Beth Madison Photography

It’s been a long — very long — winter, and I’m eager for warmer weather.  On the other hand, the recent snows have turned my attention to the indoor flowers I enjoy.  This paperwhite lilly was given to me as bulbs when I did holiday portraits shots at Designs by Lee in Stamford, CT.  They have the most amazing fragrance!  I don’t know much about flowers, but I call these the “smelly lillies.”  Each time I walk by, the scent gives me a promise of spring.

Often, when I create a photograph, I try out different approaches or styles.  Usually I have one look in mind, or find that I recognize immediately the style that I like best for that image.  But sometimes I find that I like several different approaches and can’t decide which is the definitive look for that image.  This is one case where I like various versions of the image.

Here’s one variation, done in spepia:

Here it is in black and white:

And here’s one last approach, a softer version:

For all the fun I had playing with this image, it almost didn’t get created.  I had been planning to work with this flower in my studio set-up, with controlled lighting and a black background.  (See next post for the result of that.)  I was reaching for the lilly, where it sat on my kitchen counter in front of the window.  I paused, and noticed how I loved the juxtiposition of the flower against the snowy background.  I considered taking a photo, but I thought the lack of contrast –white flower against an almost-all white background — would make for a poor image.

Just for kicks, I took a quick photo, not really setting it up much.  Well… I did use a tripod, and play with different angles… alright, I worked on it some, but not excessively.  And, you know what?  In some ways, I like this image better than the studio shot that follows.  It has context; it has a story to tell.  The snowy background adds something to the image, and makes it more than just a photo of a flower.  To me, this image epitomizes the feeling of late-winter.  It really named itself:  Waiting for Spring.