A Change in Perspective

Sea Nettle/Growing Old

A photograph of a Mexican bird of paradise.

“The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”

- W.B. Yeats

I find this such a fitting thought for dried flowers. I feel that flowers have been waiting and waiting for our senses to grow sharper and take a look at them once their original beauty has faded. 

My parents have two big beautiful Mexican bird of paradise shrubs in their front yard and I always love when they are in full bloom. They are rich with yellows, oranges, and bright reds (and as a bonus, they attract butterflies and hummingbirds!) The last time their shrub was in bloom I took a few of the flowers to dry and photograph. The individual flowers are relatively small but, I really wanted to see what they would look like dried. 

This beautiful flower dried in just the way that I had hoped it would. The stamen of the Mexican bird of paradise stayed intact, which can be very delicate, and I worried that they might break off. I feel like with this flower that the stamen made such a huge impact to this image. I photographed this flower in a few different ways and it always amazes me how if you just turn the flower, or turn the camera, how you can end up with a totally different image and what that image can evoke. With this image, I was struck with the feeling of a jellyfish! I love how you can obviously tell that this is a flower, however, it can take you to another place.

I use these little changes of perspective to remind myself that there are little changes of perspective to be had all over the place. What can I look at differently today?