Dear Common Flower

Published on by Laura Bloomsbury

Late afternoon sun over a field of seedy dandelions. It was one of those sights that made me wish I had my camera with me but despite the best advice, out on a jog is not the time to carry anything other than oneself. Still there was always the next day and so I set out…

but the light was more overcast and the weather windy so that many of the seedheads had already blown away. Nature did not even throw up the parachute seeds in romantic slow drifts but had simply decapitated many of them with a buffeting.

I was miffed! And eventually re-composed myself for some different shots at dandelions, seeking them in the more sheltered margins of the lane.

“Dear common flower, that grow’st beside the way,
Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold,
First pledge of blithesome May“…
James Lowell
As Nabokov wrote: “Most of the dandelions had changed from suns into moons “
“It is not enough to photograph the obviously picturesque.” – Dorothea Lange
“While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.” – Dorothea Lange

I’d never noticed how much dandelion silk captures the sunlight spectrum until the macro enabled this view and so although I did not get the wide angle photograph I came for, I found as much in the details.

“To know ahead of time what you’re looking for means you’re then only photographing your own preconceptions, which is very limiting, and often false.” – Dorothea Lange

9 thoughts on “Dear Common Flower”

  1. That last shot is absolutely stunning with such depth in sharp focus. Well, I like it a lot as I have never been able to get the depth you achieved. Blessed

    1. thank you for the boost Sherwood – I was not as relaxed as I ought to have been – struggling with the breeze and the changing light and difficulty getting down close enough (struggle to get up again actually!) Shot at f6.3/500

  2. That first shot is uncommonly well caught, Laura, and I love that Nabokov quote – so divinely obvious, but only after he’s ‘said’ it.

    1. many thanks Tish – seeing the detail of those serrated seeds I can understand the profligacy of dandelions! Wish I had come up with the idea before Nabokov!

  3. Dandelion clocks are very difficult to photograph I find so you have done well. The flower is actually very pretty too, just a shame it is so invasive.

    1. Like time dandelion clocks do not stay still but at least managed some clarity so thank you for your encouraging comment
      (Yes these wildflowers are lovely but only in their own space)

  4. Really like that shot above the Nabokov quote. I, too, like clicking dandelions and have just photographed a whole lawn full while traveling. I think I’ve taken quite a few dandelion shots over the years, I shall seek them out and make a little collection 🙂

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