I love the experimentation I’m doing with my flower art; I’m going for softer with the art photos, as you can see. My Iphone 13 is heroic, but it is a bit too literal and digital for art exhibitions. The Iphone has no peer I know when it comes to capturing the soul of a flower and its details.

The Leica is prone to soft; the difference is the glass. The Leica glass is widely believed to be the best photographic glass ever, that’s why I wanted it so badly, and we have the Nazis to thank for it. They made this glass for bomb and tank periscopes and airplane pictures.

The company itself was heroically anti-Nazi and saved the lives of many innocent people.

The Leica owner Ernst Leitz risked his life all threw the war to smuggle Jews out of Germany; his daughter Elsie Kuehn-Leitz helped. The only thing that saved their lives was the importance of their camera lens glass to the German military; they used it for bombsights and airplane photography.

.That is the same glass I’m using to take these soft photos. I’m honored to have it.

I’m not sure I even like to think about it.

But I’ll devote these photographs to Mr. Leitz and his daughter Elsie Kuehn-Leitz.

Their story makes me feel ok about using them. Enjoy them, please, and thanks again for your very beautiful messages. They are blowing my mind; many are so penetrating and wise.

Here’s one from Paula Lundstrom :

“Dear Jon, As I read your heartfelt post, it seemed that your brain’s creative areas must have been lit up as you wrote about flowers, colors, light, cameras, and lenses and exploring the idea of aesthetics in your photography. You have found a perfect way to combine two of your artistic passions in your blog: writing honestly about your life and discovering the delightful emotions that color and light evoke through your photography of flowers. You have always recognized and supported artists seemingly without realizing that you are also an artist. You already have been an artist in your writing, and now you have exploded with creativity in your flower photography.”

Thanks, Paula. I will be sitting alone and reading that tonight, and many times over, and thank you. My therapist keeps telling me that my readers know me better than I know myself, and I keep discovering that she is right. The reader often has a better perspective on the writer than the writer himself.

He or she is too close.

I call this flower Blood Red.

I call this picture Cool Light.

Three poppies. I expect to be taking a lot of poppy photos this summer.