Nature Photography: Coexistence (No. 17) – Floral Clouds

11 February 2019

Prologue: This blog is my ode to Mother Nature. And, clearly, I’m trying to give nature a voice: visual and written. We are so tiny within the wondrous universe. To realize our true place in the cosmos gives pause, but also adds a sense of urgency to act and not accept.

Lens:

Taken in Polamatic and edited in Snapseed and Pixlr.

Floral Clouds Photomontage I (Christmas Palm), Longwood Gardens; Sally W. Donatello 2019 All Rights Reserved

Taken in Polamatic and edited in Snapseed, iColorama and Pixlr.

Floral Clouds Photomontage II (Christmas Palm), Longwood Gardens; Sally W. Donatello 2019 All Rights Reserved

Click onto each image to enlarge. Let me know which you prefer. Prints are available upon request.

Pens:

These atypical winter days of 40s and 50s pulse thoughts of spring’s awakening. That rejuvenation of a day’s trajectory lovingly fills my imagination. Yesterday as the warmth of an almost 60-degree day swept through the region, I merrily strolled the grounds of Longwood Gardens, spying on shadows and trees.

Hours of meandering outdoors was topped with the Annual Orchid Extravaganza in the Conservatory. While those tropicals are luscious visual jewels for the heart and soul, outside was the star.

In the Lens section is my salute to this unusual and spritely spring-like weather. Images are waves of summer’s floral coloration. Each abstraction allows the mind to imagine the possibilities behind the clouds and the waves of hues.

These two images are made from two photographs and manipulated with double exposure to give them double meaning. The execution from pure image to post processing (with digital darkroom techniques) renders the final photographs anew: two different photomontages. Through my interpretation each image is re-imaged. I envision spring with heavenly painted clouds that overflow with rejuvenation. They also overshadow dark predictions, replacing them with glorious floral splendor. Even as the second photomontage seems to cry with tears of reawakening, for me it conveys the work of healing that must begin.

Just as the camera’s lens is a representative of my intentions, the use of other photographic tools allow me to experiment and produce a photograph that speaks to my heart, and more clearly symbolizes what I want to say. Again, allowing me to represent the possibilities sparked by nature.

While a single image of a floral beauty can be enough, apparently it has not become enough for my own self-expression. Experimentation continues. Interpretation evokes the seen and the re-imagined.

Note:

Philosopher and literary theorist Maurice Blanchot (French, 1907-2003) wrote with serious intentions about the human condition. His commentary about the act of seeing is worth reading.

Here are two examples:

“This is sight’s wisdom, though we never see only one thing, even two or several, but a whole: every view is a general view. It is still true that sight holds us within the limits of a horizon. Perception is a wisdom rooted in the ground and standing fixed in the direction of the opening; it is of the land, in the proper sense of the term: planted in the earth and forming a link between the immobile boundary and the apparently boundless horizon — a firm pact from which comes peace.”

“I wanted to see something in full daylight; I was sated with the pleasure and comfort of the half light; I had the same desire for the daylight as for water and air.”

 

 

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