Hepaticas

Hepaticas are one of my favourite spring flowers. Trying to photograph them can be a bit of challenge. Even though they're blooming in abundance this year, trying to find some that are in a good "clean" situation without a lot of grasses or twigs or other debris, and with a good background, has not been easy. I finally found a clump that was growing at the base of a clump of trees that looked like what I wanted, but it was behind a pile of pine firewood. I had to jam my overgrown self in against the tarp and pull branches out of the way in order to get the shot. There were a few bits of pine needles and dead grass that I picked out of the way so that streaks of white wouldn't show up in the photograph.

Many shotst that I take are what photographers refer to as "record shots", which are just fine by me, sometimes I want a record of how nature really looks. I think too much of our visual presentation of "cleaned up" scenes can create an unrealistic expectation of how nature appears. Many people who grow up in cities and who do not have much experience getting out and about in the woods and fields are disappointed when they don't find the showcased images on t.v. or in magazines. Having been influenced by fellow photographers I do try to get the "best" image, but have to watch that I don't overlook grabbing some shots of what's "really there". Sometimes those "record shots" are valuable when teaching people about where to look for things in nature, and about their real life history.

After shooting the "pretty" blue hepaticas in their nice clean setting, I wandered on up the hillside. There were bunches of white hepaticas growing in the grass...er, sedges. I took some shots of them in their "real" setting. Only after downloading the pictures did I realize that the abundant sedges surrounding the hepaticas were not a distraction to the image, but became a background pattern, and enhanced the shape of the flowers.