Reflections

Spring weather is peeking through the tail end of Winter.  I was excited to spot new life in our yard.  It has been cold and I have spent most of my time in front of computer, I have not walked around to check out my plants and flowers.

I was surprised to see fresh leaves on all my rose bushes. I saw one bud and two blooms from my most favorite Double Delight! They certainly came early this year. My spirit was delightfully lifted.  My curiosity was rising and my expectation getting higher, I walked to the area where I had five Hellebores (Lantern Rose) planted last year. There were lots of new leaves, some flower buds and one flower already bloomed!  This type of flowers look like a lantern, we cannot see its beauty without turning it upwards. The charm of the flower promoted me to go into the house and grab my camera.

But, her face was down, how did I take the shot?  I had to turn it, but I could not hold it with one hand and take the picture using the other.  I needed two hands to shoot close-ups.  My tripod is not low enough and I had to hand hold my camera.  I tried to use one limb to brace the flower, not only that I failed, I broke the flower from the limb completely, ouch. I could sense the tears from her eyes.  I could not end her life like this, I had to do something. So I rushed to get a glass bowl, filled it with water and sat her in there floating. Her pretty face was up and she smiled.

These Hellebores grow very low on the ground,. I intended to take shots from low angle. Guess not, now. My flower looked happy, but I was not because I had not been able to take my pictures.  Oh, well, I did not intend to shoot flowers this morning anyway, I planned to photo trees in my neighborhood using my wild angle lens. I like to see the effects by placing my camera in different positions.

While I was ready to step into the house, I passed by aunt Lucile's dark blue car. It rained earlier and there were water drops remained on the body.  The reflection of the trees was hovering the back window and rear body, the grayish silhouette had a subtle beauty and looked almost surreal.

Don't know why, I decided to place the flower on rear end of the blue vehicle and the reflection stunned me. It looked absolutely beautiful... For a long time, my macro lens has always been focused on the center of flowers. I tend to make every attempt to go closer and closer because I seemed not be able to see enough of it. I took a few shots as how I would usually shoot it, but today I seemed not too interested in looking through the 'microscope' to see the intricate part, I was drawn to just look at this flower and her counterpart, the reflection.

Instead of framing the flower to cover its vivid details, I decided to change a different angle and had only a tiny bit of the intricate stigma shown. It is not something that I would usually do, but I am glad that I did it.

I was down the ground in order that I could shoot from a low angle. Because it was low, I ended up picking the reflections of the surrounding elements, trees and rain drops.  My flower was, at this moment , floating on water pond and the trees became ripple stripes and rain drops looked bubbling. I was very happy with what I saw. I believe my flower was thrilled now that I had brought her to my fantasy land and she in turn had brightened my day.

I live in the area where deer munch on almost everything.  The plants I bought from deer proof list could be chewed down overnight.  My next door neighbor planted three (supposed to be deer-proof) bushes with stunning pink flowers one late afternoon. Second morning when I opened the window of my office and looked out, I saw their entire family were standing outside in the rain and moaning by the flower bushes. I only saw green, nothing pink, at that point.

One thing I can brag about is, my lantern rose is truly deer proof. They have sustained a year without any deer tracks by it. I like it also for this important reason.