“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anais Nin
I read this quote in three different, unrelated places in one 24-hour period a couple of days ago. On a blog I follow, in an online class I’m taking and in a book I’m reading. When something like that happens, you can’t ignore it. There is a message for me here… it’s time to bloom!
Tiny flowers for sale in the market on Las Ramblas in Barcelona. Wrapped up in paper for a Euro a bundle, these bright little buds were too cute, too colorful to resist. I bought a packet, tucked them in the pocket of my suitcase and then forgot about them until yesterday. I thought they would be crushed as I dug them out of the suitcase, but they survived just fine. As bright and colorful and whole as they had been in the market, they are now smiling at me from my bulletin board next to the computer. A colorful little reminder of our time in Barcelona.
It’s funny, in all of our travels we really don’t buy too much. For me, the photographs and experiences are enough. Occasionally a small piece of art, an interesting mug for tea or a small item, like these flowers, call to me as a little something physical to take back from a place.
This month’s theme at Creative Every Day is “bliss” and I was having trouble with the word, until I realized that for me color is bliss. Bright, happy color. Like these little flowers.
An inviting advertisement for breakfast in Bacharach, Germany.
This week I have been in the mood to share photos of some different places, besides Italy. So it is good that we are going out of town this weekend, heading to Spain, to Barcelona. We’ve never been to Spain! A new country to add to our list, a new place to explore, new images to capture and share.
I’ve decided that when I travel I’m not going to schedule blog posts. I like the daily interaction and contemplation of my photos that this blog brings me, and to do a whole bunch in one or two days to get ready for a week away becomes more of a chore than fun. And this is for fun! So after tomorrow I’m going to disappear for a few days and I’ll come back refreshed and renewed and with wonderful images of Spain!
Now off to fruhstuck. (That would be breakfast, in German.)
These flowers, full of hope and love and color and light, are for all of you Moms out there! Happy Mother’s Day today.
We noticed it last year when we first got here… purple is everywhere. People wear purple all of the time. Purple sweaters, striped shirts, purple pants and lots of purple shoes. Men, women, children – purple, violet, lavender – all decked out in purple. In the winter it changed to darker purple shades to go with black. So I guess it shouldn’t be completely suprising to have found a purple gondola in Venice, near some beautiful purple flowers in bloom, but I have to admit it was an unusual sight. Italy always has little surprises for me like this.
Have you thought about the flower’s point of view before? What is the perspective, near to the ground, reaching for the sun? The answer is found in these photographs. I had a marvelous time yesterday, playing around with my camera from a flower’s point of view. I got a couple of amazing shots, like the one above and the one below. They are delightful because they are so unplanned, they are the results of experimentation and play. And digital photography is a WONDERFUL medium for this, because there is no cost to just play around! 
There is creative power in exploration and play. I’m thinking to post some “Exploring with a Camera” ideas like this from time to time, let me know if you want to participate and I’ll create a Flickr group to share photos so that we can create a little community of explorers!
So here are some tips on how to explore from a flower’s point of view:
1. Hold the camera near the ground, pointing up toward the flower. You are not looking through the viewfinder, at the screen, anything. Depending on your camera/lens minimum focus requirements you will have to play with distance to hold the camera away from the flower.
2. Shoot, review, shoot, review. Move the camera, the angle. After a while you’ll get a better hang of what you are aiming for remotely.
3. If you’re not getting the focus you want (say, on the flower), switch to a manual focus point. For the second image above, I set the focus point for top middle point, then took a bunch of pics moving the camera around a bit to get the one flower in focus that I wanted.
4. Play around with aperture. Higher aperture will give you a better opportunity to get what you want in focus. Lower aperture will really help your flowers pop, but focus will be difficult.
During the whole process, delight in the randomness of the images. Laugh at the ones that came out totally awkward. Swoon over the ones you think that come out amazing. Enjoy the freedom that comes out from letting go of planning, composing, deciding with every shot!
One final image for today, of my favorite stretch of the path in Parco di Monza. You’ve seen it in winter, and here is spring. This was the time of year we moved to Italy last year, and I remember thinking over and over “I need to go over and take pictures of those flowers under the trees” as I drove by the park. I never did, spring progressed into summer and the flowers went away. So I promised myself THIS YEAR I will go do it. And I finally did!