Coneflower, Unfolding – Beautiful in Her Glory and Her Imperfection

Coneflower, Unfolding © 2014 Bo Mackison

Coneflower, Unfolding © 2014 Bo Mackison

“There is something perfect to be found in the imperfect: the law keeps balance through the juxtaposition of beauty, which gains perfection through nurtured imperfection.” ~ Dejan Stojanovic

There was a time, a time spanning many years, when I would have processed this photo in a way so that the wrinkled, brown area on the front petal would have been invisible. Or I would have searched for that one flower that already looked perfect, and photographed that one.

We look at a perfectly formed flower and marvel at its beauty, admire the face of a model made perfect in the post processing stage, choose the perfect landscape perspective that hides the telephone pole.

Today I choose to photograph the flower with its imperfection. To see the whole. To study the lovely curling petals on the verge of opening. To marvel at the juxtaposition of the orange and the pink.

This does not imply that I did no post processing – I did. I softened the background, added a vignette to emphasize the flower. Played with the photo until I liked the artistic interpretation AND I chose to show the flower as it is – perfect in its imperfection.