Lens:

Tulip Collage; All Rights Reserved 2018 Sally W. Donatello

Click onto image to enlarge. Let me know your response to this photomontage. Prints are available upon request.

Pens:

Decade after decade the list of flowers that captivate my spirit grows. Clarity often rises unexpectedly. But there are specific ones that always will tantalize my senses.

And so it is with the tulip. Suddenly their inner and outer beauty became apparent. Still it’s been less than a decade of adoration. There are specific elements in its architecture that simple overwhelm. As the petals align in place, they seem as though they are miniature mountains moving into the distance, layer upon layer. They entrance both outwardly and inwardly. But in the early stages the outer petals are the first to charm me.

The tulip in the Lens section is my first spring sighting of this spectacular seasonal mainstay. I was visiting a local botanical garden, and was awed because their tulips are at least two weeks ahead of mine. And I’m two miles away as the road travels eastward.

And it was such a glorious surprise, the row of delicately pinkish tulips drifting side by side in a gentle wave of color. I went to spy on pussy willows, and first my heart was captured by blossoming tulips.

They have come to represent the transformation of the chill of winter into the spritely light of spring. Their symbolism resides in my head, cozy and inspiring a close up examination of their offerings, inside and out.

While these spring jewels are but one of a multitude of Mother Nature’s progeny, they single the season’s awakening—an awakening that carries hope in the duet of nature and human nature. But clearly there is more to their influence.

Spring’s abundant glory expands my inner landscape as the outer visual landscape transforms into a verdant vista. And hope rises as the light beckons new life.