An Ode to My Mother

I like gardens. I like flower gardens, vegetable gardens, and botanical gardens. I like wandering in gardens, planting gardens, and I don't even mind weeding a garden.  I no doubtedly owe this predilection to my Mother who is a passionate gardener and happiest when either working in her garden or gazing upon it in the late afternoon with maternal affection and what I am sure is a well-earned sense of satisfaction.  My Mother has such a love affair with gardens that her own garden will not suffice to satisfy her gardening needs and she is a volunteer gardener at Milner Gardens on Vancouver Island, near Qualicum Beach. When walking my dogs through the back lanes of Kitsilano earlier this spring, I marveled at the sheer volume and variety of blossoming plants and often thought of my Mother.  One thing led to another and soon I was compiling photo albums of the flowers that I encountered in my ramblings.   It is interesting to note the influences in one's life.


My good friend Patrick Gross on the other hand, was the one who sparked my interest in macro photography.  Pat and I have had reason on occasion to travel together, and our mutual interest in photography often meant that at the end of the day we were downloading copious quantities of pictures.  It is endlessly fascinating to me how two people can walk the same path, see the same thing and yet, when it comes time to capture what they see, you are often presented with two very different visions.  If I had to put us in a pigeon-hole, I'd say I tend towards the big picture and Pat finds the most fascinating detail.  When I met Pat I already had a Nikon 105mm f/2.8 Micro (macro) lens that I was using for portraits and close-up shots of tattoos and body art.  He showed me what that lens could really do.


So, between my Mother and Pat, I can find direct links to my love of wandering now in a garden and getting up close and personal to blossoms, buds and bees.  This is an incredibly long-winded explanation of how I came to have an annual membership at the Van Dusen Botanical gardens here in Vancouver.  Which is where I shot today.  


I took my Nikon D700, the Nikon 70-180mm zoom macro, the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII and a Lensbaby Composer.  And a tripod.  It was heavily overcast with dark gray clouds, and the light was not bad for shooting at midday.  It had been sprinkling all morning, that fine rain on the Wet Coast that my Mother calls 'Scotch Mist', as lovely a euphemism for rain that you are ever going to hear.  I set up the tripod to do some long exposures and get me in the 'frame' of mind (sorry, I couldn't resist) to shoot for a couple of hours.  My plan to do some macro work was cut short by none other than God herself, who decided to open the heavens.  I braved the deluge for about twenty minutes, my hat over my camera, but with no sign of the torrential downpour abating I decided that I would have to hope I had captured something decent in the first thirty frames.


Today's picture was a second and a half exposure at f22, on the D700 as mentioned, using the 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII.  Interestingly, you can't really see that it's raining.  I love the color and contrast that this lens delivers.  And sharp?  Wow!


- Vince Hemingson