In one of her Monochrome Madness posts, Leanne Cole says she hates photographing landscapes in summer. I think I know what she means -her summer being Australian which light wise is probably different to an English one. Nevertheless on a bright and sunny but blustery winter’s day, I took the above photo to try and capture the wind sweeping willows on the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset. The colours were awful so with Lightroom monochrome edits I turned it more dark and stormy – it fitted the winds much better.
Later that week, further along the coast in Cornwall, the winds persisted, Thus it was quite a challenge to photograph anything with any clarity especially overlooking the bay where the gorse was in bloom. Even so the effort was worth it as the delicate yellow flowers on thorny bushes make for a remarkable contrast, though I preferred to shoot them in black and white.
Even nipping across the water to some gardens in Plymouth the winds did not abate. I’d gone to admire the collection of camellias, now blooming in the sheltered woodland but it was the sight of these fallen Gunnera leaves, pondside, that caught my attention. Such striking textures and at their base, the start of new growth for another year. But….
Note to gardeners: ALL Gunnera sold in the UK and most of Europe for the last hundred years are not G manicata, or G tinctoria, but hybrids of the two now referred to as Gunnera x cryptica. As from December 2023 this plant has now come under the same banner as Japanese knotweed and is banned from future sales and cultivation in the UK.
Wednesdays are Leanne Coles “Monochrome Madness” days
PoetryPix 