Fall is probably my most favorite time of year, though honestly I enjoy the change of seasons year ’round. There seems to be this misconception that nature is at its most beauteous during the spring and summer months, when plants are budding and flowering abundantly and everything is lush, green, and new. I find, however, that fall and winter contain their own unique beauty that is often under appreciated and overlooked. Sure, trees take on mantles of vibrant and fantastic color displays, but I’m talking about found beauty in the simple transitions…the neutral, earthy colors…and paring it down to the basics. Seed Stalks is a photographic portrait of the simple beauty of gray headed cone flowers–long after the flowers are spent–and a celebration of the wondrous stages of seed dispersal in tones of sepia brown and gray. I love approaching this in a minimalist style.
Prairie Still Life is another fine art photograph with a minimalist approach of a gray headed cone flower. Portrayed in shades of gray and cinnamon brown, this seed head reminds me of a button. With a neutral gray and blurred background there are no other distractions, allowing this tiny autumn treasure to take center stage where it may not have in the height of summer, lost in a sea of its garden mates.
Sometimes I also like to use nature to create the unexpected. In Green Blue Botanical, I had a bit of fun with purple cone flower seed heads, adding a bit of whimsy by adding hues of woodland green and muted blue, as well as inverting half of the image for a contemporary twist. Maybe it is just because I am getting older that I have developed more of an appreciation for the more “color challenged” seasons (a gray hair here and there…but we won’t go into that ;O) The next time you are out and about, make a point to look closely at the brown, the gray…the less flashy things of autumn. I promise you won’t be disappointed.