“If a garden means anything, it is a wish for beauty, for order, and for connectedness with natural things. We are outcasts from the first Genesis garden, after all, trying desperately to be let back in, to find purpose and meaning in our relationship with creation. The garden photograph that becomes art is one that transcends time and place and says something meaningful about what it is to be human with all of our senses awakened.” From an article in Organic Gardener by Matthew Benson.
One of my goals for this “downtime” from the busyness of the Garden Center in the winter is to learn to take better photos, to learn about exposure and lighting and developing my vision where photography is concerned. To help with that I’ve been reading some books about photography, and trying to take photographs and get at least one photo out of the bunch to be good enough that I’m not ashamed to share it.
This time of the year challenges me, though. All is brown or white and seemingly lifeless, and it is a challenge to come up with a view of the garden in this season that is anything other than barren-looking. Meaningful? Hardly.
So I try to be patient and not too anxious for spring. Meanwhile I read, and might add Mr Benson’s book to my list of books to learn from this winter.
I hope the rain has finally quit. I think I am growing gills. Cold, dreary, muddy, and miserable… This evening we saw a red sky and wispy fog out across the valley– I hope those are signs of approaching good weather.
