By John Enman
“It is my intention to present – through the medium of photography – intuitive observations of the natural world which may have meaning to the spectators.” Ansel Adams
I had waited all winter for the garden to be covered with snow.
I enjoy photographing the garden out my front door and as long-time readers know, I am out in every season, no matter the weather conditions, wandering with a macro lens and flash photographing features that catch my attention.
The snow had stopped overnight and I was anxious to go out to the garden with my camera. The day was overcast and late in the afternoon the wind finally calmed down to a slight breeze.
I have two macro lenses, a manual focus manual 200 mm and an auto-focus 70-180mm. Writer Ken Rockwell describes the late 1970/1980 lens that is the first 200 mm micro lens as “precision incarnate…everything about it says precise.” (I do like that lens).
My second macro lens, a 70-180 mm auto focus lens, was introduced in 1997 and because it is also a zoom lens it allows me to change the macro image size without moving my camera.
I usually prefer that sharp 200 mm manual focus for most of my garden close-up work, but on a breezy day the auto focus is much more convenient as I trudged through the snow holding my camera in one hand and an off camera flash in the other. I know, I tell everyone a tripod is an essential tool for macro photography, but in that cold breezy environment everything was moving and I was relying on the flash to stop that movement. I had the flash attached with a coiled sync-cable and used it on TTL. The flash would stop the movement and highlight the subject I had chosen. I kept my camera was on manual mode, although aperture priority; AE Nikon and AV Canon, will work just as well.
The light was flat and I waited till 3 p.m. for the wind to die down and I was slowly loosing the late afternoon light.
The winter garden is fun and even if the photo trip is brief there is always so much to photograph. I look for snow on the plants, fence posts, and anything else that resides in the snow-covered garden just outside my door.
In Adam’s quote I began with his line, “…intends to present.” I’m usually happy with some of my garden photos, but they are for me and I enjoy using my camera, and I don’t think we photographers always need get hung up with our photos as a “presentation” for others. I think the unaccompanied, solitary garden photography walk, no matter the season, will always produce a selection of images that can be edited, manipulated or just looked at with a critical eye.
I’ll conclude with another quote by British garden photographer Clive Nichols, “Garden photography is unique because gardens and flowers change from day-to-day, and even within a day.”
Stay safe and be creative. These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.
