Flower project week 6
I dragged my husband out of the house early this morning. I know it is the Easter long weekend and I really should be letting him sleep in but I wanted to show him the beautiful display of Spring flowers at the Conservatory. We got there just after it opened and pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was heavenly to sit on a bench in the warmth of the building and enjoy the rays of sun pouring down on us from the sky lights while listening to the relaxing gurgle of the water fountain. I think Henry enjoyed my assignment destination as much as I did this week ! There were so many varieties of flowers in bloom! Please enjoy just a few of the many there. This project is not only working well to polish up the photography techniques but it is becoming a great way to get out to see the displays around the city and meet new people as well!
Happy Easter!
Flower Project week 5
Just getting this weeks project in “under the wire”. It has been an incredibly busy portrait week-and finding time to find a flower and photograph it was a bit difficult to do. To be honest I really didn’t even feel like doing the project this week. It was hard to find that burst of energy both physically and mentally to get the job done. So therein lay my challenge this week- getting the photography job done and just pushing a little harder to accomplish the task when I don’t always feel like it.
Perhaps my lacklustre mental energy is due to the fact that the weather is still …still… still.. HORRID. Snow and cold temps still remain.
To add a little perspective and insult to injury- I went downtown yesterday morning for an outdoor photography session with a Family-One of the streets was closed off and made to look like a Christmas Fest including mounds of snow, twinkling lights and blown up inflatable Santas (lol-only in Winnipeg in the middle of April can you make it look like Dec. !) and then just before my session began -yes, you guessed it-It started to sleet and then snow!!!! I’m sure the movie people were ecstatically gleeful with the weather pattern!! Me and my clients-not so much… 😦
So hence I can’t help but feel a little BLUE!! I think that’s what drew me to this lovely Hydrangea Plant at the store-it had multiple hues of amazing blue, purple and pink tones. It just enticed me to want to capture those wonderful hues with my camera.
Here’s hoping next week finds us in warmer temps! I’m thinking I might have to go in search of a “tropical” subject for next weeks flower assignment…
Flower Project week 4: Zoom colour blast
Winter continues on here in Winnipeg. I should be grateful that we were spared the blizzard that our neighbours to the south in Fargo and Minneapolis, received a couple of days ago. But I felt a sense of desperation yesterday as I watched the weather person on T.V. try to sound ridiculously upbeat as she shared the forecast of -17 C as our high, ” a couple of degrees warmer than yesterday! ” she announced. G-R-E-A-T. The snow banks, although a little reduced, are now black with dirt and the city seems so devoid of colour. And today it SNOWED all day long. 😦 Fighting hard to make it through this. So, this weeks flower project has me searching out much needed colour and fun. I put together my favourite colour silk scarf from Anthropologie, a bunch of red tulips from Costco and a fav. metal piece of art in my home. Took those and a fun Zoom technique with my 24-105mm lens to see what the lens would capture! A Blast of colours appeared and it did my heart good just to spend the 20 min. basking in the colourful hues. Hope you enjoy the bright blast as well!
A sneak peek at my set-up above.
Birthday Flowers-Flower Project week 3.
Yesterday was my Birthday. My husband walked in the door from work and brought with him a huge beautiful arrangement of flowers. My heart soared – I’m so lucky to have this man in my life and so blessed to have such a big supporter of my photography. (He did say to me as he handed them over -that the flowers were for my birthday AND my flower photography project this week. ) 🙂 So I guess this weeks challenge is to photograph flowers chosen for me and to keep the images in tune with the natural/classic feel of the flower arrangement. This arrangement was a creation from the amazing Tatiana from OAK&LILY florists on Corydon. Check out her work by clicking on the link! 
Flower project week 2: window backdrop
“Floating” Phalaenopsis Orchids. 1/125 sec. f8 ISO 400 100 mm Canon EOS 5D Mark 11 Flash used.
Happy First Day of Spring! I wish I had better news “weather wise” since last weeks post. Unfortunately homes and businesses with frozen water lines in Winnipeg have increased to over 1000 and yes we had 2 more snow falls and are expecting more this evening and wind chills tomorrow of -27 C. UGGGGGGG!!!! And so I find myself in week 2 -fighting the winter blues with “flower power”. It appears the movement may be catching on and people may literally be “buying” into the whole concept! I told my friend Marilyn yesterday of my flower photography challenge. She promptly said she has been meaning to get an Orchid from Costco to have in her house-and so we spent the afternoon picking one out. She told me to photograph it and when I was done to drop it by. (How awesome is that!!!) So I got home and then had to come up with a concept or challenge to use with this beautiful plant.
Oh yes, the ironic part of me took over ( 🙂 ) as I glanced out the front window and noticed the snow was now above the window sill. (that would mean the snow is well over 4 ft deep.) I thought to myself “of what good use can all that snow possibly be??” Then I thought, HUMMMMM… Hello backdrop. So I positioned the plant in the front window and spent a good 20 min. and 100 images later exploring the plant, the light and working to refine my fill flash technique. The plant details were just so amazing with it’s colouring and markings!!! So beautiful! Don’t worry all you plant lovers out there-I didn’t remove the flowers from their stem-just a little photoshop magic to make them appear to be floating in the snowy light backdrop created outside my front window.
Hope you enjoy! I’m already planning for next weeks flower challenge! Looking forward to sharing it with you.
1/200 sec. f10 100 mm ISO400 flash used.
Flower Project -Week1: Bulbs on my dining room table.
This winter has been with out a doubt the longest hardest/coldest that I can remember. Already over 900 homes in Winnipeg have frozen water lines and snow banks have reached astranomical heights. Spring/thaw they are telling us is going to be June. 😦
I just got home from WPPI Photography conference in Vegas and am grateful for the 5 day reprieve I was able to enjoy from the snow mounds and harsh temps. The Conference was awesome. I came home inspired to create and revisit the basics and fundamentals in my photography. I took wonderful courses in Wedding as well as Lighting and Cropping, Composition and Creativity. All this information worked together to get me stimulated to try new things and refine the skills I already have. This led me to think about creating a project for myself that will not only help me deal with the weather 🙂 but also hone in on my photography skills.
I love Gardening and Flowers. Well let me rephrase that -Flowers bring me happiness- gardening not so much since I need to deal with weeds, but ultimately, when the blooms do come, I find my happiness there as well! I didn’t have time last year in-between all the weddings to even enjoy my garden. This year I’m choosing to create a balance in my life with my hobbies and my photography work. Who says I can’t combine the two! So I decided to create a once a week flower photography project! It’s a win win situation! My home will be graced with a bright spot of colour from blooms each week till I see the blooms appear in my Garden-making for a much happier me! My goal is to create unique images each week working on different lighting, backdrops, flowers, lenses etc.
This weeks project was a potted bulb creation I picked up at Sobey’s for $2.50. I put it in one spot on my dining room table. Using window light and my 100mm lens I moved around it to create different looks by using light and focusing on creating a strong colour composition. It truly is amazing how an object /image/background can look so different just based on the light and the photographer’s position. Here are just a couple of my favorite images from the session.
Please enjoy the flower images as they appear weekly on the blog. Oh yes, and wishing you an early Spring! 🙂
Ebonie K Photography 