Nature Photography: Coexistence (No. 40): Black Thai Banana Leaves Collage

12 August 2019

Lens:

Black Thai Banana Leaves Collage; All Rights Reserved 2019 Sally W. Donatello

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

Pens:

At the end of last week the humidity and temps descended, prompting me to visit Longwood Gardens and its cultivated summery gardens. The lush growth was ready for all spectators and we were entranced.

Waves of grasses interspersed with annuals that displayed visual enticements. The barely-felt wind gave rows and rows–each with a new color–of this year’s plantings a gentle sway. It was inspirational and spiritually uplifting, a rainbow of nature’s bounty.

The morning light cast shadows on the giant leaves of Black Thai Banana trees, which were planted along a lengthy walkway. Each side was blessed by the way the sun’s rays lit the underside of each leaf, producing abstract shapes. I was captivated by the voice of each image; the effects mesmerized.

For me it was another experience that proclaims how light becomes the perfect element and foil for photographic image making. Without it: nothing. With it: everything.

Note:

“Everything is made of light.” ~~ Heraclitus, Greek philosopher

“Everything we see is light.” ~~ Paul Cézanne, French artist

“I make spaces that apprehend light for our perception, and in some ways gather it, or seem to hold it…my work is more about your seeing than it is about my seeing, although it is a product of my seeing.”. ~~ James Turrell, American artist