
Harold Davis » Flowers
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Find all the latest articles on flower photography by Harold Davis. Harold Davis is a creative art photographer.
Harold Davis » Flowers
3w ago
As the tulips settled into my arrangement in the vase they reached out, curved, and seemed to combine the wisdom of aging with continued vitality. Not quite an arrangement featuring wabi-sabi—beauty that can be found in decay—these flowers represent the yearning that we have to live life to the full at the height of our ..read more
Harold Davis » Flowers
1M ago
Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. From its origins in Kyoto more than a millenia ago, this is an art form that has evolved within a formal tradition of considerable restraints. Recently, in Kyoto, along with a friend I took a lesson in traditional ikebana. I make no claims of ikebana mastery. Nor ..read more
Harold Davis » Flowers
8M ago
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
Harold Davis » Flowers
8M ago
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
Harold Davis » Flowers
9M ago
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
Harold Davis » Flowers
10M ago
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
Harold Davis » Flowers
11M ago
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
Harold Davis » Flowers
1y ago
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
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Harold Davis » Flowers
1y ago
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
Harold Davis » Flowers
1y ago
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