Every time I visit Western Australia I am totally blown away by the flowers. They are just so so different from the ones on the other side of the country. It has become a passion to keep going back each spring to see what I can find. I am always struggling with the colours to find a balance between what I like and what I remember.

Getting this right has always been a bug bear for my digital photography. I think back to film and colour seemed easier then. You chose a film based on its colour palette. And that was virtually it.

In the darkroom I could change the overall colour palette with global changes. So it was just a matter of trying to get it look as good as I could.

With digital there is so much to play with when it comes to colour, many, me included find it overwhelming. And then there is always that disconnect with reality.

I feel that in the top image. I can love it for it’s beautiful greens, but deep in my heart they are different from my memories. It feels a bit wrong. Though not many people would really know what colours they really are, or even more specifically how they change over a day or a year.

When I do my abstract art, I feel I have more license to abstract the colours. And by creating something that is actually unseen, I feel more at liberty to go a bit wild.

When I do my straight flowers and natural scenes it just doesn’t feel right.

The orchids and these banksia bushes are just so stunning. I do hope we can get over there this year. It will be such a delight to get back there again.

That reminds me, I should show you some of the orchids from there too.

https://www.lensschool.com/workshops-tours/short-lens-cape-naturaliste

Photographs and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2021