“Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.” ~Theodore Roethke
As earth spirals towards the summer solstice, each day begins earlier and seems filled with more light. The growing crescendo of flowers opening in the garden somehow captures and reflects that light even more.
Each day brings new change as buds become flowers . . .
and garden scenes shift their colors as new blooms open and others begin to fade.
When I first began to study photography, I was deeply influenced by a line from the book The Art of Seeing – “Only light, not things, strike the retina.” The objects we think we see are in reality spectrums of light reflected back to us. That realization changed the way I saw the world and the way that I tried to capture it with my camera. In the garden, light is everything. Plants respond to it, live by it, reach for it, and reflect it.
What we see as color is actually the reflection of a particular wavelength of light. Happily, color in nature is never just one shade or tone, but instead a complex reflection that challenges and seduces our eyes with both boldness and nuance.
Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The garden unfolds in the growing light, rich and full of promise, and extends an invitation to step over the threshold and wander the paths.
Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher. ~William Wordsworth
Enjoy the loveliness of May and may you treasure the light that grows each day.
“I knew, of course, that trees and plants had roots, stems, bark, branches and foliage that reached up toward the light. But I was coming to realize that the real magician was light itself.” ~Edward Steichen, photographer
Composing about light: The Four Elements: Light