I always wait with anticipation for the blooming of the crocuses on the grassy hillside on Evening Island at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The hillside is covered in purple, yellow and white crocuses, a sight to behold. This spring, with many rainy and chilly days, the crocuses were slow to open. They are fleeting, only staying fresh a few days once the sun and temperatures allow them to fully open. If it's overcast or chilly they will close back up, so timing is everything. They are unfortunately often trampled by children and adults who walk through the grass without watching their step, or those laying down in them to capture a selfie amidst the flowers. I have often seen parents allow their children to pick them, a concept that is hard to fathom in a public garden, but unfortunately happens. Yesterday they were in their glory, fully open in the sunshine but they won't last much longer.

Full sun can present a challenge when capturing the beauty of crocuses. If the sun is too strong, I use a diffuser to soften the light. Crocuses can be beautiful shot from the ground, allowing backlighting to illuminate the petals, but this kind of light will not work when trying to capture the inner structure and patterns of the crocus, when more diffuse light is needed.

Unless I am shooting the inner structure of the crocus I tend to prefer to photograph crocuses at lower apertures and create a soft portrait of the flowers. Lower apertures help to blur the brown grass the crocuses grow in.

Backlit crocuses shot with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 at f2.8. Crocuses in the Afternoon Light This patch of 'Remembrance' dutch crocuses was shot in the late afternoon light. The light illuminates the petals, showing their structure, but does not overwhelm them.

'Remembrance' Dutch Crocus A diffuser was used here to soften the strong light for this macro shot of the inner crocus. Although I often shoot hand held, a tripod (placed carefully so as not to disturb any flowers) is helpful when needing to hold a diffuser or shooting at higher apertures. My tripod has a tilting center column allowing it to go all the way to the ground.

Inside the Crocus 'Remembrance' Dutch Crocus Here again, the soft late afternoon light provides beautiful light for capturing these lovely early spring blooms.

'Remembrance' Dutch Crocus 'Remembrance' Dutch Crocus In past years I have photographed the crocuses after a rain. The raindrops add textural interest to any flower. This year rain has accompanied chilly temperatures so the the crocus have been tightly closed after the rain.

'Remembrance' Dutch Crocus Another helpful hint is to carry a plastic garbage bag in your camera bag. The grass is almost always damp and the migrating geese frequent the hillside to nibble on the grass leaving plentiful presents behind. Because shooting crocuses means being down low to the ground, a bag to sit on is always a must. There is plenty of grassy space around the crocuses to place both a tripod and a bag without damaging any flowers.

'Remembrance' Dutch Crocus

Spring is emerging at the Chicago Botanic Garden and I'm there watching it unfold day by day. This is my favorite time of year to photograph. Watching and capturing the emergence of new life each spring is exhilarating to me. The snowdrops started appearing well over a month ago and, in fact, they are now beginning to fade. They are the first harbinger of spring and such a sweet, welcome sight after a long Chicago winter. They are hardy and can withstand snow and cold, popping up as early as January some years. The image below was photographed in the Waterfall Garden. These snowdrops bloom along the steps going to the upper falls, making them easy to get close to if you sit on the steps. Snowdrops are the perfect subject for the Lensbaby Velvet 56 lens. I almost always photograph them with a very wide aperture. Snowdrops can be a bit tricky to photograph - finding that perfect balance of focus in the main flower and curving upper stem and a nice blurred background to eliminate distractions. I spend a good deal of time looking for clumps of flowers that have a pleasing main subject and a nice composition surrounding. Because I am photographing them early in the season, before the gardens have been cleared of leaves and stray sticks, I often have to do a little "housekeeping" around the flowers I am photographing, gently moving dead leaves and debris from the dirt around the flowers. It makes my post processing work much easier and is worth the little bit of time and effort. I am a purist when it comes to photographing in a public garden - no touching or altering the plant itself under any circumstances.  

Snowdrops These 'Cream Beauty' Spring Crocuses in the lawn south of the Bulb Garden are usually the first crocuses to bloom each spring. I'm still waiting and watching the crocuses on Evening Island, my favorite crocuses to photograph. They are up but they have been tightly closed with our dip in temperatures and lack of sun this week.

'Cream Beauty' Spring Crocus Many irises are up around the Garden. The 'Harmony' Reticulata Iris are in abundance in the Sensory Garden Woods. The horticulturist told me yesterday they replant these each year because many don't come back - all 12,000 of them! I love the mix of the Whitespire Birches and the purple irises - simply a beautiful sight!

Harmony Iris Another favorite iris is the 'Katharine Hodgkin' Iris in the Landscape Garden. I love the patterning on the petals and soft colors. 

Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin' The very first early tulips are blooming in the Bulb Garden - 'Early Harvest' Tulip. They were wide open with the sunshine and warmer temps over the weekend but they closed with the cold yesterday. I actually find them more interesting to photograph when they are partially closed; their colors are more intense on the outer petals and the subdued light makes them glow. 

'Early Harvest' Tulip So much more to come as spring unfolds. Let's hope for some sunshine and warmer temps. Stay tuned for regular updates as I capture the blooms of spring.  

I had intended to post more about the Orchid Show long before this. Time is flying and the show is at its halfway point this weekend. I hope you all have had a chance to visit to see both my exhibit and the stunning display of over 10,000 orchids. The show is truly spectacular this year! This weekend the temperatures promise to reach into the 50's. What a perfect weekend for a walk at the Chicago Botanic Garden and a visit to the Orchid Show!

In case you missed my article on the Out of Chicago website, you can read it here. It gives an overview of the show and some tips for shooting orchids. Since the weeks leading up to the show I have been busy and completely focused on capturing the orchids. I've shot over 6,000 images! Do you think I might be a tiny bit passionate about capturing these exotic and beautiful flowers?! I have challenged myself to keep growing and learning new ways to photograph these complex flowers. I have a strong conviction to keep growing as a photographer; in my eyes there is no such thing as mastering a genre of photography. One can always discover new ways to grow and learn. A few short months ago, I presented my macro flower photography class at the Chicago Area Photography School. During that presentation I declared myself a natural light photographer and conveyed that I couldn't get the results I wanted using flash. Yes, I do still prefer shooting in natural light, especially when shooting flowers outdoors. However, shooting flowers indoors, particularly the complex orchid, presents many challenges. Light in the exhibit can be contrasty and bright in the greenhouses and very dim in the inner rooms of the exhibit. Tripods, although allowed on Wednesday afternoons, are cumbersome to use in the pathways of the crowded exhibit. Even when I am shooting before the exhibit opens in the early morning, I am sensitive to being in the way of the busy horticulturists watering and working on the exhibit.  This year I decided to revisit the use of a macro ring light and upgraded my previous model to the Yongnuo YN-14EX-C Macro Ring Light. It got excellent reviews and for $103 (compared to $549 for the Canon model), I felt it was a worth a try.  The quality is impressive and I am thrilled with the results I am getting. The ring light allows me to shoot at higher apertures hand-held. It provides nice even, natural-looking light and helps to provide the necessary fill light to illuminate the inner structure of the orchid. The ring light has truly been a game-changer in how I can shoot the orchids. As with any flash, there is a bit of a learning curve to the use of a ring light, but I have found the Yongnuo easy and intuitive to use.

Here are some images I've captured with the ring light.

  But, of course, when I put on the Lensbaby Velvet to photograph orchids, I am relying on the beautiful natural light this lens is able to capture. This lens continues to amaze me!

The Orchid Show at the Chicago Botanic Garden opens this Saturday, February 13th. I've been behind the scenes shooting orchids for a few weeks and I couldn't be more excited for the show. My exhibit is hung and ready to welcome you as you enter the show. I wrote a guest post for Out of Chicago with details about the show and some tips for photographing orchids in the exhibit.

Winter in Chicago feels like it goes on forever and for those of us who are passionate about photographing flowers and plant life, it can be challenging to find enough subject matter to shoot. Chicago is blessed with two great conservatories - Garfield Park Conservatory and Lincoln Park Conservatory, along with the much-loved greenhouses at the Chicago Botanic Garden. These locations keep me happy and shooting the subjects I love throughout the long winter months. Last week I visited the Garfield Park Conservatory with my friend Lara Joy. Located at 300 N. Central Parkway in the city, Garfield is run by the Chicago Park District and it's free to the public. The conservatory is comprised of two acres of public greenhouse space as well as propagating houses and outdoor gardens. We spent a lot time photographing in the Show House (pictured below), which is the site of beautiful flower shows each year. The holiday amaryllis were still on display, along with many other flowering plants. Garfield does not allow the use of tripods, so on this gloomy, rainy day it was challenging to get enough light to hand-hold. I embraced the situation and shot softer focus images and enjoyed playing with my Lensbaby lenses, as well.  

Amaryllis White Amaryllis White Amaryllis Thoroughly exploring Garfield's many rooms requires more than a day. I decided to narrow my focus and chose to spend a good deal of time in the Desert House. Garfield has a varied and large collection of cacti and succulents in this large greenhouse. I enjoyed meeting and talking to Ray, a horticulturist in the Desert House, and he gave me a little tour of all his favorites in the Desert House. I am always awed by the passion of all the horticulturists I meet, their vast knowledge and their dedication to the plants they nurture. For me, part of the fun of photographing in these public spaces is meeting the people who care for them. They help me appreciate the uniqueness and beauty of the plants I photograph. Ray was so friendly and he introduced us to another horticulturist, Kathy, who gave us a behind-the-scenes tour of the propagating greenhouses. What a fun day it was. I can't wait to go back and more fully explore the rooms at Garfield. It's a great place to spend a cold winter day. A true Chicago treasure.

Succulent Symmetry Agave Agave Agave

The registration is finally open for the Out of Chicago Summer Conference, June 24-26, 2016! This is a photography conference not to be missed! Great instructors, workshops, photowalks, panel discussions and one-on-one sessions covering many genres of photography. If you register before January 14 you will receive $250 off the $499 price. This is a great price for a weekend packed with learning, networking and social events. Check out the amazing line-up of presenters and register here.

I am proud to be a part of the Out of Chicago team that organizes this conference and many other events. This year I am excited to be presenting two sections of 'Macro Flower Photography: The Art of Seeing and Capturing the Beauty of Flowers,' as well as leading a photo walk to Lurie Gardens with fellow macro photographer, Mike Moats. Check out my presenter page here.

Don't wait to register for this amazing conference. It will sell out quickly! 

Last spring as the tulips were emerging the Lensbaby Velvet 56mm lens was released. I hopped right on board and ordered it. I was mesmerized by the images I saw being produced with this newest lens in the line-up of the Lensbaby lenses. Having owned the original Lensbaby Composer and macro converters, I was familiar with the unique qualities of these lenses, but I had no idea how completely smitten I would become with this lens as I began to experiment with it. As I look back over the past year photographically, the images I produced with this lens are some of my favorite of the year and they mark a definite move to capturing my subjects in a softer way.  The Velvet is a 56mm f1.6 portrait and macro lens. As with all Lensbaby lenses, it is manual focus and manual aperture.  Because the lens will focus as close as 5 inches, it is perfect for macro flower photography.   The wide open apertures create dreamy images with a beautiful velvety and ethereal feel.  Shooting at lower apertures means you can easily hand-hold this lens, but hand-holding with manual focus can be a bit tricky. Another thing I love about the Velvet is that the images require next to no post processing; often times I post them as they are straight out of the camera. Eager to continue to develop my softer focus work, Santa has promised me a Lensbaby kit with the Composer Pro and many of the optics I am eager to experiment with. Now, if only spring would come quickly and I can be back outdoors shooting flowers as I love doing the most. For now, I'll have to make do with indoor subjects and the Chicago Botanic Garden's Orchid Show is right around the corner. It will be fun to experiment with shooting orchids with the Velvet and my newer additions. Here are some of my favorite images shot with the Velvet through this year.

               Sweet Bay Magnolia

Sweet Bay Magnolia                                                                  Clematis

Clematis                                                                  Grape Hyacinth  Grape Hyacinth               'Julia' Coneflower

'Julia' Coneflower                                                                  'Much Niceness' Tulip

'Much Niceness' Tulip Catching the Light                Soft Curves of the Tulip

"Scheeper's' Mix Tulip                Dahlia

Dahlia Glow                                                                 Fern Unfolding

Emergence               'Red Velvet' Echeveria

'Red Velvet' Echeveria

What's in a name? Well, the 'Annie Girl' Garden Chrysanthemum would smell as sweet and be as beautiful at any name, but the name certainly clinched it for me! Annie has always been my family nickname. These beauties in the Sensory Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden have to be my favorite fall flower this year. Soft pink with that sassy burst of gold and they smell heavenly. Believe me, I know. I sat on the bed ledge photographing them for over an hour yesterday. As you will see in the last photograph I experimented with a fun technique of covering my lens with tulle to give a very soft focus effect. 'Annie Girl' Garden Chrysanthemum 'Annie Girl' Garden Chrysanthemum 'Annie Girl' Garden Chrysanthemum Don't miss the mum displays all over the Garden. They are really spectacular this year. Have you seen the display in the Crescent Garden? They go from deep red to gold in color and I love the addition of the Japanese maples along the path to the lake. Our colors are just starting to pop and the air is crisp and cool. Happy fall!

Crescent Garden in Fall

I enjoyed photographing in the Butterflies and Blooms exhibit at Chicago Botanic Garden every week during the summer. The summer flew by and Labor Day weekend saw the closing of the exhibit for the summer. The new location of the exhibit proved to be a wonderful change with beautiful views of both McDonald Woods to the north and the Japanese Garden to the south. I'm posting my favorite images for the summer. Some of the images were in a blog post earlier in the summer but they remain my favorites for the summer.

              Orchard Swallowtail Orchard Swallowtail               Buckeye Buckeye               Green Jay

Green Jay               Mocker Swallowtail

Mocker Swallowtail on Skyflower                                                                 Paper Kites

Paper Kite

Paper Kite on Skyflower               Postman                                                                 White Peacock

White Peacock                                                                Blue Clipper  Blue Clipper on False Spirea               Tiger Longwing

All the attention at the Chicago Botanic Garden has been centered around the Titan Arum or Corpse Flower, fondly called "Spike," that is about to bloom.  You can read about it on the CBG website and even follow a 24/7 webcam so you know when the flower is blooming.  Like expectant parents we wait, but it should happen any day, any hour now. It has brought many crowds to the Garden to watch the flower as it grows and progresses toward blooming. Meanwhile there are many things that continue to bloom at the Garden. In my frequent visits to check Spike, I continue to enjoy the beautiful water lilies in bloom in the Heritage Garden.  This week I was lucky to catch a lotus in bloom.  This 'Perry's Giant Sunburst' lotus has bloomed several times already but, unless you are there the day it blooms, you will miss it.  They are spectacularly beautiful but are usually at their peak for photographing for one day. Not only was the flower in peak bloom but it was a nice overcast day, perfect for photographing aquatic blooms.

'Perry's Giant Sunburst' Lotus   'Perry's Giant Sunburst' Lotus