Another photo-expedition, this time into the heart of Gloucestershire.
Ellie and I ventured cross-country this time to Goucestershire, and to another gem of a garden we hadn't visited before, the Painswick Rococo Gardens. "As the Uk's only complete surviving rococo garden, there's nowhere like Painswick Rococo Gardens", it says so on their website...
We went in search of a flower and wildlife filled haven surrounded by beautiful countryside, and that's what we found. Plenty of colour and interest to point our lenses at. Whether the sunflowers in front of the Garden folly (see above) or the views from the Red House, there was enough variation of both surroundings and wildlife/subject matter to keep us busy and entertained.
There were a number of species we see a lot of, and a number of flowers you'll see everywhere, so the challenge was to come up with new images, new combinations of wildlife and flowers, colours and compositions. The same butterfly can give you a completely different image when photographed on two different plants or flowers. There is an infinite number of combinations of colour (foreground/background), composition, and variables of light. Enough to keep any photographer happy. Take the two pictures of the Meadow Brown butterflies below. Each image has a pleasing colour combination and both are completely different, giving a different sensation of satisfaction to the viewer (and photographer).
This extremely vibrant and bright yellow Cressfield Groundsel works beautifully to highlight the more subdued shades of the small Meadow Brown butterfly, each helping the other to stand out. Isolating the butterfly in a sea of yellow helps us focus on it, and appreciate it even more. The open winged Meadow Brown below equally stands out against the much softer purple and green tones of the lavender it was resting on. Again both elements complimenting each other and helping us appreciate the beauty of both elements.
As a photographer I'm looking for that individual image, the moment when the subject and background align, when the light is right, and the image literally does snap into focus. All to create the best image I can to represent the scene I see, and reflect how I feel about it. Hopefully the love I have for such natural subjects comes through in the pictures. Hopefully some of that feeling matches that of the viewer, and perhaps even helps influence their own feeling towards the subject. The Meadow Brown butterfly is not the most glamorous of butterflies and yet it's delicate colourings, matched by the delicate nature of the insect itself , makes it every bit as beautiful in my eyes as the Monarch or Blue Morpho or Emerald Swallowtail. And one which is perhaps easier to make a more pleasing picture of, as it's colour and form sits well within it's environment. Again the various species of white butterflies are perhaps the most common in this country, from the Marbled White to the Cabbage White, but this shouldn't in any way lesson the potential to create beautiful images of them to illustrate the beauty of the natural world they are an intrinsic part of.
I may repeat the combinations of subject and colour in my photos but I hope I never grow tired of appreciating them and enjoying the environment in which I take them...
Ellie again accompanied me and took some lovely pictures too which she will be posting on her Instagram page @ellie.tull.photography My page is @philtullphotography or @philip_tull Follow both of us and look out for our other posts etc... As always comments and questions/suggestions always welcome!!
Thanks - Philip