Laurie Tennant with the Belle Isle Conservatory in the background
On an overcast Sunday morning a few weeks ago, I crossed the MacArthur bridge over the Detroit River to Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. I found my way to the glass-domed Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory and met up with a small group of photography enthusiasts to take a Botanical Portrait Photography workshop with the photographer, Laurie Tennent. The class was offered through The Atelier School of Art.
I use photography in my painting practice to produce reference photographs and to take photos of completed artwork. I have also had a lifelong interest in photography as an artform in itself. As I am beginning a new series of botanical paintings with “The Alchemist’s Garden” as a first offering, studying botanical photography with a pro seemed like the perfect thing to do.
We made our way into the Conservatory and began in the steamy tropical room where it felt like I’d instantly traveled to a garden in my winter home state of Florida. The blooms and foliage were dripping with moisture.
The 50mm prime lens on my Nikon D850 camera fogged up immediately. Once I’d carefully wiped it off, I began to study the many blooms around me. There was no shortage of subjects to photograph. I took a broad sweep around the room and took many shots, then went back and focused on a few of my favorites.
I decided to shoot in manual mode to challenge myself to make all of the decisions necessary to get a good shot so that I’d learn as much as possible.
Above you see the oft-ignored back side of a Peace Lily. I love the graceful arch and the dewy jewels clinging to the luminous green and white surface. I will often add water drops to blooms in my paintings. I find the highlights and shadow patterns in water droplets to be mesmerizing. I think it also gives the image a sense of energy and movement with the anticipation of the droplets rolling off the petal any moment.
The small yellow and orange blossoms of the Clivia Miniata with their sun-ray stamen look like bursts of joy to me. I composed the shot such that the foliage around it framed the blooms in a v-shape and the leaf to the right caught a bit of weak sunlight just so.
As with all the photos shown here, I edited this one in Adobe Lightroom to perform what photographers call post-processing, or post for short, to improve the composition and change various aspects of it to bring it to my artistic vision. This is typical of professional photographers. Rarely will you see a professionally produced photo that is not artistically enhanced in some way. Long before digital tools, pros like Ansel Adams used dark room tricks of the trade to get the shot just right.
Outside we toured the vast urban garden designed by Dutch landscape artist, Piet Oudolf. Looking at the bountiful garden you would never guess that it is just one year old.
While it is easy to favor perfectly formed blossoms, I see wabi-sabi beauty in the chewed edge of a petal. Aside from the aesthetic appeal, it tells a story, perhaps of an insect’s slow nibbling away at it on a warm summer day.
A visit to the conservatory is not complete without a visit from the conservatory cat. Research tells me that the “official conservatory cat” is named Pavo, shown in a photo another visitor took. The cat shown here looks like it may be a cousin.
I very much enjoyed spending the day getting to know my camera, the conservatory and the surrounding gardens. Laurie was a knowledgeable and patient teacher and I enjoyed my time with her and the other students.
I am planning on going through the many photos I took this day, and others, as the mood strikes, and posting them on my Facebook page as a way of developing my skills. I’ll see you there!