A couple of days ago I took an hour’s walk through Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison. I had exactly one free hour between appointments. As I drove past the gardens, I could see from the street that there were deep colors and textures throughout the gardens. I did not need to make much of a conscious decision — seemed as if my car naturally swung into the lot and parked in its familiar parking space.
Because I bring my basic photo gear wherever I travel, my camera was on the passenger seat, ready for action. Considering I had exactly an hour — no dawdling — I took only my 12 inch diffuser in case I needed to shield a flower or two from the mid-day light. Though I typically shoot at least some of my photos in the gardens with my macro lens, my 50 mm prime was already on the camera, and so I made a quick decision to work differently — I would walk through the gardens and capture more compositions, more textures, more paths and bridges for some metaphor projects I’ve been planning, and fewer macro-photographs. I tucked my tripod through my camera bag loop, just in case, and off I went.
Since I carried different gear, I looked for different sorts of photographs — that felt very freeing — and I felt as if I were seeing through “new” eyes. When I walked near this grouping of coleus, zinnias, and other late blooming summer flowers, the colors, textures, and composition caught my attention — and refused let go!
I was quite transfixed by the variety of purples and oranges, the crinkled leaves in contrast to the long, twisting petals, and there were even a few daisy types for that touch of simplicity.
It wasn’t until I took these photographs into the studio early this morning that I really connected with many of the of the details in this photo. I wasn’t happy with a rather dark clump of leaves in the lower right corner of the photograph – it pulled my attention towards the corner, but there wasn’t much visual interest. I experimented, investigated, curious to see what would happen as I worked with the Nik Color Efex software. When I applied the Infrared Film setting to the photo, I loved the contrast of the B/W mixed with the bright flowers.
The composition stood out, the contrasting colors took on added depth against the partly grayscale background, and the textures popped right off the screen.
I thought I would share this photo — a departure from many of the botanicals I shoot.
Any reaction — positive, not so positive, unsure? I’d love to know what you think.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is investigating post-processing techniques with Nik Software and perhaps having way too much fun to call her photography to-do list for today “work”.




