I have a confession to make: in yesterday’s post, I misled you a little. No, not the part about seeing the buck, or hearing the barred owl, or walking in the moonlight, or taking photos of green briar. All that was gloriously true!
The misleading part was the upbeat “looking forward to exploring more tomorrow” because last night when I wrote that post, I really wasn’t. Sometimes photography is hard. Yesterday, it was really hard. Nothing I tried worked on camera the way it had looked in my head. The light wasn’t right, the vines didn’t make the right angles, the backdrops I brought didn’t work out. Here I was, in this amazing park, gifted with this time to showcase the beauty of the Loess Hills, and I was making ugly photographs.
The first lesson: admit it. Failure is a big part of photography, but is usually temporary. So here’s my confession: Yesterday, folks, many of my photos were bad.
The second lesson: sleep it off and try again in the morning. Today, folks, was a really good day for Loess Hills plant photographs!
Take coral berry. I was worried about this one because although the berries are a cool raspberry color, they’re tiny and the stems are thin. But when I grouped a whole bunch together and focused on just one stem, the lines and color just popped off the screen. Score!
And then take bittersweet. How the heck do you shoot a plant that grows down instead of up? Bittersweet is a climbing vine that dangles its dazzling blaze-orange and red berry clusters down from above. Would that really work in a vase? Turns out, yes! And it also works when you shoot it hanging down. Nailed it!
To be clear, this is not a cocky “look at me, I’m a super great photographer” kind of post – this is meant to be a “share a giggle of delirious relief with me” kind of post. Most everyone has been in a similar situation at some point, doubting their abilities, right? Maybe it even happened to you today. Well, here’s a message from the other side: sleep on it and try again tomorrow. You’ve got this!
Check back here tomorrow to learn about goldenrod’s luxurious winter texture. Seriously, it’s just beautiful. I’ve found my favorite winter plant to photograph!
