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have always had a deep love and enchantment by all things botanical
from an early age. Since I work as an Estate Gardener, I am constantly
surrounded by nature's bounty. As a horticultural professional, I
try and act as an ambassador between the human and plant world. In
many ways we need each other for a better life. I get to travel quite
a bit, and I am always interested in the flora of a new region. I
can act as a plant explorer and recorder and can always find something
interesting or new to me. Photography has always been a passion of
mine and the digital revolution has really set that aflame. Macro
flower photography often reveals a different look of flowers, one
that I might have not seen without looking carefully. While the beauty
of a flower can be fleeting or ephemeral, I feel these photographs
often capture and preserve some of the details that can be missed
by the casual flower gazer. I have grown a lot of the flowers featured
here. There is a lot of satisfaction in having planted the seed, nurtured
the plant to flower, photographing it, and hanging it on the wall
to admire its beauty everyday. |
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Photography Site:
http://digitalflowerpictures.com/
Almost Daily Gardening and Plant Blog:
http://digitalflowerpictures.blogspot.com
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Click on image to enlarge
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01. Grandiflora
Rose 'Glowing Peace'
This picture was taken at the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden
at the New York Botanical Garden. Originally designed in 1916
and rebuilt in 1987, the garden features 2700 varieties of
roses. Rose photography is always rewarding to me. 'Glowing
Peace' is a great rose that I have grown with success. |
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02.
Morning Glory 'Heavenly Blue' (Ipomoea tricolor)
A garden classic and a flower that usually provides some interesting
macro views. This plant was by the front door and everyday
it greeted me with this wonderful shade of blue. I later mixed
it with a Cypress Vine and the contrast of the flowers was
very nice. |
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03.
Daisies at a local garden center's display garden.
Lately I have been planting more and more Daisies as I have
been getting requests for them. They are a simple but elegant
flower that most everyone can appreciate. It is funny to me
that this is one of most popular photos. It was shot with
a Coolpix 5400 point and shoot. |
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04.
Decorative Dahlia (Dahlia cultivar)
I have been growing Dahlias for a long time. They are a wonderful
flower to photograph. They seem to provide their own lighting
sometimes. This is a Dinner Plate Dahlia and the flower was
huge. That seems to make it easier to take close ups of them.
I took this picture at work and the Dahlia bed provided photo
opportunities all season long. |
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05.
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
I was just taking a picture of this Coneflower when the Bumble
Bee walked around the side of the flower. Coneflowers are
a beautiful addition to the border or mass plantings. |
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06.
Hairy Toad Lily (Tricyrtis hirta)
While the Toad Lily looks like an exotic flower, it is an
easy to grow plant for the woodland garden. This is one of
the many seedlings that my plants produce every year. |
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07.
Mexican Aster (Cosmos bipinnatus 'Picotee')
Cosmos is often described as a beginner's flower as it is
very easy to grow. It is one of my favorite annuals to grow
and it is also very photogenic. I grew a small stand of 'Picotee'
in the Dahlia bed and this one came out with the best color
variations. |
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08.
Dwarf Aster (Aster sp.)
This is a Honey Bee on a dwarf Aster flower. I lost track
of the cultivar name but it sure is a nice color, a real autumn
treat. I have this plant in a bed with some Astilbe, Daylilies,
Japanese Anemones, and some early spring bulbs. |
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09.
Shrub Verbena Lantana camara
I was very happy with my Lantana plants this year. The cultivars
they are bringing out seem more and more outstanding. This
image illustrates one of the many reasons I like macro flower
photography: it shows a completely different view of Lantana
than I am used to. |
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10.
This image presented itself at Bunratty Castle in Ireland.
Going to Ireland this year during the season was a dream come
true. It is a wonderful country for the photographer. Almost
everything was against getting this picture. First my D70s
battery went dead; second it was around twilight in that flat
dull grey Irish twilight sort of way. I used my back-up camera
a Nikon Coolpix 8400. |
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11.
Tropicanna Canna (Canna var. Phasion)
Canna Lily flowers always seem so colorful and arty to me.
This one is 'Tropicanna', a great cultivar with multicolored
striped leaves. Always a nice plant for the summer garden,
it comes in so many sizes, shapes and colors it would be hard
not to find one that you liked. |
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12.
Clematis Vine (Clematis)
This was taken with my original digital camera, a 4 megapixel
Nikon 4300. It is still kicking around. It just goes to show
that you don't need a lot of pixels or fancy lens to take
a nice shot. I have gotten some good results with my point
and shoot digicam. I think you need to get to know the strengths
and weakness of your camera and then use it for what it is
best at. The Clematis featured is climbing on a dwarf Japanese
Red Maple. Clematis are fun flowers to take pictures of because
of the dramatic centers. |
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13.
This is just a simple daisy I grew from seed. A
friend of mine turned me onto bud photography, which I never
thought was particularly exciting. I have since found a whole
new realm of plant photography. Catching the right timing
of an emerging flower sometimes takes a little planning. I
sometimes am thinking a few days to a week ahead when I am
out in the garden taking pictures. I used to think of Daisies
as common or pedestrian flowers. I have since figured out
their beauty is in the simplicity and timelessness. |
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14.
Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao)
My favorite tourist attraction in Miami, Florida is Parrot
Jungle. It is a wonderful place to get up close to a variety
of birds and other small animals. They recently moved to a
larger, new facility which isn't as nice as the old one but
still worth the visit. This Scarlet Macaw was very inquisitive
and he and his mate posed for several pictures. |
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