As long as I’ve taken photographs, I’ve been fascinated by how leaves and flowers die. I’ve always thought they often die beautifully and that there is much to be learned from it. Trees and gardens don’t mourn and brood when their flowers and leaves die; only humans do that. The change of seasons is a powerful metaphor for f life and death.

I am surprised by how easy it felt to take beautiful photos of flowers day after day; I sometimes seemed unable to take a bad one. I’m not sure what the dynamic was there, but it felt like a perfect storm of technology, creativity, patience, and a willingness to learn and experiment. I found the right combination of things.

Now, autumn is upon us, and it won’t be long before all the flowers are gone. I’ve got enough beautiful flower photos to go to Spring, and I will put many of them up periodically. But the creative challenge is to figure out how to capture the beauty of Fall and the stunning beauty of the winter pasture if I can figure out how.

I have confidence in my writing, but I’m still a novice when it comes to photography. This will be a season of learning and experimenting.  You are invited to come along for the ride.

I can apply what I’ve learned to the rest of the seasons, but in other ways, I need to think differently and creatively and experiment. The experimentation has become, the apple tree leaves, beautiful and haunting, are dying, and many of the garden flowers are also dying, often with great beauty and dignity. I want to capture that as well; this will be a part of my transition to Fall, Winter, then back to Spring.

These two photos are among the first of my experiments; I like them both; they have feelings and give me hope and encouragement to keep trying and thinking. And when necessary, get help in the right places. Both deaths are dignified and beautiful in their own way.

 

 

As always, I’ll share the process with those of you who can put up with me. Thanks for all the support; I appreciate it.