Well, spring doesn’t officially start until tomorrow. But the plum tree in my backyard doesn’t know the difference. Every year, it bursts into a puffy cloud of fragile pink blossoms.
And every spring, it draws me irresistibly outside, camera in hand.
Macro (close-up) photography has been one of my interests for a long time. In this world, it’s often the biggest, flashiest, noisiest things that attract the most notice. But macro photography focuses in on the tiny, the delicate, the overlooked, perfectly-formed, miniature miracles hiding in plain view.
Like plum blossoms.
And to make things even more fun, this year my good friend Audry showed me some techniques with camera apertures. Oh boy.
Turns out smaller F-stops (lens apertures) focus on smaller depths of field. They draw your eye to just one tiny part of the image.
Instead of getting overwhelmed by the whole, you can focus the intricate beauty of one part–and maybe see something there you never noticed before. Look at the different textures of the pink petals and the red encasement–smooth and bumpy, frilled and veined. So much detail in such a small space!
Isn’t God amazing? All this beauty, like getting a card in the mail for no reason. It’s just God saying, “Smile, beautiful. I made this for you.”
Happy spring! What tiny miracles can you find in your world today?
Alina Sayre, Author 
These photos truly make my heart sing! Such glorious beauty,up-close and personal. Yes, yes–our world is abundant with tiny (and enormous)miracles of creation, and yet how often do we truly pause and admire all these incredible gifts that color our world. Lovely, lovely post, Alina 😀
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Thank you, Barbara! I like the way blogging makes me stop and take time to notice these things 🙂
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Wow, those are great photos. This happens in your backyard?
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Thanks, Mike! I know, amazing, isn’t it? Just taking a walk around the block takes my breath away when I stop to notice the little things.
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Love your photographs. I first fell in love with art when I saw Georgia O’Keefe’s flowers. The close view is so much more spectacular (to me) than the long view. This post made me feel like Spring arrived a day early. Thank you!
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Thanks, Sara! I know, Georgia O’Keefe’s flowers sure are beautiful. Neat how some of the best art comes straight out of nature 🙂
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Love those blossoming trees. Great photography! Spring…I love it.
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Thanks, Janice! Spring is my favorite season 🙂
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I would love to take a photography course, but in the meantime, I play. Gorgeous pics, Alina. Hello, buds, hello God. Thank you for the beauty of nature.
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Oooh, a fellow photography enthusiast! Like you, I’m untrained, but photography helps me capture visions my drawing hand can’t. Keep playing!
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What lovely pictures! I used to do some (very amateur) flower photography. Your post is inspiring me to dig out the camera (at least it’s not in some random box somewhere) and go snap some flowers. 🙂
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Absolutely! Take advantage of what’s unpacked and enjoy your new scenery!
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I was trying to take shots of our redbuds, but the sky has not been too blue this week, so the flowers don’t pop like they do in your pictures.
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Oh, bummer! I went to school in Seattle, so I know about endless ages of gray skies. Hope your sky clears up soon!
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