Leaf Edges. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Leaf edges with thorns in the shape of small waves.
Few of us seem to be able to resist photographing thick leaves like these, particularly when they overlap in such graphically interesting ways, presenting a contrast between dark shadows and the bright spines on the edges of the leaves. I know I can’t resist, and almost any time I find myself in a garden I end up pointing the camera at such things, even when photography is not my primary reason for visiting.
My first instinct with a subject like this one is frequently to go straight to monochrome. I’m not sure if that is because I feel that removing color may focus attention on the graphical forms or simply because the earliest photographs in this genre that I saw were monochromatic. Here I went the opposite direction, keeping and even amping up the intensity of the colors a bit, warming the shadow light as well.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
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