Oh, this is simply heavenly! Your description is perfect, and the picture is even better. I'll just have to take your word for it that you're not good at still life pictures, because you nailed this one! The lighting smells like dew, spring and lace-clad children, and I wish I lived in it.
Lovely. Just... lovely.

~Misc.

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"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere."
-G. K. Chesterton

My bros:
~Hoppenburger
~Stealthysilence

You know as well as I do that if you've got a great scene in front of you, it's hard not to take a good photograph.
And essentially, this is a portrait....of flowers. Quite lovely. But I'm going to be honest, I miss the header with our Victorian studio set--just for sentimental reasons.

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And I'm lost in the window, and I hide in the stairway
And I hang in the curtain, and I sleep in your hat...

Hehe...I know--I feel the same way, actually. About missing the other header, I mean... I actually got this idea because ^equivoque said something nice about my CSS...and that made me think of how cool it would be to do four seasons worth of tableaux...and rotate them. Yours would, of course, be fall. This would be spring. And I'll just have to come up with something for the other two seasons...

As for having a great scene in front of you...HA! That just goes to show you didn't see how I AGONIZED over getting ANY decent shots of this scene!!!! "Okay" shots, sure...properly framed, good composition, blah blah blah...but nothing that really jumped out at you. The header for my journal, this image, and the wallpaper I made did actually jump out at me...and while I wouldn't consider them "great" by any means, I figure they're at least relatively good--better than so-so,anyhow.

But you're right--it IS a portrait...of flowers. And better than my images of flowers usually are. (I've got folders full of disappointing images of beautiful flowers from my old home, and bouquets from Winstons...all...rather dull. :/) Putting a bust in there helps me focus, I think.

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Any great work of art ... revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world—

--Leonard Bernstein

that would be a nice rotation...only...it's not spring yet so you do need a winter. and then a summer.

I guess I never anticipated your agony just because I think you're amazing and naturally you'd be able to capture the beauty of the flowers with such ease. I really like the bust in with it...it serves as an anchor point for the eye.

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And I'm lost in the window, and I hide in the stairway
And I hang in the curtain, and I sleep in your hat...

Why, thank you very much! I always figure that a few well-chosen words can go a long ways towards concealing flaws...and accentuating good points!

Speaking of well-chosen words..."The lighting smells like dew, spring and lace-clad children"...lovely! I couldn't have put it better myself!

(I wish I lived in it, too...wouldn't that be heavenly?!)

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Any great work of art ... revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world—

--Leonard Bernstein

Despite what you say about not being good at still life photography, I think this picture is delicate and gracefully beautiful!

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От улыбки, станет мир светлей.
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my art account [link]

Oh, phooey. It might not be spring yet HERE--but it's spring in California--and it's when spring SHOULD start, so THERE!

Anyway, it's too late to get good winter flowers now...florists are like other retail stores--and always a season ahead...

Aren't you the flatterer, today!

I really think it all comes down to what I tell my students, when I'm trying to get them to learn to take good pictures of people (or indeed, anything else): there has to be a sold, concrete, easily explained reason for WHY you take each picture--or it'll never be anything more than so-so. You need to *burn* for it. Have a passion for it. You must be *desperate* to take that picture--and THEN--you have to find a way to show your audience the story that was in your head, when you took the picture--you've got to explain "so what"--why should they care?

I have that for people pictures. Posed ones, anyway...not casual ones...but not for
*things*. I mostly like things--in relation to people. So--the beautiful things in my home--are there to harmonize with the people in my home at any given time. And the props in my photos--are there to support the story I'm imagining...and flowers--are there to smell pretty and fill my heart with joy--but I don't have a specific enough reason to take photos of them--and it always shows.

When I photograph you--I am on fire to show the creaminess of your skin...the delicate, yet strong arch of your brows...the sensuality of your eyes and hair...the combination of strength and softness in your face--and so everything I do when posing you is focused on bringing those things out. If I just thought, "Oh, Heather's pretty--I should take a picture of her!", the results would be pretty much like every other photo you've ever had a friend or loved one take of you--sometimes good, mostly so-so or bad. I just don't have the focused of a vision, when I'm photographing things--I have more of a "Ooo! These flowers are so pretty I should photograph them--I bet they'd look great!" sort of reaction...and it shows, in the final image. Because I've got a decent eye, they don't break any major compositional rules--but they won't really grab anyone in a discerning audience, either.

So the agony in trying to do something like this is mostly about trying to define my purpose and focus...and since my original premise is pretty flimsy, propping it up is hard work!

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Any great work of art ... revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world—

--Leonard Bernstein

Thank you!

(And in fairness--this IS better than my normal stuff like this...I have a handful of non-people pictures that aren't awful--and are even pretty good...it's just not something that I'm really great at, as some artists are. )

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Any great work of art ... revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world—

--Leonard Bernstein

Hahaha, believe me, i know. You're preaching to the choir And it's that special attention to detail and care for your subjects that makes your work have so much depth.

And you're quite the flatterer yourself. If you want a real challenge come over here right now and try to capture the creaminess of my skin and the sensuality of my eyes...i've been bedridden for about 4 days, I'm an absolute mess, and I actually just called Chris to ask him what a hernia feels like since I just coughed and now i have a sharp pain in my abdomen. Ahaha..what a good joke.

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And I'm lost in the window, and I hide in the stairway
And I hang in the curtain, and I sleep in your hat...

It's a very pretty shot, the flowers are exquisite and you are a hopeless romantic.

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Machines were mice and men were lions once upon a time, but now that it's the opposite, it's twice upon a time. - Moondog