Japanese iris always strike me as delicate, evanescent, graceful flowers. I picked up two small bunches of them yesterday to enjoy and to photograph.
Transitory Grace
They were all tightly closed when I brought them home so I placed them in warm water. Slowly the blossoms began to unfurl.
By late afternoon two of ten flowers had unfolded their delicate petals and revealed their exquisite translucent beauty.
Blue Iris
Now that I’m free to be myself, who am I?
Can’t fly, can’t run, and see how slowly I walk.
Well, I think, I can read books.
“What’s that you’re doing?”
the green-headed fly shouts as it buzzes past.
I close the book.
Well, I can write down words, like these, softly.
“What’s that you’re doing?” whispers the wind, pausing
in a heap just outside the window.
Give me a little time, I say back to its staring, silver face.
It doesn’t happen all of a sudden, you know.
“Doesn’t it?” says the wind, and breaks open, releasing
distillation of blue iris.
And my heart panics not to be, as I long to be,
the empty, waiting, pure, speechless receptacle.
— Mary Oliver
This morning all but one of the flowers had opened in a sweet assemblage of grace. Gazing at them felt like listening to beautiful music or gazing at an exquisite painting. And I longed to create images of them that expressed the beauty I saw.
“When I woke the morning light was just slipping in front of the stars and I was covered with blossoms.”
― Blue Iris: Poems and Essays
I study them, make a few images, play with the images in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Then I look at the iris again, think again, and ask “How can I reveal their full grace and beauty? What do they want to say?”
And then I listen deeply. Sometimes they are silent and I take a break to do some chores around the house or take a short walk. Each time I come back again, my vision is refreshed and I see things I hadn’t seen before.
These moments of contemplating grace are a gift I give myself and hopefully the images I create are a gift to others as well.
My hope for you today my friends, is that you take time to contemplate something beautiful for a few moments and to give thanks for the wonder and beauty of life.
May you walk in beauty.
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