THE POLLINATION GARDENER
Photographing my own garden has been an unexpected pleasure and a method to draw myself more deeply into the spaces I have created.
This passion that I have for capturing my garden’s moments of magic leaves me very aware and exposed to the way others document their spaces, and the work of Mel Adams has me entirely enthralled.
Enjoy this lovely peek into a photography practice that grew from the depths of Covid isolation and find inspiration to wander your own beds with phone/camera in hand.
Julia xo
Words and images by Mel Adams
Artist profile
NAME: The Pollination Gardener - Mel Adams
LOCATION: Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand
@thepollinationgardener
www.pollinationgarden.com
Pollination Garden is the online space where I share my photography and words. For me, my art is the world I have created in my garden. In focusing on creating a garden for pollinators to thrive in, I have made a space that is inhabited by many things - plants, bees, birds, my dogs and of course myself. By telling the story of my garden I hope to encourage and educate about the role our gardens can play in our wellbeing and how we can impact our environment in a positive way through gardening.
Environmental awareness can take shape in many forms. There is often some point or connection that starts you on your journey, for me it was my work as a hobby beekeeper. One of the joyful things I have discovered while working with bees is I spend time observing nature. I see what is flowering at different times of the season and how this impacts our bees. I’ve also learnt how gardens can help bees.
Early in our beekeeping journey, we had a hive that was poorly, and we had concerns that it would not make it through the winter. We brought it home from its rural site to reside in our garden and in the spring, it emerged stronger than her country sisters. We put this success down to urban gardens providing a constant and varied food supply for bees.
The value of an urban garden was further cemented after reading the writings of Dave Goulson. Dave is a big supporter of bees and believes that gardens can make a positive environmental difference, it just depends on how you garden. Inspired by his words and what I had observed when beekeeping I set about telling the story of Pollination Garden.
“While I was taking photos I noticed that taking time out of my day to go stand in the garden and just look was of benefit to my well-being. I found it centering, I still do. ”
THE BEGINNINGS OF A PHOTOGRAPHY PRACTICE
I picked up the camera in 2020 as a means of storytelling, just as Covid hit. I signed up for an online course “Lost in the light” run by James and Jo Melia. The way these two gorgeous people taught photography just clicked for me. Prior to this course, I found understanding how a DSLR camera worked intimating and based on how I learnt to take photos, I prefer to call myself an intuitive photographer rather than a technical photographer.
James and Jo introduced me to a fabulous group of photographers and the beauty of looking for light. I’ve been a chaser of light ever since. Once the course was over, I set about establishing a daily photography practice as a way of improving my skills and, due to the Covid restrictions, I was limited to taking photos in the garden. I started to share my photos on Instagram, initially to share with my classmates. This sharing of my work became a much-needed and enjoyable creative outlet during a hard time. I also realised I was capturing the seasonal story of the garden which I love reflecting on through my writing.
While I was taking photos I noticed that taking time out of my day to go stand in the garden and just look was of benefit to my well-being. I found it centering, I still do. I’ve since explored theories of the merits of pausing, namely through the work of Rob Poynton and realized that there is power in taking a pause, especially in nature. This started to become a theme through my work.
“My garden is therefore very much my muse. I usually try most days to spend around 15 minutes in the garden taking photos. The daily practice encourages me to be in the moment and be still, to look and see what I can find in my garden that is beautiful. ”
My photos are largely of my garden and are often described as dark and moody, with, what I like to think of is a tinge of optimism. There is contrast in my work in both tone and nature with often a dark background surrounding a pop of colour in the form of a beautiful flower. I also place emphasis on highlighting the details of a flower. The reasons for this style of photography comes partly from the weather, where it is often grey but also from the desire to capture just what I see in the form of all aspects of the garden.
I have also started experimenting with layered, self-portraiture. I feel I don’t often see ‘older women’ in photos all that much and I kind of want to buck the trend on that in my own quiet way. Having said that I am often hidden from full view which is partly because I am shy and also I want to sort of merge into the garden.
For me, the garden has many sides to it, of light and dark, things living and dying. I find faded blooms are just as beautiful as fresh new buds. By capturing flowers and the garden in all the stages of its life cycle, I wish to awaken people to the seasonality of life and encourage them to embrace all aspects of this.
Often floral photography focuses on light beautiful, perfect blooms. I hope by presenting my garden in a different way, to encourage feelings of curiosity and wonder. I want people to pause for a moment and think, to find beauty in unexpected places.
NATURE AS THE MUSE
My garden is therefore very much my muse. I usually try most days to spend around 15 minutes in the garden taking photos. The daily practice encourages me to be in the moment and be still, to look and see what I can find in my garden that is beautiful. As I am self-taught I tend to fiddle with the camera until I get the image that I like. I very rarely plan what I am going to photograph, rather I respond to what I see.
A friend recently commented on my work and said there is a lightness starting to appear, so I think my mood is reflected in my photos. Earlier work seems darker and focuses often on a single bloom off to itself, I guess in a way reflecting the isolation I felt during the Covid lockdowns.
As I think about the coming season I see myself not only taking slightly lighter images but the work tends to focus on images that are scenes from a garden rather than an individual bloom - I guess perhaps reflecting the reconnecting to my community now that lockdowns have ended. I do love that I can reflect on how I am feeling through images of the garden.
Over the years I have built up my skill set to take photos in a style that I like, mainly through online courses. This knowledge is by no means finite and I find myself constantly exploring ever so quietly different ways I can take my images.
I usually take photos with my Nikon macro lens and recently started to use my helios lens, so now it is a couple of circuits around the garden as I look at the garden through two different lenses. I tend to review my photos each day and return the next to capture again the same flower building on what I took the day before.
My work is constantly evolving and growing just like the garden does. There is often an urgency to garden photography as flowers can bloom and fade so fast which does make me motivated to get out there and take photos regardless of the weather. If I don’t embrace the moment I will miss out and it will be another year before I can take photos of a particular flower again.
My process for taking a photo is based on what I see, a gut response and curiosity. You can walk around and think there is nothing to capture but if you look again there is always something to see. This feeds into the meditative aspect of a moment, of looking deeper and pausing.
I have found that taking photos after gardening works well for me. Often when you are weeding you see something that you want to photograph and if you hadn’t been in that part of the garden, you would have missed seeing it.
Spring and summer naturally offer a lot when it comes to photographing the garden but given my ethos of looking deeper, I do like the challenge of finding things to capture in autumn and winter. My favourite time is in a summer evening and the light is just so - you can see the garden sway with life.
“I have also started experimenting with layered, self-portraiture. I feel I don’t often see ‘older women’ in photos all that much and I kind of want to buck the trend on that in my own quiet way. Having said that I am often hidden from full view which is partly because I am shy and also I want to sort of merge into the garden.”
INSPIRATION
Inspirations are many - these are based on esthetics in photography or written word that are currently capturing my attention.
India Hobson – I love how she captures colour and texture. There is a beautiful peacefulness to her work and I find her ability to look and see details that you can easily miss very inspiring.
Camilla Jorvad – How she captures her garden and shares her world are something I wish to emulate.
Wildy Sown – A beautiful gardener, florist and photographer in South Africa.
Mint Cobilbri – Johanna is always curious and always experimenting.
Sara Robinson – I love her blurs and flowers, something I wish to emulate in my work.
Saipua – I greatly appreciate the work Sarah is doing not just for the floristry industry but also with regards to farming land as a community. I love her esthetic and ideas of creating worlds.
Robbie Lawrence – in particular his works on Linn Garden is the text book for me on how to capture a garden and the gardener.
Jinny Blom – I love her gardening ethos and I am looking forward to her new book.
And honorable mention to the writings of Virginia Woolf & Joan Didion for capturing moments so beautifully.