Both images were photographed just now in my garden on the summer solstice, with the sun just setting below the horizon. I used my Leica M11 Monochrom with the Novoflex Nikon F-Lens to Leica M mount adapter and my Lensbaby Velvet 85 wide open. Both photos were minimally post-processed. Garden Poppy Pod © Harold Davis I know, tacking a Lensbaby onto a Leica M11 Monochrom is a bit like bolting a Ferrari engine onto a Hugo. But then again, why not? White Poppy © Harold Davis ..read more

I’ve talked—and written—about designing a structure behind an apparently free-form image. With flower photography on a light box, possible forms this structure can take include a bouquet, a garden patch of upright flowers, and a mandala, to name a few compositional ideas. Blowing in the Wind © Harold Davis With Blowing in the Wind (above) I decided to try a variant of the garden of flowers. Using an underlying grid made up of two-week irises (Dietes, also called “Fortnite Lily” and “African Iris”), I curved the structure to the right, as though the garden patch were in fact blowing in the ..read more

How wonderful to come home to my garden in full bloom! Ah, but the flowers are almost overwhelming…so much color, so much growth. I am greeted by hummingbirds. They hover above and in front of me, as if to ask where have you been? I visit the papavers, the beds of alstroemeria, the tender Magnolia stellata, recently planted and recovering well from a fungus.  Garden in Bloom © Harold Davis Why, I wonder, why travel when all this awaits at home? A great question. Penelope knew the travails of being left at home, but Odysseus undoubtedly wearied of the long years away. But perhaps the answe ..read more

There is something about the wisteria in the French spring that seems particularly stylish. Not that there is anything wrong with our wisteria at home. In fact, my garden has some lovely specimens that flower outrageously. But the French wisteria vines have a certain je ne sais quoi like so much that is French…don’t get me started. Perhaps it is the context: the upper image is an iPhone rendering of a semi-abandoned formal mansion, on a main straeet in Millau, France, with the wisteria decoratively framing the front gate. The lower image is a conventional photo of a wall in a small villag ..read more

This is the time of year when my garden starts to come alive. Each day brings delight and new surprises, from the flocks of freesias and iris in the front garden to the poppies and anemones that are just starting to bloom. Flowers from Our Garden © Harold Davis My job is to be true to myself, and also speak truth to flower: meaning, to the best of my ability I try to render the essence of the flower, what makes it so special, and describe its beacon of beauty in a way that can be shared. One Poppy © Harold Davis From one day to the next I begin on the journey of floral interpretation. Sometime ..read more

Well, flowers are magical. So is nature, and so are people. Of course, with light comes darkness, and without the contrast we would not grasp the magic of the moment in its entirety. Flower Magic © Harold Davis   ..read more

Rhapsody in Tulip is my last 2023 image in the Artfully Random series. As I look back, this image speaks to me with its sense of color and rhythm: a paean to the wonders to be found in so many flowers and gardens. Rhapsody in Tulip © Harold Davis Note that the red and purple tulips are resting on a bed of peonies that are partially dried. So one could think of this image as a paean to peonies, or at least peonies as a foil to tulips!   ..read more

A bouquet of luscious white roses came home one day. The interior curves of these roses attracted me with their grace and serenity, and I decided to photograph them close-up to create monochromatic abstractions. The first image (above) is at about 1.5:1, so substantially larger than life. Going in closer, I photographed the second image at twice life size (2:1). Rose Study #42 © Harold DavisRose Curves © Harold Davis Some related images: Lost in the Folds of a Rose; Kiss from a Rose; Rose Rose in Rose and in Black and White ..read more

I have been photographing Irises close-up and personal. Irises are wonderful flowers, and I come back to them quite a bit. With these images, I used a simple setup with a light box for back lighting. In some cases, I used only the back lighting, and in others I added a small LED ring light to illuminate from the front. These images are all fairly extreme macro range, from 1:1 going as close as 2:1, or twice life size. I am thinking about creating a small portfolio of Iris images. Iris Window © Harold DavisSpectral Iris © Harold DavisPillars of Iris © Harold DavisIris Runway © Harold DavisIris ..read more

I’ve written about looking through my viewfinder with a macro lens on the camera and navigating a new country. The topography and contours of this “country” are unknown, and it is my job to explore. It’s also my job to present a coherent slice of this jumbled terrain to present to my audience a “landscape” they haven’t seen before. Proteus I © Harold Davis After all, collaborating with one’s viewers to show something in a new way is one of the goals of photography, or, dare I say, all art. And where could this be more true than in macro work? Of course, just because something is novel, because ..read more