Friday, June 4, 2010

A Ballet of Blossoms

Peachy Petals - Lynda Lehmann c 2009

Watch the petals of irises sway, billow and gently gesture in the breeze. It's like watching a ballet: the dance of sweet spring air over translucent sheaths of brilliant color, orchestrated interplay of air, color, and light....

Irises may be my favorite flower, for their intricate, sculptural forms, whose graceful spatial relationships flourish in 3-D. I think they're much more interesting than tulips, for example, whose colors are just as beautiful but whose petals form a more symmetric and predictable, cup-like structure. As with the process when I paint, I enjoy variety and a few surprises!


The closer I move with my eye or my view through the camera, the more I see of the fantastic architecture of the flower kingdom.

What's your favorite flower?

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

20 comments:

  1. The perfect title for the perfect iris. These are gorgeous.

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  2. Nice pics. I don't know if I have a favorite flower. I'm more of a plant person. The color green relaxes me...Just wanted to say you have a great looking blog. Very artistic!

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  3. Hi Lynda.
    Nice to see you back posting again. I truly enjoy your photographs. I can't say I have a favourite flower either. Depending on my mood, I'm attracted to different ones.

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  4. Hi Lynda,
    What amazing pictures - the detail in the close up really shines to what an amazing world we live in - just look at what nature creates! Beautiful!!

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  5. I love the sensuality of these photos - so alien and yet so welcoming!

    Just for scent, and maybe for the leaves, I love lilac.

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  6. @ Poetic Shutterbug - They're a lot more graceful than I am, lol...

    @ Ralph - Thanks for your lovely comment. I appreciate it!

    @ Davina - I really like them all, but irises have an enduring appeal for me... Nice to see you, too!

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  7. @ Lance - Yes, nature is magical!

    Have you finished planning your Maine excursion, yet? Hope you got to have your laugh-in in NYC! Sorry I missed it. :(

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  8. @ VirusHead - You're right, they are alien and strange looking in spite of their beauty. Makes me wonder if the two values go together a lot!

    I love the color of lilac!

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  9. Very nice presentation of natural arts. Thanks for sharing. I try to see your works but get little time for paucity of electricity supply in my village where I reside. But still, I would like to be in touch. Regards.

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  10. Further, I have put your link on my blog -
    http://pleasures-of-living.blogspot.com

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  11. @ Ram Bansal - It must be frustrating to have limited access to electricity. But it also has its positive side, of course. One can live a more meditative, immediate existence without sitting at a desk and being plugged in to electronics all the time!

    Thank you very much for putting my banner on your page. I'm adding you to my blog list.

    Enjoy your day.

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  12. Lynda:

    Very nice. Nature's natural art is some of the most beautiful of all. Everywhere I look, I see nothing but wonderful things, and you capture them so well.

    Happy trails.

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  13. Beautiful shots. I don't know if I can pick a "favorite" flower, but I do get a kick out of the local passionflowers. They look like something out of Star Trek.

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  14. @ Swubird - Happy trails to you!


    @ Lana - Have you seen that program on aliens where Stephen Hawking talks about their possible physiology and form? Very cool stuff.

    I'll have to take a new look at the passionflower. :)

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  15. beautiful captures. i love the oriental lily. its scent is perfection. have a great weekend.

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  16. Lynda, I love this photo, especially colors on this flower. I don't know really what is my favorite flower, but if comes to fresh cut flowers I really like Gerber daisy, especially orange. BTW Lynda I like the title of your post. So appropriate. Hope all is well with you. Anna :)

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  17. Dearest Lynda, I can hardly believe this because Iris are one of my most favored flowers. I just finished laying out a photo book, one of 10 that I am working on, and this one I laid out last night is titled, Iris of Eden. It is full of intimate photos of purple, blue, pink, maroon and yellow iris. They hold me captivated, as you say, because they are so intricately sculpted. I have spent hours photographing them.

    My other photos books are Ice Crystals, Water, Flowers, Insects, Textures, Peace, Fungus, etc. They are all small thin photo books with a theme and some have captions. I work on them to take a break. I can't wait for you see them. I think you will see how you and I often look at the world in the same intimate way. I want to do more books as well, maybe old barns/buildings, trees, rocks, sunsets/sunrises, clouds, and so much more.

    Your Iris here are stunning. I LOVE photographing flowers, I always feel I have to ask permission, as if I am invading their most private lives.

    It always touches me to come here and....see myself in you....or you in me....I know that may sound odd, but the way you see the world and express your passionate love affair with the natural world, I often feel like you are expressing how "I" feel. Thank you SO much my truly beautiful friend for such a precious gift.

    Much love to you Lynda,
    Robin.

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  18. Naquillity - Sorry to be so late in responding to my comments. Just busy as bees. I love lilies too, and I think they might be my 2nd favorite. Both the lily and the iris have such an elegance of form, I think they outshine the rest!

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  19. ANNA - Wonderful to see you. I hope you and Matthew are having some late spring fun in the sun. Is it hot up there yet? It is here....

    Although yesterday was still quite cool as wellas drizzly. But we spent the afternoon driving through the Kancamagus Pass in the White Mountains. It was gorgeous, even in the rain....

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  20. ROBIN - Yes it is uncanny, sometimes, how we find such likeness in ourselves and other people. I guess that's what relating is all about, and it's serendipity when we find it--that commonality--on so many levels, with some folks maybe a little more than others.

    At any rate, it's good, and humanizing, and somehow reassuring! One day I will see your photos and we'll go out shooting together.

    Thank YOU my dear Robin for being you, for inspiring and affirming whatever good you see in me, and for being such a good blogging friend.

    I look forward to meeting you one day soon!

    I hope your time in NYC was memorable and affirming to you, and will be over soon to read about it!

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