Through the Lens at the Spring Fling
I'm very bad at retrospectives for get-together events. People always write them as soon as they get home, but I like to process things for a week or two, and by then, the momentum is gone. Suffice it to say, I had a wonderful time. I wasn't sure how much I'd have in common with the other attendees, because I haven't been weblogging about my garden for very long and I don't have many long-standing relationships with other garden webloggers, but I felt very blessed to be in the presence of such good-hearted, creative, and talented folks. I really enjoyed myself immensely, and I hope to help maintain some of the friendships I forged this weekend. Thank you so much to Pam of Digging, Diana of Sharing Nature’s Garden, Bonnie of Kiss of Sun, and MSS of Zanthan Gardens for all your hard work and hospitality.
That's all the retrospective you're likely to get from me for a while. What I will show you, though, are some pictures.
This wash of blooms is mostly Texas bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush.
There wasn't a cloud in the sky while we were at the Wildflower Center. This detail is of the observation tower at the center, which also serves as a rainwater cistern. These beams, it turns out, serve no purpose whatsoever, poking out of the tower as they do. Within the tower, they're structural support. I can't imagine the tower without them, though.
These are spider lilies, which are native to marshy east Texas. These are among my favorite wildflowers, because I once had an adventure related to them. I'll share it another time.
The Natural Gardener, an organic nursery and gardeners' amusement park. This is my favorite nursery in Austin and well worth the forty-ish mile round trip once in a while.
This piece of garden art is just merchandise, actually, but I find it to be such interesting, textured merchandise. And the light was lovely in this spot, though it was early afternoon, which is a photographer's nightmare.
This field of poppies called out to me back near some of the demonstration gardens. They grow en masse in a large bed here.David-Peese Garden
I became quite aware of some of my own photographic idiosyncracies as we toured this magnificant gardens. I love my macro lens, and I use it (perhaps even overuse it) quite a lot. I'm entranced by the small details I see, and those are what I generally try to convey in my photography. But this garden is clearly intended to convey scale - sheer enormity - and my macro lens just doesn't do that. So, I gave up and made a lens change about halfway through.
This is probably the last macro I took before I switched lenses. It's the amazing gothic voodoo lily, which is incredibly large and rather obscene looking. From the right spot, it smells like death, and the flies come from all around to pay homage. You can see one in the bottom right corner here. It's actually quite beautiful, in its dark, ugly, phallic, nauseatingly smelly way. Just don't stand downwind.
Here's a nice wide-angle view of the grand staircase that leads from the lower garden up to the upper garden and the house. It's hard to tell from here, but the middle of the staircase is a small channel down which water runs. (It reminded me a bit of the sewage system I saw in Sighisoara, which is a medieval city in Romania, but that, as well, is another story.) The sheer scale of this garden was overwhelming.
Zanthan Gardens
I think MSS will be amused to know this, but I faced similar photographic challenges in her garden as I did in James David's. Some of the beauty of her wild meadow-cum-cottage-garden is found in the casual waves of tall larkspur and cilantro, and I never did take a photo that conveyed that as well as I'd like to have. My macro wasn't framing what I hoped to frame. Perhaps I'll have an opportunity to try again someday.
Once I contented myself with taking specimen photos, I was much more pleased with my results.
These are Spanish bluebells, noxious invasive weeds in the UK, apparently, but exotic, beautiful, and very unusual in the Texas hill country.
Finally, a brilliant red St. Joseph's lily, reminiscent, yet so much more vivid, than the soft pink amaryllis in my own garden. I've had the pleasure of seeing Zanthan Gardens in the fall, but I thoroughly enjoyed seeing it again in the spring.
...And maybe that's a bit of a retrospective, after all.
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Yay, you posted pictures! I've been procrastinating the long and frustrating job of posting my pics to Blogger, and hopefully hitting refresh on other Flingers' blogs instead!
I was curious to see what you'd make of the David garden-- I was watching everyone walk around with their nice cameras and crossing my fingers since I knew my crappy Nikon wouldn't produce anything worth posting. I particularly love that shot of the voodoo lily. The veins make it particularly voodoo-y. And if I were a more evil person, I would insert into the previous sentence a metaphor about how Bob Barker looks these days, but I'll spare you the trauma. ;)
Indeed it was a retrospective, Rachel. You speak so well through your incredible photos and your analysis of them. I really enjoyed meeting you, and I'm glad you joined us. We'll have more fun again in an Austin bloggers get-together, maybe next fall.
Your pictures are wonderful and show a more "intimate" side to each garden we visited. I agree, it can all be overwhelming but you've provided a great retrospective of the day through these photos.
Love the photos as usual. I'm glad you got a good shot of the smelly lily. Again though when will we have scratch-n-sniff internet? I think you and Kathy should be able to figure that one out.
Looking forward to learning more about photography from you. I've already learned my lesson on the importance of camera batteries.-)
It was almost too overwhelming to write about, wasn't it? You took some great photos. I missed the voodoo lily altogether.
Well, I think that your photos are amazing! And it's been fun for those of us who didn't get to join you in person to meet so many more amazing bloggers virtually. :)
Wow, Rachel! I'm pretty stunned to have Zanthan Gardens included on the same page as the David-Peese garden and the Wildflower Center. You made it look so beautiful through your lens. If I had the money I'd hire you to do all my blog post photographs.
I face the same problem trying to take photos of the meadow. Lacking much form or structure it tends to look like a disorganized mess in photos taken at a distance. If you notice, I do the same thing you did...go for the close-up shot.
That's one reason I was nervous about having visitors. My readers have seen so few photos of the garden as a garden. I had no idea what they were expecting. I'm glad to see your photos of it, to see what drew your interest. You chose exactly the things I would have liked to shared. You really got a good shot of the hardy amaryllis (St. Joseph's lily). I've been trying to capture it and failing for years. Thank you so much for these lovely photos.
PS...I knew you'd be the one to get a great shot of the voodoo lily in the David-Peese garden. Nice job.
It was so great to meet you in person - and to listen to your expertise on the technical side of blogging, too. Your photos are amazing - what a great eye you have -- your shots are so unique. Luckily, I didn't stand downwind of the voodoo lily, though I did go see it and TRY to get a photo of it. I think this is a perfect retrospective, by the way.
These photos are stunning, Rachel - you do see things we'd miss otherwise. Even the things I did notice look more amazing when you show them to us through your eyes.
It was fun to be in the same carpool - I'm so glad we met!
Annie at the Tranplantable Rose
Wow, your photos are all so gorgeous! I was also intrigued by the beams on the tower. I'm glad I wasn't the only one taking architectural, instead of garden, photos. It was great to meet & talk with you. Thanks for having us in your fair city.
Well, I would say that is a mighty fine retrospective account of our weekend! Fabulous photos!
Robin at Bumblebee
As always, the pictures are simply gorgeous. So emotional in how they are composed. Wonderful meeting you Rachel and I look forward to continuing to enjoy your photography.
Ditto what the others have all already said--amazing photos, as always. I'm particularly impressed by your shot of the voodoo lily. I have so much to learn!
It was wonderful to meet you in person--maybe we can get together again before the next SF rolls around. :)
Hi Rachel!
It was so good to meet you. I really enjoyed talking with you at dinner. What beautiful photos you've taken! I especially love your shots of the poppies and the stairs. Well done!
Regards,
Dawn