When the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown happened in March 2020, most of outdoor activities were cancelled, I decided to start again with photography actively to distract my thoughts. Even the local parks close to my house in Lviv were closed and only small parts of green areas between my home office, my apartment and the courtyard were available for nature photography. I distracted my thoughts concentrating on nature that surrounds us and we do not recognize in our usual daily lives. I focused on very simple plants, not the orchids, roses, or tulips. The dandelions and daisies were my first stars. In summer 2020 I expanded my macro walks to some parks close to the city centre and Botanical Gardens nearby, but I tried to keep the focus on the simple, not famous plants.
It happened very often that I got back to the same flower beside my house or in my garden day by day watching it growing or withering. The beauty I discovered was amazing and so I tried to catch the different steps of growth of very simple plants like portraits of permanent metamorphosis. It was a kind of process of meditation for me that I did not want to miss in my rather isolated daily life in quarantine. The beginning and ending of constantly new creations, is fascinating to observe and happens surprisingly fast. I always tried to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. And I cannot stop looking around for new motives around me.
I get up at 5am every day and try to start very early in the morning to have enough time before sun gets too strong. I like the morning dew visible on the leaves and blossoms. I never cut the plants to photograph them at home. I like to observe them in their natural environment. I rarely used the tripod and never any artificial lighting for the Cold Flowers series, but I take up to eight or ten pictures of each, before editing them at home. I have chosen the square as the picture size for all of them and I reduced saturation and warm colours of each. I like to show their simplicity in an elegant and modest way.
What do you think are the TWO most impactful features that make your image a good photograph? Don’t be shy!
I show flowers which are not so popular like the orchids, tulips or the roses and try to make them visible. Sometimes difficult to find, they keep hidden very often and are very close to us, almost not recognized and visible.
I try to show them modest and elegant, not loud and noisy.
If you would be able to make this photo once again, what would be the ONE thing you would like to do better or different?
Very often I am too lazy to use the tripod doing my macro photography. I should use it more often, when I leave early morning. I never cut the plants to photograph them at home. I like to observe them in their natural environment and my tripod would help me sometimes to set the sharpness easier.
Andreas Wenninger shared this photograph in the FRAMES Facebook Group.
Photographer
Andreas Wenninger, Lviv, Ukraine
Equipment and settings
Nikon Z7, 105mm macro, f/9, 1/800
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Gayle Marien
October 16, 2021 at 04:43
I’ve been watching Andreas’ cool flowers series. I find them compelling and was interested to hear he deliberately seeks the beauty in close proximity, that we often miss in the day to day of our lives.