flowers Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Susan Brandt Graham Photography

September 19, 2017

ARS Rose Photography Update

ARS Rose Photography Update: the American Rose Society’s Board of Directors has approved the final version of the First Edition of Guidelines and Rules for Judging Rose Photography. Editors are completing the final editorial review. The text will appear shortly on the website of the American Rose Society. Members will be able to access it by going to “Resources”and scrolling down. In the meantime, members may see and download six PowerPoint programs explaining use of the Guidelines. The PowerPoints appear alphabetically rather than by topic, so be sure to scroll through.

Because some readers may not be ARS members but still interested in the PowerPoints, I’m posting links here. Click on the links to view.

The current six are:

Creative Interpretation

Floral Arrangements

Shrubs, Old Garden Roses, etc.

Rose Sprays

Fully Open, Stamens Showing

How to Mount and Mat an 8×10 Photo for ARS Shows

While those are the current six, watch for additional ones in the future. In addition to these, planned are One Bloom, Macro Photography, The Enhanced Sections, What’s New in the 2017 Guidelines, and People, Not Cameras, Create Images.

You may view the current ones, as well as new ones as they appear, at a PowerPoint Library at Southwest Desert Gardening.

One does not have to be a member of any rose society to enter roses, arrangements, or photographs in ARS sanctioned rose shows. Anyone can enter!

September 1, 2017

Monsoon Rain and Roses

Monsoon Rain and Roses

Monsoon rain and roses have been outstanding this year!

Monsoon Rain

In July, I showed the first real rain at my house of the 2017 monsoon season. It was unusual, dropping 2.5 inches of rain in 40 minutes. Overall, I’ve gotten almost 7 inches of rain this monsoon season. The transformational power of rain in the desert is remarkable.

July 17, 2017:

August 21, 2017:

Roses

The roses have responded in like manner.

The hybrid tea ‘Gemini’ has put out many sprays, which will appear at a later time. The one-to-a-stem blooms have had the perfect form for which this particular rose is known. This image is from the other night, after a brief monsoon shower. The new ARS guidelines that will be coming out later this month strongly suggest avoiding images with water droplets on the petals. I agree with avoiding such images if the light is wrong and the droplets light up as blank, a real distraction. But raindrops on roses after a gentle life-giving rain in the desert? I will photograph and show such images, happily. ‘Gemini’ is one of my favorite hybrid tea roses to grow in Albuquerque. “Raindrops on roses…” The stucco of my house, against which most of my hybrid teas grow, is the background.

monsoon rain and roses — Raindrops on Roses – ‘Gemini’

Another of my favorite hybrid tea roses in the desert is ‘Veterans’ Honor.’ It has also responded to the monsoon rains. While I frequently get sprays on ‘Gemini,’ most ‘Veterans’ Honor’ blooms for me are one-to-a-stem. However, it produced a spray this year. This is not any kind of classic spray form by any stretch of the imagination. Nevertheless, I kind of like the almost ‘golden spiral’ effect of this spray, the always-gorgeous color, and healthy foliage seen here.

Although Albuquerque will see some additional rain this year, the monsoon season is rapidly drawing to a close. From my perspective, as well as that of my yard and flowers, this has been a great – and much needed – monsoon year!

August 16, 2017

Some Beauty for Today

I didn’t feel like writing anything. These are some rose photos. I hope you enjoy them.

Spray of the Miniflora, 'Foolish Pleasure' — Spray of the Miniflora, ‘Foolish Pleasure’

Fully Open Hybrid Tea Rose, 'Veterans'Honor' — Fully Open Hybrid Tea Rose, ‘Veterans’Honor’

August 11, 2017

Sunflowers of August

Sunflowers of August

Sunflowers go with August in the same way that the smell of roasting chile does, at least if you live in New Mexico. I could have had blooms a bit earlier. However, I waited to put out the seeds until the pansies from last fall finally faded with the heat. In another month it will be time to plant pansies again. By then, these will have finished blooming and the birds will have consumed the seeds. Monsoon rains also go with August, and this afternoon I got 1.5 inches of rain in about an hour. It was actually a very pleasant rain, although the Weather Service issued flash flood warnings. This monsoon season, so far, 5.5+ inches of rain have fallen at my house. The flowers are happy.

colorful sunflowers — Colorful Sunflower

sunflowers after rain — After an Afternoon Rain

June 25, 2017

Gladiolus and Sunday Thoughts

Gladiolus and Some Sunday Thoughts

Gladiolus flowers come in a very wide variety of colors and hardiness, much like many other flowers. This one is especially colorful, hardy, and reliable.

Several years ago, during a total fireworks ban (I wouldn’t mind that again!), this gladiolus first bloomed on July 4. It has done so since. I’ve come to think of it as “the fireworks flower.” This year it has bloomed early, as have most of my flowers. (For rosarians, the exception was ‘Mermaid,’ that bloomed right on time!) I photograph it every year. I was happy that I managed to give this one a bit more of a three dimensional appearance than I have in the past.

For as beautiful as this gladiolus is, it is tough. It recurs without special care. It was here when I bought the house many years ago, but only when I retired did I come to really appreciate it.

I’m not sure why, but it reminded me of a Mark Twain quote:

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

I have certainly found that to be true in my life. Fortunately, I have encountered more of the latter than the former, and I hope you have, too.

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An Aside
For my rose friends who read here but not at Southwest Desert Gardening, I include a link to a PowerPoint presentation on examples of “open bloom, stamens showing” under the 2016 ARS Photography Guidelines. For the blog, I converted it to a pdf file, but it is available as a PowerPoint. I will be doing a series of these to promote interest in photography of roses for the 2018 ARS National Convention and Rose Show in San Diego. The link may be shared.

Photographing Open Bloom Roses

June 21, 2017June 21, 2017

Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice, National Selfie Day, and a Day to Celebrate

Summer Solstice – the most amount of daylight in one day for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, and the official beginning of “Summer.” I never heard of National Selfie Day before, but the Twitterverse says it is so. For me, I do not have to see an eye doctor or a skin doctor again until November. I really have nothing to complain about, because my issues were minor and fixable, but the process seemed to drag on from last October until today.

In that time, I have learned a lot about sun protection for everything, including eyes and ears. I now have UPF hats, shirts, neck coverings, etc., etc., as well as UV A&B protective glasses with dark gray lenses and my favorite, amber lenses. I want to do a few more photographs, and then I’ll post those in a post at Southwest Desert Gardening. All gardeners everywhere need sun protection, some just more than others. 🙂

But today, for Solstice (and National Selfie Day 😉 ), I wanted to say “Hello,” dressed appropriately for summer: hat for ear and face protection; UPF 30+ shirt, and very dark glasses as UV protective as possible. I should have been dressed more or less like this all the time I have lived here.

summer solstic — Summer Solstice – Susan in Sun Protective Hat, Shirt, Glasses

What looks like a BandAid is a silicone pad designed to to help flatten the scar from where skin was taken for graft to cover part of my ear where a little skin lesion was removed. It is all healing up very well.

‘Mermaid’ is just about finished with its first bloom, but I thought this bloom this morning was really pretty. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Happy Solstice, and may the summer not be as hot throughout as it is today.

April 20, 2017

Orchids, Unique Personalities

Orchids, like all flowers, have their own unique personalities. They are beautiful when viewed as a whole. A really close look may show something completely different, or in addition to. I had fun looking at these.

I had fun playing with this one. I created it for a special long-distance friend, but some others of you might also enjoy it, today especially. 🙂

April 14, 2017April 16, 2017

Spring Garden

Spring garden – on a beautiful Albuquerque day like today being out in the garden is always pleasant. Today was an especially pleasant and interesting spring day. Friend and fellow photographer Tim Price, whom many of you know from his blog, TandL Photos, took me to an early morning appointment with the eye doctor. We then came back to the house and sat out on the patio, just enjoying the day, catching up on life, and looking for beautiful and interesting things to photograph.

This is the first part of a two part “tandem blog.” The second part is here, “Lizard Love.”

Continue reading “Spring Garden”

March 27, 2017

Fruit of Ancient Myths

Fruit of Ancient Myths – Pomegranate

“Fruit of Ancient Myths” as a photographic image can be seen in two major venues this spring: 2017 ANMPAS and the March/April ssue of Shadow and Light Magazine.

fruit of ancient yths — Fruit of Ancient Myths

Regular readers here know that in the fall of 2015 I photographed many pomegranates for possible use in composites in the Persephone series. In the fall of 2016 I revisited and reworked some of those images. I looked simply at the beauty of the pomegranates themselves, not as perfect specimens, but as living things with beauty and grace as they approached the end of life. The seeds they contain, the hope of rebirth and new life, are clear and distinct. This image is one in a series.

2017 ANMPAS

2017 ANMPAS, the Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show, opens April 2 and runs for three weeks. It will once again be held in the Fine Arts building at EXPO New Mexico. All images are framed and mounted, and are for sale.

The show itself is free, although at times, especially on weekends, EXPO NM may charge a parking fee.

Shadow and Light Magazine

This image, “Fruit of Ancient Myths,” also appears on the cover and also within the March/April 2017 issue of Shadow and Light Magazine. Thanks to the jurists of this year’s Color It Red competition, I was selected as the Grand Prize winner. In addition to images related to the pomegranate/Persephone/myth work, the editor, much to my surprise, requested some of my rose photographs to include.

Editor Tim Anderson of Shadow and Light Magazine was kind enough to allow me to share a pdf of my portfolio (click to see all of my images included) in the March/April issue of the magazine. The entire issue can be purchased for $3.50, and I recommend it for interesting articles as well as great photography.

February 28, 2017

Clearing Clutter

Clearing Clutter, Orchids, and Other Thoughts

What to do when you finally finish clearing years of accumulated clutter from a room… ? Give the room some beautiful, living flowers, of course. 🙂

Quote for the Day:

It was the end of some sort of career. I don’t know why, exactly. I suppose that flowers, when they’re through blooming, have some sort of awareness of some purpose having been served. Flowers didn’t ask to be flowers and I didn’t ask to be me. At the end of Slaughterhouse-Five…I had a shutting-off feeling…that I had done what I was supposed to do and everything was OK .”
~ Kurt Vonnegut, Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut

Tag: flowers

ARS Rose Photography Update

ARS Rose Photography Update

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