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June 2019, rear garden, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
Tag: Rose
A Beautiful Chiller
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The past couple of nights we have had some pretty heavy frosts here, and the rose blooms that were tempted to come out in the milder weather and which had begun to decay in the damp atmosphere now look like they have just come out the refrigerator. Frozen popsicles they may be, but they are also frozen little wonders.
Photographs taken December 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
The Mouldering Rose
No sweet sugar-coating here
Nor no hoarfrost to set its beauty in ice
But the seasons now a confusion of warmth, chill, and dampness
Blooming at the dawn of the Winter solstice
Blooming beautiful when long sleep should be
And now the creeping, crawling mould takes hold
A lingering grip of death as it lives the rosebud succumbs
A painless demise as Beauty fades
Yet still conquers as it holds fast the edge of the precipice
The rose will fall
Yet Life goes on whatever the season or the turmoil
Photographs taken December 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Softly, Gently VI
Photograph taken December 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Fading Before It Has Blossomed
This rosebud was enticed by the milder autumnal climate here we have been enjoying, but when the frosts suddenly hit it was nipped, in the bud, so to speak.
This rose will not open, and the tightly packed petals are gradually slipping away, but there is also a strange kind of beauty in that itself.
Photograph taken November 2016, front garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
November Rosebud (With Greenfly)
Photograph taken November 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
November Rose
Photograph taken November 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
The Morning After Rose
This was one of those unprepared moments that we all get at times. I was warming the car up and cleaning the windows of night rain, getting ready to go to the supermarket when I spotted this single red rose in bud. The droplets of water collected on the unfolded petals looked so beautiful in the morning sun I just had to stop everything and go and get my camera to take this final shot you now see here.
Photograph taken November 2016, front garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Nikon 18-55mm lens.
Fading November Rose
Photograph taken November 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Nikon 18-55mm lens.
Softly, Gently V
Photograph taken October 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens. Manual setting ISO 500. 1/125 sec. f/6.3. No flash, hand-held.
Softly, Gently IV
Photograph taken October 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens. Manual setting ISO 500. 1/125 sec. f/6.3. No flash, hand-held.
Softly, Gently III
Photograph taken October 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens. Manual setting ISO 400. 1/250 sec. f/6.3. No flash, hand-held.
Softly, Gently II
Photograph taken October 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens. Manual setting ISO 400. 1/250 sec. f/6.3. with controlled flash, hand-held.
Softly, Gently
I find grey skies (without the rain, but just after), are ideal for flower photography. You don’t have that harsh direct sunlight, and with some camera control, you can get pretty close to the original and natural hues of your subject. Sometimes, taking a soft and gentle approach can bring about some beautiful details which contrasts with the mellowed, blurred background, especially when being this close to the subject.
This appears to be the very last flower of the season on a rose I planted in memory of my Mom seven years ago.
Photograph taken October 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens. Manual setting ISO 400. 1/250 sec. f/6.3. No flash, hand-held.
Yellow Rose
Photograph taken October 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Nikon 18-55mm lens.
October Rose
Photograph taken October 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Into The Heart of A Rose
Photograph taken September 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens. ISO 320. 1/250 sec. f/9.
War of The Roses
Again I have gone to photograph one of my roses to find something else keeping it company. This aphid is one of its arch enemies, of course, but they appear to be taking a break from the battle. For now.
Photograph of a greenfly on a rose, taken September 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens. ISO 400. 1/160 sec. f/11.
September’s End
Photograph of patio rose, taken September 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens. ISO 200. 1/100 sec. f/8.
Fly And Rose
Photograph of a fly on a rose, taken September 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens. ISO 200. 1/200 sec. f/8.
Unfolding Into Autumn
Photograph of garden patio rose, taken September 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Solitary
Photograph of Dog-rose (Rosa canina), taken June 2016, local woodland path, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D3200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
September Rose #2
Photograph of climbing rose, taken September 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Yellow Rose
Photograph of climbing rose, taken September 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
September Rose
Photograph of climbing rose, taken September 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Colours Running
Photograph of garden patio rose, taken September 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Early Stage Caterpillar
I discovered this tiny early stage caterpillar on the underside of one of my rose leaves. I wonder what it will turn into?
Photograph taken in July 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D3200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
Beauty And The Fly
This was one of those moments, when after coming home from work, I had a few minutes to explore the garden with my camera, the rain still having a last go after a day of rain, along with the wind, every photographers enemy, unless you are photographing kites and balloons, that is. Yet amongst these battling elements, there was:
A water-drenched rose.
A ray of sun.
And a tiny black fly, just stopping by.
A Rose For December
Last autumn and winter was so mild a rose was still flowering in December. We had plenty of rain though, and it shows in this photo. It is a standard rose I planted in my rear garden several years ago now in memory of my mother, and it always tends to flower for a long period, from March through until the start of the autumn, but it has never done so for this long!
Photographs taken December 2015, rear garden, Staffordshire.
Nature Journeys 