Sunshiny Day

"Sunflower Parking"

The sign struck me as odd.   I was driving to Plum Island for the day, and had started seeing "No roadside parking" temporary signs for about a half mile.   Also odd, since there was nothing around and no reason to park.   As I rounded a turn I saw the "Sunflower Parking" sign at a little farm stand.  But as I rounded the corner I saw a small field of sunflowers. 

I made note of the field and continued on with my trip

Overview of the field

On my way back I kept my eyes peeled.

I saw the field again (above) and decided 'why not'.    After I pulled in I was directed to this rutted gravel path to 'go around back'.    I didn't hear the banjos playing, but it was close.  :)   The road just lead back to a fallow field used for parking, where I paid $10 for the privilege. 

Path next to the sunflower field

I was not visiting Colby Farm.   Doing some searching when I got home, apparently this is one of the top places to photograph a sunflower field in New England.  The sunflowers were actually past their peak - many dropping or giving up their seeds, but the field was colorful enough it made for some nice shots.   But that did tell me that the field was gown for the photography - if they were selling sunflowers they would have been harvested already.

View from the 'back' of the field

I had an enjoyable time there.   I walked around the whole field to see what there was to see.    Obviously the side the flowers were facing was most interesting, but on the back side you had a chance to walk into the field a bit and get some close-up shots.   For the field overall, I was able to hold my camera over my head to get some field shots - there really weren't any high points to get a nice overhead shot (no rolling hills)

Some highlights

Close-up, high contrast

A little fun with B&W

A stranger posing for her own photo made a great subject for mine

And, of course, I had to get the obligatory selfie (What did we do before social media?)

Your blogger

Colby Farm also has a small animal collection near by (a few ducks and chickens, a goat or two - no petting) and a farm stand with fresh veg and local meat - Colby farms 20 acres.   They also had burgers and dogs on a grill - if you're there with the kids.   Right off I-95, it's a nice visit, and would recommend it to fellow photographers, or anyone who is a fan of sunflowers. 

Thanks for visiting!    Please check out more of my photography on my Flickr page.

2017 Garden Tour

This past June was the 2017 South End Garden Tour - an event to raise money for the Community Gardens in greater Boston.   I was asked to take some photos at Watson Park, and also took photos at Berkeley Community Garden, where the tour started.

While I took some good photos for the tour, I also snapped a number of flower photos along the way.  Not only did my 'snaps' come out quite good, but the Clematis are amazing in Black and White!!   I definitely want to share these.

Watson Park prepares for guests with Lemonade/Limeade and a basket of fresh cookies

There was plenty of whimsy to be found in the gardens, as each gardener personalizes their space, giving each garden plot its own style..





Being June, there were an abundance of flowers in bloom in the garden.   While all were wonderful, many of the purple blooms had great color - beautiful hues of purple along side the greenest of greens.  

It had rained the night before, leaving droplets on all the flowers, and making the colors a bit brighter.  There was also a heavy fog over the city, giving me nice even light with few shadows.







The clematis proved to be even more exciting in Black & White.   The many purple hues look like veins coursing through the petals.







And the great thing about Black & White - sometimes even your  mistakes end up looking great...




Thanks for visiting!

A gallery of all artistic Photos from the garden tour can be found in this Flickr album.

You can see more photos of the tour itself on these  Berkeley and Watson Park facebook albums.

All involved in this tour are non-profits - if you are interested in visiting, joining or donating any of the organizations shown here, please visit their respective web pages:

Berkeley Community Gardens, South End, Boston

Friends of Watson Park, South End, Boston

tour organize, the Trustees, Boston region.

Nasturtium: Turning a Flower into a Photograph

Sometimes, an opportunity just presents itself.

I opened the shades after sleeping in a bit this morning to find a sliver of sun shining right onto some Nasturtium that seem to be resisting the Boston cold and were still in bloom.  The phone camera was near by so I dashed out and snapped a few OK photos.  Worthy of facebook perhaps.

Image from the phone. 

After snapping those I went and got the DSLR, and fitted the macro lens on it.  Back in time to still catch the sun (but no time to set up the tripod - which was fine, as the breeze kicked in as soon as I got back out there.   Captured a few shots, and Lightroom allowed me to be creative enough to make good photographs of them.


Seeing the sun shine directly on that open flower, I thought that would be a great shot.   Of course not.   It just looked like I had used the flash - way too harsh.  And unfixable in LR.   But Silver Efx Pro to the rescue, and I've got a great Black & White image.   The macro lens got me the texture I wanted, and there was still enough shadow on the petals to provide some B&W interest.   Fading the background and tweaking the flower center and I've got something I really like.

B&W image - lots of great textures.

Zooming in however, I got a nice shot of the pistil and the 'hairs' on the lower petals.    But an example of why macro outside is difficult - any kind of breeze will kill any hopes of focus stacking.  A nice image nonetheless- even though the red is not in clear focus, it provides a nice background to the pistil.

Macro lens catches the tendrils on the lower petals, and the pistil.  

I went around to the other side to catch the sun back lighting one of the other flowers.  A good image, but the out of focus petal coming straight at the camera was a tad distracting.   I tried to de emphasize it, and vignetted the entire image to emphasize the sunlight.

Back lit flower

On the next image I zoomed in, softened the image, and cropped in to highlight the back lighting.

Back lit, softened and cropped

By the this time the wind was picking up, and no other image came out well.   This one came out soft and had some potential   I softened it up some more and played with the color, and got something with an impressionist feel.   Did it work?

The softer side

Be sure to check out all my images on my Flickr page.  And feel free to leave thoughts in the comment section here, or on the images themselves on Flickr.