Brown

Oh, December.  Walking around the Garden with my camera, I see brown, and brown. The light at this time of day, late afternoon, is just lovely, but not much is inspiring me to take pictures…

The Stewartia bark stands out, with it’s peeling layers.

The stone walls with moss.

A bit of color here on the Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’. I don’t particularly like yellow variegation  –looks sickly!– but it definitely catches the eye in this brown landscape.

And a bit here too with the berries on Nemopanthus mucronatus (soon to be Ilex mucronatus).

When it snows, I’ll get the camera out. Fresh snow makes me think black and white, shadows, texture. Bright sun and sky, bright snow, dark trees. The contrast of evergreens and red berries, the outlines highlighted by frost. I’m not really ready for it, still savoring the wonderful Thanksgiving week I had. Maybe by Solstice I’ll be dreaming of a white Christmas, camera in hand. What catches your eye at this time of year?

Losing My Voice

“It pleases me to take  photographs of my garden, and it pleases my garden to make my photographs look good.”  ~Robert Brault

Oh No! It’s time to write a new post, and my beloved Canon D*SLR is in need of service.

I got the dreaded Error99 message. I looked this up and followed all the suggested home remedies: Turn the camera off, then on. Take out the battery, recharge, and re-install. Try a new memory card. Clean the contact points on the lens and on the camera body.  Try a different lens. Etc., etc. No luck.  So off it goes for repair, and I am lost without it.

In one discussion thread on the Err99 topic, someone said “I feel like I am blind without my camera. ” For me it’s the opposite….I see everything, or even more than usual.  (Like seeing food everywhere when you’re hungry!) When I take a picture in the garden, I get ideas for the blog. When I download the pictures and begin to really look at them,  the words start to come together. Of course, it’s not always that straightforward, but the idea of writing without a picture is  intimidating!

“…words and pictures can work together to communicate more powerfully than either alone. ”      William Albert Allard

I love to read good garden writing, and I know that good writers can transport me to that garden, let me see it, smell it, feel it, understand it, all without pictures.  These writers inspire me, but I don’t have the patience they have, and I love the immediacy of a photo. I guess the words explain the subtleties and context of the photo for me, instead of the photo illustrating the words. Without the picture, I’m not sure if I have anything to say! The picture is the anchor of the story.

So just for fun, here are a few pictures, without words,  that didn’t make it onto the blog or the website (cels.uri.edu/uribg) or the facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/URIBotanicalGardens).

And for anyone with a Canon, here is a link to an on-going  discussion of Err99 with some very helpful suggestions:

http://www.richardsnotes.org/archives/2005/04/29/50mm-lens-contact-points/?wpc=80#comments

“ Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson