For International Cat Day 2017, here’s an image of Lyra. She is a black long-coated rescue cat who I adopted as a kitten with her littermate, Neo (also black). She is definitely mummy’s girl; she follows me around the house, speaking to me and giving head bumps and rubs. Small or large, cats are the epitome of stunning evolution made manifest in the perfection of a cat.
So I started editing a bit to give my macro plant images a bit more character and unique quality. I liked the idea of toning everything down into moody blues and greys. I’ve done that with a few images and I’m really pleased with the results. In fact, some of these are almost the first images I’ve produced that I can say I’m actually happy with. Are these suitable for canvas? Maybe a couple. Would anyone buy them? Probably not! It would be nice to sell some.
I’m in it for the art…
I never liked dahlias when I was studying horticulture at Royal Horticultural Society levels and learning all the plant names. I found them blousy and showy and over-the-top – not subtle in any way, unlike my favoured hardy geraniums. Well, they are all of those things… but I have grown to appreciate their blousiness and brashness! Their symmetry is impressive and can stop you in your tracks and lead you to wonder how nature achieves such perfection in a flower. And they are great to take macro captures of.
Macro photography is utterly addictive to me. It appeals to the OCD, detail-orientated, obsessive side of me. As such, I cannot seem to get off the macro mode. I will do, in time, but for now the obsession is strong!
We took a few days time out to Carcassonne in the south of France. I took over 3k shots – most were useable, surprisingly, but these are some of my favourite captures.
I have been very remiss lately with updating my photography blog. It has been a very active time for me with a new camera and updated lenses, and I am learning a lot. I still need to go back to basics again and re-run through all my lessons, but I am improving leaps and bounds so I’m happy. The macro work seems to have inspired a few others to pic up a camera and start climbing into plants to take close up shots – people who would not have appeared interested previously – which is always flattering and encouraging.
Here are a few captures from Harlow Carr in Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK from the weekend. There were many more captures but these are primarily the macros.
