by hankinslawrenceimages | Jan 16, 2013 | Passifloraceae Family, Photo of the Month
Passion Flower Pair © 2012 Patty Hankins
I have seen and photographed some amazing flowers over the years. One flower that really caught my eye and made me ask "What is it?" when I first saw it was a Passion Flower. And I’m not the only one who has that reaction to these amazing flowers.
At shows, I’ll often see people looking at my photos, pick one up – and look at me with a questioning look on their face. They’ll often ask – "What is it?" And they don’t even have to show me which photo they’re holding – I know it’s one of my Pasison Flower photos. People have described it as looking like a jellyfish flower, a sea anemone flower, a space alien flower and most recently – as the purple pasta flower!
There are close to 500 varieties of passion flowers found primarily in tropical regions. There are nine varieties that are native to the United States. Most of these are vines with large distinct flowers that have adapted to local pollinators. In addition to the native varieties of passion flowers, many hybrids have been developed so now passion flowers can be found throughout the world.
Passion flowers are grown for their amazing flowers, and because they are very useful plants. The fruit of various passion flowers plants – passion fruit – are eaten by many people. Native populations have used parts of the passion flowers to treat everything from insomnia to epilepsy.
So far I’ve photographed five or six varieties of pasison flowers and I’m always on the lookout for more of these amazing flowers to photograph.
Passion Flower Pair is my January 2013 Photo of the Month. Until January 31, SAVE 20% off the regular prices for Passion Flower Pair.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Dec 10, 2012 | News, Photo of the Month
December is one of my favorite times of year. When it comes to Christmas decorations and music, I’m still a little kid at heart. I love the lights, the decorations, the poinsettias, and scent of the pine trees and wreaths. They bring back memories of Christmas and winter in my hometown of Winchester, Massachusetts.
When it comes to photographing in December, sometimes its a bit of a challenge to photograph the season in a new way. By now, I’ve taken hundreds of photographs of various poinsettias – in just about every shade of red, pink, cream and white. And since I’ve seen and photographed so many single colored poinsettias – you can imagine why I was so happy to see the Ice Point Poinsettia the first time I saw it. The combination of red and white in the petals reflect the colors of the season. The patterns in the petals reminded me of the patterns in the ice on Big and Little Winter Ponds where I skated as a kid.
So for me, the Ice Punch Poinsettia presented not only a wonderful new flower to photograph, but also a reminder of sights and warm memories from my childhood.
Are there flowers that bring back wonderful memories for you? If there are, I’d love to hear about them.
Ice Punch Poinsettia is my December 2012 Photo of the month. Until December , SAVE 20% off the regular prices for Ice Punch Poinsettia.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Nov 12, 2012 | Photo of the Month
No matter if I’m photographing at a local garden – or hiking in a national park looking for wildflowers – one of the first things that catches my eye is a splash of color. Once I stop to see what the splash of color is – I often find a beautiful flower to photograph – especially in the spring.
After a winter of browns, grays and greens – the colors of the flowers are one of my favorite aspects of spring. Here in the DC area, there is a wonderful progression of flowers and colors. We start with pansies and crocuses – in yellow, blues and whites. These are followed by the daffodils in all their wonderful shades of yellow. And then come the tulips – in just about any color you can imagine.
One my favorite tulips is the Princess Irene Tulip. These wonderful flowers contain practically an entire rainbow of colors – a soft yellow & orange petals – with splashes of red, pink, purple and green. All by themselves, the Princess Irene Tulips sum up the explosion of spring colors after the long winter.
I decided that Princess Irene Tulips would be my November 2012 Photo of the Month, so that you can bring this splash of spring into your home before winter sets in. Until November 30, SAVE 20% off the regular prices for Princess Irene Tulips.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Oct 17, 2012 | Iridaceae Family, Photo of the Month
Beautiful Vision Bearded Iris © 2012 Patty Hankins
Beautiful Vision is a wonderful bearded iris I’ve photographed several times over the years. But until this year – I hadn’t quite captured the delicate colors and shapes of the flower. So when I found this one earlier this year – I was thrilled to be able to photograph it against the soft green background and show off the ruffles along the edges of the petals and delicate shades pink, purple and peach in this flower.
I’ve always loved bearded irises. One of my first memories of flowers is a bed of bearded irises outside the front door in the house I grew up in. My mother planted the irises in the early 1960s – and they bloomed every spring.
So now, when I’m photographing flowers – and I see a bearded iris – I’m taken right back to my memories of the wonderful multi-colored irises I remember from my childhood. And it turns out – I’m not the only person who has that reaction to bearded irises. I can’t tell you how many times someone looking at my photos sees the irises – and starts talking about the ones they remember from their mother’s or grandmother’s gardens. And it’s not just the bearded irises that get that reaction – people seem to be drawn to the flowers that they remember from their childhoods or other significant events in their lives. Do you have a favorite flower that you remember from your childhood? If you do, I’d love to hear about it. Feel free to leave a note in the comments section below.
Beautiful Vision Bearded Iris is my October 2012 Photo of the Month. Until October 31, SAVE 20% off the regular prices for Beautiful Vision Bearded Iris.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Sep 12, 2012 | Photo of the Month
White Trout Lily © 2012 Patty Hankins
Trout lilies had been on my “want to photograph” list for a few years. They are a native lily that blooms briefly in the spring in the Washington, DC area. Word had it that there were both yellow and white trout lilies that bloom at Turkey Run Park in Virginia – the challenge was catching them in bloom.
So in the spring of 2010, I headed out to Turkey Run Park in search of Trout Lilies. I missed the bloom by a few days – spotted a few leaves and the remains of a few flowers.
In 2011, after checking with several other local photographers, early one morning in mid-March, I headed back to Turkey Run. As I started my hike, I saw what looked to be a few trout lilies about to bloom. By the time I was done with my hike – one yellow trout lily had bloomed – and I’d spotted several more that were just about ready to pop. So that afternoon, I headed back. I found lots of the yellow trout lilies to photograph – and got some wonderful photos. I also found three white trout lilies. While I did photograph them, I wasn’t particularly happy with the photos – they showed a single white flower but without any context showing the environment I’d photographed it in.
So once again, in 2012, I headed back to Turkey Run. I went in the morning planning on seeing how close the trout lilies were to blooming. They were just about ready to bloom – so I headed back that same afternoon.
By this point, I’d realized that if you’re in the right place at the right time, yellow trout lilies aren’t too hard to find. You often find them in clusters – and if you’re in the just the right spot – you can see a hillside of yellow trout lilies. But at least here in the DC area, the white trout lilies are much rarer. The white trout lily photo I was composing in my mind was going to show not only the beautiful flower, but also that it may just be one trout lily in a fairly large area. When I found the white trout lilies this year – it turns out that there were three of them – just like last year.
And this time, I was able to photograph one of them with my tripod basicly flat on the ground. From this angle, I could show the details of the delicate beauty of the blossom – and have it surrounded by a sea of green leaves – without another blossom in sight.
It was a good thing I’d gone out that afternoon to photograph the trout lilies. I returned to Turkey Run two days later in hopes of photographing a few more trout lilies. The blossoms on the white trout lilies were finished – and most of the yellow ones weren’t in very good shape.
Frequently photographing beautiful flowers takes being in the right place at the right time. And sometimes it takes a few years to find that perfect flower at just the right point in it’s life cycle to capture the image that I want. But when I do catch it at that perfect moment – all the work and research that it has taken to get the photo – is worth it.
White Trout Lily is my September 2012 Photo of the Month. Until September 30, SAVE 20% off the regular prices for White Trout Lily.
by hankinslawrenceimages | Sep 3, 2012 | Liliaceae Family, Photo of the Month
White Trout Lily © 2012 Patty Hankins
I’ve photographed the White Trout Lilies (Erythronium albidum) at Turkey Run Park in Virginia a few times now. They bloom in the early spring (at the same time as the yellow trout lilies) in the Washington, DC area. On the right day at Turkey Run Park, it’s not uncommon to see close to 100 yellow trout lilies – but only 3 or 4 white ones. So I was thrilled to find this one particular white trout lily among a sea of green, just waiting to be photographed in the afternoon light.
Like the yellow trout lilies, White Trout Lilies play an important role in the forest community. The leaves capture and store phosphorus in early spring, which is then returned to the soil as the leaves die during the year. The early-blooming flowers provide pollen and nectar for queen-bees and serve as an energy supply for emerging worker bees. Bee larvae feed on the pollen – and then go on to pollinate other plants such as clover and alfalfa.
Until September 30, SAVE 20% off the regular prices for White Trout Lily. The photograph is available through my website in two sizes of gallery-wrapped canvases.
Save $ 30 on the 12X18″ Canvas – regular price $ 147 – September Photo of the Month Price – $ 117.00
Save $ 110 on the 20X30″ Canvas – regular price $ 547 – September Photo of the Month Price – $ 437.00
Free shipping to U.S. Addresses for either size photograph.
As with all photographs from BeautifulFlowerPictures.com, White Trout Lily comes with my Unconditional Happiness Guarantee. You have one year to decide that it is the perfect photograph for you. If it’s not, just return it (in original condition) for a full refund.
