Silver Lining

MARK REEVES LRPS

I am attracted to botanical gardens by the magnificent range of leaves, petals, stalks, trunks, seed pods and shadows that can be an endless source of material for abstract imagery, which is where my main photographic interests lie. And, of course, gardens continually change from week to week, so it is impossible to visit and not find something new to photograph.

I know many photographers who research their locations before they go anywhere, in order to be confident that they will be there at the right time of the day or the most appropriate season, or that the weather will cooperate, and also to know what they might want to photograph when they arrive. Not me. I show up at a location and walk around looking for inspiration as I go. I try to remain open to as many creative opportunities as possible but find that the things which usually attract my interest are simple graphic lines and shapes, and translucent things such as back-lighting and water drops, and the barely there - cobwebs and dandelion seeds.

This image, which I call Silver Lining, features a plant (Google tells me it might be pickerel weed) growing in one of the several ponds at the Ness Botanical Gardens on the Wirral. It was taken into the sun during the late afternoon, with sunlight passing through the pale rims of the large geometric leaves and picking up the fine hairs surrounding the bud. The plant itself is green but I was lucky enough to find some red background which made the subsequent mono conversion relatively easy. www.markreevesphotography.co.uk

As for my kit…the most useful piece of equipment I have is a foam rollmat. It enables me to get down on the ground even in the most unpleasant conditions, in order to discover the endless possibilities that plants present.