Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Grace in the Garden

by Kelly


Well so if you happen to follow me on Instagram, you might recall that during the month of May I did a month-long photo series on my garden.  I even created my own hashtag for it -  #mayinmygarden – because I’m super clever like that.

I guess I’ve always loved gardens and flowers.  I can remember being a little girl and spending summers at my great-grandmother’s house.  I loved walking out back behind her house into the big garden where she had planted zinnias in between her rows of tomatoes and green beans.  I would pick a handful of zinnias and bring them inside to her.  And she would always make such a big fuss over them and find some little container to put them.

Once I got married and had my own home, I always enjoyed planting flowers in my flowerbeds.  And I would say this is when my own passion for gardening was ignited. 

Like it is with anything I enjoy, in the beginning I spent an enormous amount of time reading as much as I could about gardening.  Which I might add included learning both the common and Latin names of flowers.   And because I’m a total nerd, I even took a botany class at my local community college.   Hello my name is Kelly and I am an overachiever.



As much as the science fascinates me, the older I get, the more I appreciate the actual physical aspect of gardening.  For me, digging in the dirt is a major stress reliever.  I can totally take out my frustrations pulling weeds.  And I don’t know exactly how it happens, but very often if I am struggling with problem of any sort – mental, creative, emotional – just focusing on a simple garden task helps me to clear my thoughts and find solutions that I would not have otherwise been able to come up with.  Yes indeed….I do love gardening so much.


These days, gardening is still such a joy to me.  But it also serves another purpose…providing material (in the form of flowers of course) for my other favorite hobby – photography.
  


I think I can safely say that flowers are my favorite muse.  I love the endless variety and the many shapes and forms they take.  I adore the vibrant colors and often intoxicating scents.   And as a photographer, I find so much delight in the all the little details – the curve of a petal, the texture of the centers, the way the light bounces off the leaves.
 



I should tell you that I can lose all track of time photographing the flowers in my garden.  (Just ask my daughter.)  Being behind the lens and focusing on flowers really connects me to the present moment.  And appreciating the beauty and finding gratitude…well it all just brings me so much peace and joy.


We love hearing your thoughts…so please do share…what is your muse?  What brings you joy behind the lens?  And more importantly, have you ever burned your family’s dinner because you lost track of time photographing it?  Please tell me I’m not the only one.
  
Love, Kelly



10 comments:

AFishGirl said...

Great post! Hard question! The muse question, the have you ever burned supper... easy question. Oui. Or wrecked it or decided halfway through that it should be photographed while in the making with the tripod and maybe some reflectors. Let's not go there. My muse. Hmmmmm. I don't think I know yet. I wish I had more people to photograph who really wanted to be photographed. I did a few shots at work this weekend for one of the girls who will shave her head to raise funds for cancer research. I couldn't believe how thrilling it was to work with her. I think I might love portrait photography but so far I lack willing subjects most of the time so I plug away at the self-portrait work. End of long comment.

Katie said...

what if i told you that i have forgotten to MAKE my family dinner because of my love of photography ? beautiful shots, kelly! ; )

Linda said...

Beautiful pictures! There is nothing better than a garden of flowers that you have created yourself! The icing on the cake is to take pictures of it! I suffer from ADD so my muse is usually whatever is in front of me at any given moment. (squirrel!) It's funny you mentioned burning dinner! Um, it's possible I may or may not have done this, or may or may not have completely forgotten to begin the process of making dinner because I am too wrapped up in photographing or editing something!

heyjudephotography said...

What a beautiful garden, and you've captured it beautifully too! My saying around here is "we had dinner last night, do we really need it again today?" So many times have I been caught up in photography that dinner, and many other things, have slipped through the cracks!

terriporter said...

Hey, that's why we always have sandwich fixings and cans of soup around! The forgetting to fix dinner has happened to me more often than I care to admit! Your photos are stunning, Kelly! I think my muse would also be flowers but I love to shoot macro of just about anything. Since I've started doing that, I see things that I've never seen before and that is so thrilling!

Dotti said...

Yes, great photos! And, yes ... I would have to admit to flowers being my main squeeze when it comes to photography especially now that my granddaughter isn't always a cooperative muse. I'm the garden planner (when I can get him to listen) and my husband is the gardener. He has always like gardening for all the reasons you listed, Kelly.

Deanna said...

You are definitely a girl after my own heart...love to garden, love to take pictures of said garden. Dinner? who needs to eat when you are in the garden?

Cathy H. said...

What a beautiful way to remember May...flowers from your own garden, which I would like to see a full picture of sometime!! Don't get me wrong, I love flowers, but they're just not easy for me to capture! I'm attracted to other things in nature such as those beautiful mushrooms on Day 17! Love them!

Barbara said...

What a lovely post. It makes me feel like we are kindred spirits.

Sarah Huizenga said...

I burned out on gardening for a while, I think because I worked for a friend who had her own landscape business. The last thing I wanted to do at the end of the day was work on my own. This year I am falling back in love with flowers and my gardens, and yes it is because of photography. Your overachiever statement made me laugh, because I can SO identify.

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