Imperfect

Most of last year, 2020, I was in Pennsylvania, hanging with the family at the old homestead, where it was easier to deal with the pandemic. Social distancing was easy while hiking through the woods.

My camera was always with me on these hikes. I'm a nature boy at heart; I appreciate all the beauty that mother nature has bestowed upon us. I pay her tribute every time I photograph her work.
I arrived in Pennsylvania in March; spring was just around the corner. The forest was waking up. Plants, bushes, and trees were beginning to flow
I started photographing wildflowers along the trails. If one caught my attention, I would crouch down, even laying on the ground at times to get the best angle. I would focus on a particular flower, shooting in macro-mode, creating an image with a shallow depth of field.
I wanted to give each flower as much of the image frame as possible–kind of like giving them their moment to shine and be noticed. I do most of the cropping in camera, placement of the subject can make a significant impact on the image.

Sometimes, I would go back to the same flower on different days until I got the image I wanted. I'm weirdly obsessed like that, I guess.

Generally, photographs of flowers are perfectly placed, framed, and lit. Out in the wild, it wasn't easy. I had to work in challenging and awkward situations; positioning, lighting was not up to me.

As I began editing the images, I realized many of the flowers had some flaw; a slight imperfection. Maybe it was the weather, an animal, an insect; perhaps the mere struggle to grow and survive in such a competitive environment that took its toll.

Whatever the cause was, I realized that though they are imperfect, there is beauty in them. As I continue working on these images, I've learned these imperfections do not detract or make them a lesser flower; they make them unique, one of a kind.

They are perfect in their imperfectness.

TBC
bill

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