Cornell Reunion at the Cornell Plantations

On Friday, I spent three hours in the Young Garden of the Plantations. This garden focuses on the meaning of flowers, their cultural history, and how they are involved in our lives. The florist motto is "Say it With Flowers", which is an apt description of this garden.

In the garden, there are weather protected books that describe the characteristics and cultural importance of the major flower in bloom at the time.

I welcomed visitors and gave some background to the garden when appropriate. When I offered to photograph a Chinese family, they insisted I be pictured with the mother of the group.  It was a nice day and pleasant event.

Here are some pictures I took while "on duty".  I especially like the one of the Tulip Tree, which was in full bloom near the patio.  Other pictures are of the Lewis Center, the descriptive book in the garden, the elegant iris and the peonies.

Magnificent Coral Peonies

My friends in Lansing have an exquisite selection of peonies, both regular and tree peonies.  My favorite is the coral peony that is magnificent in display each year.  Here are a couple shots from this week, one of which was an unadjusted image while the others were "played with" in Photoshop.

Macro photography of peonies

I set up a photographic arrangement inside with access to ambient sunlight, using both black and white screens for background.  This was one way to avoid the heavy winds this week that prevented outside photography.  I used a 60mm macro lens on my Canon Rebel camera. Let me know what you think of this approach.

June 1 Garden Flowers

After weeks of rain and a soggy backyard, the perennials are coming into bloom. Early!  Today, I took pictures of the pink and white peonies, the orange poppies, giant allium, and the blue and purple iris.  The pond is encircled by yellow iris that have spread by their own methods of distribution from the original plant.  On the surface of the pond are many first leaves of the lotus flowers, which look very similar to water lily leaves, but are too numerous to be the latter.

Hope you enjoy these images.

Flower Workshop in NYC with Barbara Bordnick

I just returned from a very educational workshop under the direction of floral photographer, Barbara Bordnick. We first went to the flower market in lower Manhattan and chose flowers to photograph. Then we learned a great deal about sophisticated lighting with strobes, much of which I do not think I will be able to duplicate.  Barbara and her assistants gave instructions on lighting, floral arrangements, and processing of the images for printing.  Once again, it is apparent the power of Photoshop!

The flowers photographed included tulips, peonies, poppies, and phalaenopsis orchids.

Here are a selection of the images I photographed this weekend.  Please give any comments and suggestions.