I Beg Your Pardon...and a Giveaway

I never promised you a rose garden...oh wait, I kind of did, so here goes!  Oh, and be sure to scroll ALL the way down to the bottom of the post to register for my latest Giveaway!

If you read my last post, then you know that I spent last Friday with my blog pal Connie from Hartwood Roses.

It was a perfect day to visit her beautiful home and gardens since it was a little on the overcast side and not too hot.  When it's sunny, it makes it much harder to photograph flowers during mid day, so we were both hoping for clouds on Friday, and we got our wish!

Visiting Connie's yard and gardens is a little like walking in to a fairy tale.  As you wander the rose gardens, you can't help but feel like a princess from a story book and it makes you want to break out in song and don a frilly frock.


 

Because everywhere you turn there is color, fragrance, and beauty, the kind that illustrators have tried to capture for years.

And perfumiers and candle makers long to recreate the wonderful unique scent of a rose so that we can enjoy it year round.

As we wandered around, Connie gave me lots of info about roses, she's a wealth of knowledge when it comes to heirloom and old fashioned roses...you might even say that besides her family and pets, it's her passion!

Until I met Connie, I was a bit of a rose dummy, preferring Knock Out brand shrub roses that seemed to grow on their own.  I thought that growing "real" roses would require me to purchase a wide brimmed hat, gloves, and spend hours on my hands and knees out in a rose garden treating things like black spot and Japanese beetles.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my Knock Out roses and they make great border "shrubs" as Connie likes to say, but they never gave me the rose smell and look that I envision when I think of roses.

I've long been a fan of old fashioned flowers and cottage gardens, the kind our grandparents and great grandparents planted without giving much thought to it really.  Those were the roses I longed for, and I kept thinking to myself, that those hardy farm folk didn't have time to sit outside tending roses all day, so there must be a rose that would give me the look and the fragrance I was after without becoming a full time job. 

Thankfully, becoming friends with Connie has shown me that I can grow roses successfully and she's turned me in to a rose lover too, and I can't thank her enough for that!

When I met Connie I was immediately taken with the fact that she fearlessly began a rose business in spite of a down trodden economy because she simply loved finding and preserving the same roses I recalled from my childhood.

On Friday, Connie showed a little more of that fearlessness as she mocked Mrs. Mockingbird and peeked inside a rose bush to get a shot of her babies in their nest.  Mrs. Mockingbird, who you can just make out sitting on the cement fence post, was NOT amused, and you can see pictures of the babies in this post on Connies blog.


 

Wouldn't living in a rose bush be the most wonderful thing in the world?  Well that's kind of how Connie lives, with all of the gorgeous roses she is surrounded by much of the year.

As we walked around, Connie told me that what she does to remember the roses she is photographing is to take a picture of the flower followed by a photo of the plant marker beneath each rose.

This is a great idea, but by the time I started that method, I had already snapped a lot of photos, and then when I was looking through the photos I took to decide which ones to use, I couldn't remember if I snapped the picture of the flower first, or the name first!  So you'll have to visit Connie's website where she sells roses to identify the names of the flowers I've featured.

Along with speaking at various rose functions and running her heirloom rose business, Connie has been busy this spring planning the wedding of one of her daughters which will take place right on the property!

This is a view from the pavilion where her daughter and future son in law will tie the knot.  While I was there visiting, Connie's husband was busy getting things ready for the big day.  So far, they've mulched, weeded, laid sod, and reconfigured the entire pavilion where the bride and groom will say their vows as the lucky guests watch on from the lush green lawn.

And what flowers will they be using for the wedding...well roses from the property of course, plus some other flowers!

And with hundreds of varieties of roses to chose from, there are more than enough roses to go around.

Can't you just imagine how beautiful the pictures will be with a setting as pretty as this?

This beautiful blush pink rose would be so pretty in a brides bouquet don't you think?!

And here is an example of the signs Connie uses to identify each and every rose in her garden...that's a lot of signs folks!

Even the roses that aren't yet in bloom are beautiful, like this one along the back fence line.

On the back portion of the property is where Connie's biggest rose garden is, and oh my, what a garden it is!

There are roses of every color, size, and variety...something for everyone.

And it's simply a magical place to be.

Connie apologized for the weeds which have taken hold of this part of her garden...but I simply looked at her and laughed.  She has HUGE amounts of gardens to tend to and goes a million miles an hour with everything from raising money for cancer research for canines, to planning a wedding...so I told her that she should cut herself a little slack.

If she could only see my flower beds right now, which are dwarfed in size by hers, she wouldn't have been apologizing at all!

This little shovel is evidence that both Connie and her husband have a never ending job tending to this historic property.

Weeds or no weeds, this garden is a magical place full of the most beautiful colors...I could sit here all day and drink it in.

Everywhere you turn there is color, and each rose is more beautiful than the next, making it hard to pick a favorite.

And who would want to choose anyway...when like Connie, you can have them all!

There are delicate peachy pink roses...

And vibrant pinky red colored roses full of petals.

And there are climbing roses which soar skywards.

These ruffle'y magenta colored roses were so colorful, they were one of my favorites!

This is a view of Connie's yard looking back towards her house from the large rose garden.  You can see the pavilion where her daughter will be married in just 2 weeks.

If I had to pick just one rose as a favorite from last Friday it would have to be this one.  It had petals which looked like a beautiful summer sunset to me, and I loved how full it opened as if to say, lean over and smell me!

It truly was a magical day to be surrounded by such beauty, and I want to thank Connie for inviting me to come and take pictures of all of her hard work!  I even came home with four new roses of my own!

So now, after being ever so patient, I'd like to announce this rose inspired giveaway!  Awhile ago, my friend Doug Vogel gave me a wonderful CD that shows you how to take roses and create several arrangements with them, so that is the first part of my Giveaway.

Doug also gave me this great book created by his friend Dottie Harrigan.  Inside the book you'll find lots of charming flower quotes!  So that's part 2 of my Giveaway.

And the 3rd part is that I'll be giving away one of Connie's beautiful rose plants!

The Giveaway is open to EVERYONE...so, in order to be entered for a chance to win here's what you need to do.

#1.  Visit Connie's Hartwood Roses website by clicking HERE and then come back and leave me a comment telling me which rose you would like to win!  (if you live in a state that won't allow the shipment of roses, or if you live outside the US, I will substitute something else rose themed instead.)

#2.  For a second chance to win, simply become a follower of Low Tide High Style, and if you are one already, simply leave me a SEPARATE comment letting me know that you have become a follower or already are one.

#3.  For a 3rd chance to win, you can tweet, Facebook, or blog about the giveaway.  Just be sure to come back and leave a 3rd comment letting me know that you did one of those things to spread the word!

The Giveaway will be open until Midnight PST, May 29th, 2011.  The winner will be announced on Monday the 30th.  Good Luck!

I Lied

So yesterday I told you that today (Friday) I would tell you about my latest giveaway...well I lied!  I didn't mean to lie, in fact I had every intention of sharing the details about the giveaway with you, but I'm just dog tired tonight and so it will have to wait.

You see, I spent the day with Connie from Hartwood Roses and I took over 100 pictures!  No, not of Connie, she and I have a strict no picture rule of each other when we get together, but of her beautiful rose gardens! 

After being wined and dined by Connie and her family, I made a stop at Wegmans Grocery Store on the way home because I have a real thing for grocery stores that carry organic veggies and fruits, and grass fed only beef.

So the sun was low in the sky by the time I got home tonight and I didn't feel like processing all of the pictures I took today, though I did peruse them and I got some wonderful shots.  It's hard not to when you are surrounded by gorgeous roses!

So I'll be back soon to tell you about the giveaway...and because I was a bad girl and didn't get the actual giveaway post up today like I said I would, I will at least tell you that it involves winning a rose from Connie, plus some other rose related goodies from my good friend Doug that I told you about in my last post.

So thanks for letting me put my feet up and watch a movie...or more likely fall asleep on the couch tonight.  I'll be back soon with the full details on the giveaway.  Until then, you can enjoy some shots I took a few nights ago across the field next door.  I did a little tone mapping to the images, which is similar to HDR photography, and I like the way they turned out.  They are a little surreal, but in many ways more true to what it looks like after a day full of showers when the sun makes a grand entrance just before sunset.  I just wish I had had my camera with me about an hour earlier when I got to see a full rainbow, that was huge...oh well, sometimes you just have to use your memory, which is afterall, the best camera on earth!

Happy Weekend Everyone!!!

Green Design of a Different Kind

Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments about my first attempt at doing portrait work.  That boost of confidence may just have me hanging out my shingle to try it again sometime!

This week has proven to be another crazy one, with last minute story assignments and still getting over the whole kidney stone thing, which I hope is now in the past and not to be repeated anytime soon!  I still have captions to do for one story, and I turned in another story yesterday, so tomorrow I plan to sneak off and visit with my bloggy friend Connie from Hartwood Roses for a little flower therapy!

Remember me telling you a little over a week ago about the fabulous floral presentation my friend Doug Vogel did for my garden club...well I'm finally getting around to re-posting the gorgeous ideas for green floral design that he shared with us.  Blogger ate my first post!

The club I belong to is a relatively small club, so our meetings are low key and very informal.  Normally, we host the meetings at our homes and invite a guest speaker, but because I knew Doug would need some room to spread out, we held the meeting at the State House in Historic St. Mary's City.  It's a beautiful building, built to replicate the original state house when St. Mary's City was the capital of Maryland back in the early 1600s.  Someone did a lovely post on their blog about Historic St. Mary's City, and you can see more by clicking here.

Because the state house was built to resemble a structure from the 17th century, there isn't much if any artificial light, so some of these pictures are not great, but I hope they will convey what a wonderful program Doug did for us that evening.

When I approached Doug about doing the presentation, he immediately thought that something on "green" floral design might be of interest to the group, and I was excited to see what he had come up with for the show.

Doug is known for being able to do all sorts of wonderful floral arrangements to suit any tastes, but his specialty lies in creating one of a kind floral displays that reinterpret nature and its beauty in unique and striking ways.

His first demonstration embodied everything I love about his work, simplicity, natural elements, and beautiful flowers!  He started with curly willow branches and fashioned them in to a sort of bird's nest, saving the bottom of the branches to create a base to put into a cylindrical glass vase filled with beach glass!  He emphasized how using recycled and natural items such as things we can find in our own yards makes for interesting and earth friendly designs that don't lack in impact but instead make a statement.

After creating the curly willow sculpture as his base, he then began tucking brightly colored French tulips in the most vibrant shades of red and yellow into the branches, giving the whole arrangement a free form look.  I apologize for the horrible lighting, Doug had 2 spot light trees shining on the table so that he could work, which was good for him but bad for taking pictures I'm afraid!  Hopefully you can get an idea of how simple and truly elegant this type of arrangement can be though!

What you can't see from my photos is how he tucked a grouping of tulips into the very center of the curly willow for even more color and drama.  Of course he was working quickly to try and keep the presentations short, so he explained that if he were doing this for a client, he might also use twine or raffia to weave more tulips around the edge of the bird's nest/basket for even more color.

The next arrangement Doug created was a beautiful sculptural design constructed from pussy willow branches.  Based on a design he learned from other designers who had visited France, he used the branches of pussy willow, which he cut last January from his yard, to fashion a free form sculpture that was a piece of art in and of itself.

He then placed the sculpture atop a tall glass trumpet vase that he had filled with more branches, and he had tied "moss" ribbon around the outside of the vase to dress it up a little and give it some texture.  He also included some "faux" rocks into the vase for added weight and stability.  I say faux rocks because they look just like rocks but are actually made from recycled plastic water bottles...how cool is that?!

Doug then used some airy greens to drape around the pussy willow sculpture to add some color.

As a finishing touch, he used a grouping of fragrant blush colored peonies at the top.  Doug also suggested using a variety of flowers for all of the creations he showed us to suit the color scheme of a wedding or for whatever event you might be planning.


 

The whole time Doug was working on these I kept thinking...geez I wish I had an event to plan so that I could use some of his amazing ideas...or better yet, just call him and have him make me some arrangements!

Isn't that so pretty?  One of the women in our club is planning her daughter's wedding, and you could see the wheels turning as Doug presented each of his designs!

The last design Doug did was another sculptural piece that utilized branches...I think these may have been red dogwood branches?   For this arrangement, he used a large conical shaped mass of branches with lots of open space in the center.

It's hard to see in this photo, but after placing the twig structure into a low vase, he then tucked beach grasses and tall flowers into the center for a nature inspired arrangement.

Here you can see the iris which he picked from his yard and beautiful deep blue delphinium which paired nicely with the violet blue of the iris.  Because of the beach feel he was after with this arrangement, he also suggested tucking starfish or other shells into the open work of the twigs.  That would be perfect for a beach themed wedding, don't you think?

I feel very fortunate that we were able to have Doug come speak to our group, and everyone loved his presentation and his beautiful arrangements...especially me, who got to bring home the flowers!  Thank you Doug for being the perfect guest speaker!  And if you would be interested in having Doug do work for you, you can find him at Studio Three Flowers in La Plata or you can contact him directly via his website by clicking HERE!  He also has a blog!

Tomorrow, I'll be announcing my latest Giveaway...I'll give you a hint though...it involves Flowers!

Making My Job Easy

Remember how I said that last Wednesday I did my first "real" people photo shoot?  Well it was both nerve wracking and fun, and I've included a ton of pictures in this post to show you how it all went.

I'm very fortunate to have photogenic children of my own, and I just wish that I had found photography when they were little, but better late than never right?  Up until last Wednesday, my kids were the ONLY people I had ever really photographed.  The idea of photographing other people really terrified me, but I knew I wanted to at least try it.

So I sent out a few emails and asked a few friends if I could practice on them or their children, and "C" was my first subject!  C is the daughter of one of my oldest friends, her mom and I have known each other since we were kids, which means I've known C since she was born...well actually even before she was born!

She and my son are just 3 weeks apart, and they practically grew up together.  Our last house was right down the street from their house, so both C and her older sister K, who is just a year younger than my daughter, were constantly at one another's houses growing up!  Our son Bugs still reminds us about how he was constantly in the company of girls growing up.  I would have to say that it made him who he is today, and one day, some lucky girl will get a husband that won't be one bit phased by everything girlie because of it!

C and her sister are both beautiful young women, and I sometimes have to remind myself when I see them that they are no longer the little kids that used to dress up at my house or sleep over!  Case in point, if you look at the photo above this one you'll notice a little photo editing which I did to appease her mom.  If you look closely, you'll see that in the first photo there's no nose piercing, but the one above has it!  I did virtually no photo editing for this shoot, except turning images into sepia or black and white and a few actions, but for my friend's sake I edited out the piercing.   My friend S admits that it's growing on her, but she's not quite there yet...give it time mom! ;-)

C was such an easy subject to photograph.  She naturally pretty, and is comfortable in front of a camera without being fake or unnatural.  I loved when I would catch her just being herself like in the shot above.

She has two horses which she keeps at a beautiful farm and the fields aglow with yellow buttercups were perfect for taking pictures.  We did wonder if there were any snakes in the grass so to speak, but she was a good sport and laid down anyway...thanks C!

And animal lover, just like her mom, from the day she was born, she brought along one of her 5 dogs (a stray she found) for the shoot.  After posing in the fields, I had the two of them jump in the back of her big 'ole truck so that I could get a few shots.  She loves this beagle to pieces, so I'm glad we could get some pictures with her pooch even if the light was kind of harsh.  I used an action on this shot to punch up the color and give it a slightly different look.

After the truck shots, we moved inside one of the barns.  I knew as soon as I arrived at the farm that I wanted to take a few shots in this space because the light was wonderful and I loved the setting!  The picture above is one of my favorites from the shoot.  I used one of Pioneer Woman's free actions on it to soften it just a bit and then I played around with the colors to slightly mute them.  I really love the way it turned out.

I love candid shots like the one above, they somehow capture the essence of a person and I think that makes for a great photo.

I also love the way adding sepia or making a picture black and white can change the whole feel of an picture!

This saddle was sitting in the same barn, and I thought it made a perfect prop for this shot.  Finding an interesting place to shoot is so important, so I felt lucky to be able to use the farm as my backdrop for this shoot.  This picture is one of her dad's favorites!

It was a gorgeous day, and even though the sun was a little intense when I took this shot, I still like how it turned out.

Here is the same basic shot, just without being cropped.

As the sun was getting lower in the sky, we moved over to a pasture where C keeps her two horses.  I love this shot and thought the texture would frame it nicely and give it a bit of a vintage feel.

Of course we had to get some shots with C and her horses!

The horses were wonderful and posed as naturally as C did!

Even before the shoot started, I knew that I wanted to try and get a few silhouetted shots if I could.  The sun wasn't quite low enough to get a "real" silhouette, but I still liked the way it turned out and how it gives you a sense of place with the water and pasture in the background.

I don't even remember what action I used on this shot, but it turned out to be one of my favorites, and also my daughter's favorite.  It just seems so natural to me, and I love the vintage 70's feel to it.  I wonder if C would mind posing as an Anthro model...I think she has what it takes, don't you?!

Thanks for indulging me and letting me share this shoot with all of you.  I quickly overcame my fear of shooting people, though I'm not sure it's the career choice for me.  And having such a beautiful and willing subject in C really did make my job easy.  Thank you C for being the perfect model!

What do you all think makes a good portrait, I would love to hear.  Is it the setting, the lighting, do you prefer color to black and white or sepia?  I would love to hear your thoughts!

Check back later this week...I'll be hosting another giveaway!

Scattered and Striving

First of all, thank you to everyone who sent me healing thoughts for my recent kidney stone attack.  I'm still not 100%, but trust me, I am feeling much, much better!  And I'm so sorry to hear that so many of you have experienced this kind of pain firsthand, it's no picnic that's for sure!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm always finding new things to interest me, and always taking on new challenges.  Sometimes it's a wonderful thing, but sometimes I think I drive the people around me crazy!  I do complete things that need to get done, but I'm always searching and looking for new creative outlets and opportunities.

 

Recently, while visiting the beautiful blog Brabourne Farm, I was confronted with some beautiful floral imagery, by talented artist Kathrin Longhurst, that immediately jumped out at me and made me want to try and re-create the look with photography.  The photo above is my interpretation of Kathrin's work only with a photograph.

If you visit Kathrin's site, you'll see that I fell WAY short, but it's not so much the "getting it" as it is in the study and stretching yourself to try new things.

The same thing is true for the photo above.  After visiting Delores at Vignette Design and reading her wonderful post on still life photography (check out her personal examples, they are gorgeous!), I was off in a different direction.

The concept of still life photography has always intrigued me.  I absolutely love photo realistic images, but if you've been visiting my blog for any length of time, or have checked out my fine art website, then you know that I also love to create images that make you wonder if they are a photo or a painting.

Again, my still life fell flat, and if you look at this website by photographer Paulette Tavormina, you'll totally get what I mean when I say I say that I wasn't even close to creating what I was after.  But sometimes that frustration of not getting it right is what keeps me going, what motivates me to try and try again.

When I started getting serious about photography, I thought, like with my blog, that I needed to pick a technique and stick with it, perfecting it as I went along.  The truth is that with EVERY photo you gain experience.  You learn about light, composition, color, and what draws the eye in.  

For me, photography is like walking into the most beautiful market in the world and taking in all of the sights and smells.  You would never visit the most beautiful market in the world and only visit the flower stall, or the spice merchant.  No, you would go from stall to stall and drink it all in...that my friends is my theory on photography.  Try it all, succeed at some of it, but keep striving to see the beauty in everything!

Some Days are Diamonds

Remember that old John Denver song, Some Days are Diamonds?

Well that's how it's been around here the past 5 days or so.

Last time I posted I was on my way to a photo shoot...my first "real" portrait shoot.

The shoot was done at a beautiful horse farm, and my subject, a friend's daughter, made my job easy.  I hope to be able to share some of those pictures with you soon.

I spent Thursday finishing up the last minute details for my art show, and processing pictures from the shoot, and life was good...very good in fact!

You could say those days were diamonds...but then Friday came, and let's just say that that day was definitely stones...literally.  Yup, I have a kidney stone!  Oh, I've had them before, just not when I was needing to do an art show!!!  Needless to say I wasn't present at the show, even after my photo appeared as the cover background for the paper's weekend edition...can you say bummer?!

And to top it all off, Blogger had major hiccups as you all know, so poof away went my post about Doug's floral demonstration!  At first it wouldn't let me create the post, and then it simply ate it...sigh!  So that will have to wait until some time this week.

For now I'm taking life very easy, and thanking my lucky stars that the attack didn't occur while at the show.  And I'm not complaining, I'm just sad it didn't work out the way I had planned.  But then you visit a few blogs, or read the news and you realize that even when days are stones, there is still a little diamond dust in every day!  

I apologize for not getting back to so many of you...Traci, Becky, Connie...the list goes on and on, but I will this week!

Little Pretties

Thank you to everyone who commented on my new website and my last post, the website is still evolving, but it's nice to have it mostly done for now.

And it was nice to see that I'm not the only one who makes lists and enjoys scratching off the finished tasks!  I cracked up at the comment by Marcia aka Laxsupermom who said that her camping spreadsheet is the stuff of legends...too funny!

Yesterday and today, when I woke up and came out to start work, my house smelled so good!  These beautiful peonies are to blame, and they filled my whole house with the most wonderful fragrance!  My peonies in my front flower bed have begun to open, but for whatever reason, mine just don't smell as wonderful as these.

There are some at my parent's house and at the farm we still own which are really fragrant, so I need to dig them up and move some of them to my house.  I've heard peonies are hard to transplant though and that they will often not bloom for a few years after being moved. 

Have any of you had any luck with transplanting peonies, and when did you do it...right after they were done blooming or do you have to wait until they are dormant?

I love rearranging my accessories and little pretties around the house throughout the year and for the different seasons.

I bought this sweet little bird box awhile ago at Lola Belle Co. in Leonardtown, Maryland.  I think it's perfect for springtime and looks pretty on my white bucket bench with my milk glass vase filled with lovely peonies!

Another question about peonies for you.  Have any of you found a home fragrance or candle that smells like fresh peonies?  I would love to have this scent all bottled up so that I could spritz a little whenever I feel like it!

I'm off to a photo shoot, but tomorrow I'll be showing you what Doug did for his garden club program so be sure to stop back by if you have the time.  I hope you are having a wonderful day!