Plant Talk

Photo Shoot Fun in Georgetown - Clippers, Flowers, Vases, Branches and Light

It's only when I have a brand new and unusual experience that I remember how exciting it is to come to something for the first time and marvel over it. Which is how I felt last week at the shoot staged by Sasquatch Books to photograph the cover for my new book on arranging flowers fresh from the garden.

For my previous books, the publisher chose an image from the book to use on the cover. So I was intrigued when Sasquatch decided to shoot a deconstructed bouquet for the front of the book and a finished one for the back. I was told to show up at Georgetown Studios with vases and plenty of fodder for the shoot.

You can imagine my indecision over vases - big, small, simple, colorful, sophisticated, minimal? - I arrived with a boxful - and armloads of branches, feathery pulsatilla, pussy willows, fritillaria, narcissus, quince, just-leafing-out branches of coral bark maple, and freshly cut boughs of yellow magnolia. Photographer Kathryn Barnard had the perfect surface - a scarred up old farmhouse table that showed off the fresh spring foliage without looking too rustic. She played around with the materials, building shots with layers of shape and texture. It was absolutely fascinating to see how different it all looked on camera than it did there in the studio....

Georgetown Studios are in an old brick building with huge windows that let in enough natural light that we could do without artifical ones - perfect for photographing flowers. After Kathryn and the Sasquatch Books staff were satisfied that we'd nailed the cover shot, it was my turn to pull together a bouquet using the chosen vase, flowers and branches ...no pressure there. Everyone tinkered with the bouquet- by the end of the session I was using the scissors on my Swiss army knife to touch up here and there as the foliage and flowers started to droop from hours of handling.

You'll have to wait until the end of the year when the book comes out to see what we accomplished on this pouring down rain April day....but in the meantime, here are a couple of iPhone shots  that capture the feel of the place....do you think if I work on my karma I can come back as a professional photographer in my next life??

Photographer Kathryn Barnard and Sasquatch Books people checking out one of the shots...

A few of the flowers, branches and vases that didn't make the cut...

Coming Back to the Garden

There are  drawbacks to living elsewhere than in your own garden half the time. I commute between Seattle and my Langley garden, and many days I so want to duck outdoors and pick a bouquet, check on what's budding, or pull a few weeds.

Arriving in Langley on a sunny Wednesday afternoon made up for many moments of garden deprivation.  When your garden is right outside your windows every day, it's easy for your senses to dull a bit...to lose track of spring's slow unfolding. But when you're away for more than a week, springtime hits you over the head with its magic.

When I last left Langley, it was like winter - cold and wet, the garden bleak and nearly dormant. What a difference a few warm days in April makes...it was a great joy to find drifts of bright daffodils, 'Princess Irene' tulips opening to the sun, and ruffled Crown Imperial fritillaria finally bursting into bloom when I arrived back in Langley this afternoon. The peas are growing, the lettuces plumping up nicely. Well, see for yourself - the daffodils are mostly the orange-cupped Narcissus 'Serola'; the tulips 'Princess Irene' surrounding a little trellis of 'Sugar Snap' peas in the feed trough. The bottom photo is of the peacock-like Crown Imperial frittilaria just opening its orange bells.