September Blooms

A few flowers and weeds, some fruits and seeds.  This is a photographic record of the wonders of nature both cultivated and wild.  These pictures record a garden and pasture in South Yorkshire in the United Kingdom.  September can be a surprisingly colourful month full of natural blooms, or it can begin to show the undoubtable decline into the bleak rigours of winter.  When the sun shines it as if summer might never end and yet there is often a chill in the wind that promises snow and ice.  So it is time to gather in the harvest and celebrate for that which has blossomed for us this year and for that which will preserve us through the coming winter.

September is a good time to record the last blooms and ripe blossoms.  The onset of winter creates a final surge from nature and this finale creates unusual fruits.  I like to take pictures of the strange shapes that grow perfectly well alongside the supposedly standard forms.  The cold nights start to get plants to settle into their dormant phases even as they are still blossoming.  The flowers are retreating and seeds are drying out on the stem ready to begin the cycle the again.  This is a great time to see the descent of the sap energy retreating into the soil.  This retreat is no set back it is a part of the way forward for without retreat at this time there will be a lesser return when the spring calls out for the sap to rise again.

The pictures here were created with a Canon 50mm macro lens on 5D Mark II.  The lighting was a brand new experiment for me.  I used a DÖRR DAF 42 Power Zoom.  This wonderful flash gun is equipped with an in built diffuser and manually adjustable zoom and power settings.  The control over light is quite superb.  When using macro lenses I have often experimented with various light sources to create effects.  Some of the best results are subtle transformations that allow pictures to reveal themselves to the viewer without the viewer considering the efforts that have created the visual effects.  The DAF 42 has an inbuilt slave function and that is superb for off camera lighting which gives stunning results.  The DAF 42 is not feature packed like the Canon 580EX II Speedlite but it has some praise worthy points that are not available with the 580 EX II such as the diffuser screen and the slave function.  The light settings on the Canon offer much greater low light control.  The two guns offer a great combination if you want a second unit, or have more than one body that needs a connected light source.