Snake’s Head Fritillary with Aphid
A change of perspective can often improve your results when out shooting, as discussed by Scott Bourne in his blog post I read recently, and most photographers are well aware of this. In my case, the change in perspective isn’t to do with moving my feet, or lying down or even selecting a different lens. It’s being unable to get out as much as I normally would due to a bad back. It’s not horrendous so I shouldn’t grumble, it’s just frustrating. When I think back to spring last year, I was out 2-3 times a week in search of bluebells.
So my photographic focus has had to shift to the garden this past week. Fortunately, my favourite flower has been flowering – the Snake’s Head Fritillary. They look similar to bluebells in shape, but with a larger, single bell-shaped flower that droops down pleasingly and they have a lovely chequered pattern. In my garden we have white and purple fritillaries, although I find they work really well in monochrome, with that pattern providing eye-catching contrast.
We also have tulips in flower which caught my eye one day when they were swaying in the breeze, so I tried out some ITM – Intentional Tulip Movement! They also came under my lens the following day when some welcome late afternoon spring sunshine cast long shadows across the garden patio.
I did miss some of their flowering season as I was away on holiday, but there’s always next year (as I often say to my son when his football team keeps losing!). And hopefully I will manage to catch some bluebells soon.
Update
I’m glad to report the back situation has improved and I managed to capture some bluebells yesterday in the Surrey Hills. Undoubtedly I’ll be posting some images after a few more visits, but there are a couple of examples now on my Flickr account.
47 Photography by Martin Griffett 