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May 13, 2014

By Tineke Ziemer

May 13^th, 2014

heartache and pride

They say the safest place in the world is a mother’s womb - it’s created with just the right amount of shock absorbency to withstand influence from the outside world, all the while providing a perfect atmosphere for the baby to be nourished and grow. It’s a beautiful thing!

When I was out photographing this grape hyacinth this morning, I noticed this one drop cushioned between two of the flowers, being perfectly held in place. Inside is what appears to be a baby flower (although it’s just a reflection) and it totally reminded me of a womb.

I do have a silly habit of personifying inanimate objects, and in this case, I saw a mom and dad gently cradling their baby between the two of them. Even during all of my bumping around while I took away blades of grass and set up a yellow background, they never let go.

Thought for the Day

How wonderful to be a child and to have such a sense of predictable safety, that there is no need to fear. In fact, a child’s innocence prevents them from knowing there is even anything worth fearing. They live in a beautiful bubble of blissful ignorance. As children grow and become self-sustaining, they venture out into the real world - away from our protective arms, and sometimes they get bumped around a bit. It may not take long to realize that it’s not a perfect world and I know that pain and heartache are inevitable at some point. But I like to think that they develop from those situations, like a fruit ripening under the hot summer sun. We can’t protect them forever, and if we do, we prevent them from becoming the strong, capable adults we’d like them to be.

Lately I have been learning the importance of allowing my children to be adventurous, explore new places and have responsibilities that don’t involve my watchful eye. Although it’s hard to let them leave their safety bubbles, it’s beautiful to watch their petals spreading and reaching out for the sunshine on their own. When they come home with scrapes and bruises, we high five and say they have made another step towards becoming warriors!

And they are still okay. And I take a deep breath and loosen my hold a little more.

Watching them grow up. Heartache. And pride.

behind the scenes

Today I was on the hunt for complimentary colours, since that is a project I am doing with my students right now. Nature itself inspired me yesterday as I was out in the yard. Spring is just making an appearance so it was very exciting to see grape hyacinths growing wildly in the yard. There is also a sea of yellow from the thousands of dandelions that have taken up residence. Seeing the purple against yellow, I knew it would make a great photo for this morning. But when I got up, all the dandelions had closed up over night and there was no yellow to be seen. So I made use of an empty dog food bag of all things, and positioned it behind my subject. Truth is, things ain’t always pretty, but it worked! I sprayed some water drops on the flower, set up my flash for some added light (mostly so I could be lazy and not use my tripod that low to the ground) and popped on my macro and extension tubes for a real close up. I think I was laying in a bit of an ant hill, but my first rule of photography is: Do whatever it takes!
Here is the set up: (I’ve circled the flower I was photographing)