New beginnings
I'm a little behind on editing my recent work, so today I'm going to post what is one of my all-time favorite photos, of a tree fern, taken in New Zealand in 2005. I've posted and commented on it before on the other blog I sometimes write for, Iambic Admonit, but here I'll say some different things.
This is the first photograph I ever sold a print of. People didn't start buying my photos until I started charging enough to be taken seriously. Interesting...
I've had people tell me this photo looks like an impressionistic painting, because the foreground leaves and background are out of focus (intentionally). This was taken with a 200mm lens at f/3.5, so a very narrow depth of field, to get that effect.
The unfurling fern frond is called a koru in the Māori (New Zealand native) language, and it is a major element in their art, symbolizing new life and rebirth. Different people see different things in it. Some see a fiddle head. Some see a fetus. Some see little creepy crawly critters all curled up. I love that it has so many connections for people. I have my own personal connection with the photo, since it encapsulates my whole trip to New Zealand, which was a profound time of renewal in my relationship with God.
The flora and fauna in New Zealand were amazing, so I'll probably be posting more photos from there in the coming weeks as I catch up on some more recent projects.
2 comments:
Rosie,
I set this picture as the background on my computer desktop. On Sunday our preacher talked about labyrinths as spiritual exercises -- journeys to the heart. This picture from NZ reminded me that Jo White was working on a prayer garden based on the NZ tree fern. So, with the theme of new beginnings and new birth, your picture is the right symbol for this season ...
Beautiful! I followed this link from Christine's blog. Thanks for sharing this, from a beginning photographer...
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