As promised in my previous post, ‘In the Mirror Pool’, the focus today is on the gardens at Upton House.
I had a thoroughly enjoyable time walking round those gardens, spotting the best specimens of Aster, Dahlia, and Geranium that populated the flower beds this late in the year. A couple of weeks earlier, the show would have been much more impressive. I had an idea as to how I would process these, and therefore I shot with care to avoid distracting backgrounds.
As well as semi-formal gardens, Upton House has a bog garden, which can thankfully be visited while retaining dry feet, and less formal wooded areas. In those places there were the first signs of autumn and I’ve included three images from there in the gallery below.
Back home I made a deliberate decision to follow the layout in an old encyclopedia of garden plants where every single illustration is square. For specimen flowers, there is something very natural in cropping to a square format around a circular single flower. And it was not hard to extend that concept to the remainder of the images
I hope you enjoy the gallery below. Click on the first image and then navigate through.
LensScaper 
Worthy of the RHS Plant Encyclopedia Andy. Beautifully shot!
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This was a really enjoyable session, Adrian. ‘Square’ works. One only has to visit the greetings card section in any store to see how many of the Arty cards are square format
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Hi Andy, There are some great shots here with some nice compositions. When shooting flowers there is usually a compromise to be made with the composition but the second one works so well 🙂 I also like the simplicity of the fifth shot. It looks like you considered pretty carefully how you’ve laid them out as a group and it works very well… Most enjoyable. Thanks for sharing, best wishes, Mr Cafe
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I think the reason that these work as ‘squares’ is that I had that idea in the back of my mind at the time I shot. I’m also signed up the concept that presentation is important to success – so yes, I took some care as to how I laid out the gallery. Glad you enjoyed the results, and thank for commenting PC.
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This is a beautiful series, Andy. I love the square fomat for shots like this. It seems to be a popular format these days and I’m happy to see it make a comeback.
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Thanks Ken. Yes, square is hip! The greetings card market provides the evidence that the square format works.
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Great gallery Andy, the square format works perfectly – very nice 🙂
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Thank you, Lisa
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A beautiful collection of photos. I really like the way all the flowers are captured, head on, almost like mug shots. Makes for a coherent expression and for a very interesting look when perceived as a whole.
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Thanks very much Otto. Mug Shots is a good description. From the horticultural standpoint I suppose they would be called Specimens. This was a case of seeing the end from the beginning; having the idea that ‘square’ might work and shooting with that in mind with uncluttered backgrounds. And you will know so well how important it is to have that end result in mind when you are shooting. I learnt a lot from this short period of time.
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They really are lovely, and the foliage shots are as appealing as the flowers — something that’s not always true.
I smiled at your assertion that “presentation is important to success.” The first time I heard that approach to things, it was in Kathryn Hulme’s novel, “The Nun’s Story.” The sister, whose name I’ve forgotten, had been diagnosed with TB, and one part of her treatment was to consume two raw eggs each day. The physician who brought them to her the first time had placed them in a crystal goblet, and of course, good sister that she was, she recoiled at such a luxury. “Sister,” said the doctor, “with a tubercular, presentation is everything.”
I’ve never forgotten that – thanks for your photos, and for renewing the memory.
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Thanks so much Linda – you always have an interesting anecdote to contribute – much appreciated. The short pithy one-liner that I know that is quoted with reference to any form of speech or presentation is this: ‘to fail to prepare, is to prepare to fail’. While that quote can cover a lot of different issues related to debating, speaking or presenting, visual ‘presentation’ skills that are well crafted can always get you off to a good start. I’ve never forgotten that.
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