Impressions of Magnolia Blossoms

Impressions of a Magnolia Flower- Ellie Kennard 2016
Impressions of a Magnolia Flower- Ellie Kennard 2016

Seeing the beauty in the flowers of the magnolia tree here is one of the wonderful early spring pleasures we have. The sadness is that they last for such a short time before a wind, or the rain, or even a frost, tinges the edges of those large but delicate petals with brown and scatters them in a pink and white carpet beneath the tree.

During the stages of the magnolia’s flowering, there are some of these in full bloom, while some are just opening up. Still others have lost most of their petals, exposing the intricate reproductive parts, male and female. While it can be instructive to see documentary images of each of these stages, I love to see a single depiction that illustrates in a more poetic way each of these phases together. This is a multiple exposure of several flowers blended together to give an impression of the life of the magnolia flower.

Check out the full blur gallery here: https://elliekennard.ca/ekgallery/when-life-is-a-blur/

 

 

50 Responses

  1. Beautiful, oh how we are to God, His creation. Our lives are the same way here today and gone tommorrow. Enjoy everyday God gives us no matter what is going on. He is good all the time. He never leaves us nor forsake us.

  2. Hey, Ellie! Just back from Portland and still trying to sort myself out. Haven’t even unpacked yet. But I wanted to exclaim my love of this image. SO delicate, sensitive, and over the top wonderful. Great great great job. BTW, not going too public with this (just a little public)…but two of my images were just accepted in a judged art show. SO EXCITED!

    1. Welcome back Sandra! and thank you so much for commenting on this even before unpacking. I am honoured!! I’m so glad you like it. But most important (just between ourselves) that is excellent news about the show. Congratulations! I look forward to hearing it officially very soon!

  3. +Karolina Trapp thanks so much. They really are, I agree. I started using this technique almost a year ago, during last year's blur mentorship, just after this tree finished, and this year I was away for much of its beauty, but I look forward to next year now.

    +Bilal Qayum​ thank you!

    Yes, me too +Jetski​, thanks. Incidentally I hope your wedding went well. Many congratulations!

  4. I like your explanation of the stages shown in multiple exposure, I can see this happening in other genres as well; namely dance photography :))

    Very nice!

  5. +Ellie Kennard Many of the flowering plants are perennial in cold zones while they are annuals in warm climates in the US. We have both the white huge flower (probably bigger than two huge hands/palms put together) and the pink smaller variety. Yours I think is probably the same pink. They bloom in spring and are done, while I think the white just goes away only during the winter!

  6. Our Magnolia have bloomed a few weeks ago already so I am delighted to see this image! You have bundle up all the tenderness, softness and fragility in your image! You did the multiple exposure in camera?

  7. Thank you so much, Beena! +Beena R I had +Cynthia Carden Gibson staying here last week and she has lived in the South USA, so she was surprised to see our magnolia tree. She said the flowers look quite different from the ones in the South, which are a large and flat and are picked to float in a large bowl. Maybe you are talking about that kind? These arrive in May only, here, and arrive before the leaves, as the tree is deciduous. She said theirs have leaves all year long. The tree looks lovely here for only a couple of weeks, sometimes more (if the weather is good) sometimes less if there is a frost or heavy rain or wind.

  8. So beautiful, soft and delicate Ellie! This after noon I shot the white ones. Only recently I realized that they hardly stay for 3 or 4 days. All this time because of how hardy they look, I thought they stayed on almost like cut flowers except on the tree :))

  9. Thank you so much +Stephen Thackeray for that lovely compliment!

    I love your comments, +Prue Stopford – they betray your wonderful skill with the (virtual) pen! "Gossamer-like… A little girl's party dress… spun sugar"! Wonderful! Thank you so much.
    It seems as if this part of the world pushes our magnolias into bloom before yours. Even quite small ones will flower here. Our tree is perhaps 20-25 feet tall, when it was about 6 feet tall when we moved here. And it suffered in the big winter of 2014, as the weight of the snow broke the middle out of it. But it seems to be coming back well.

    What a wonderful fun fantasy, +Christina Lihani – I am so delighted that my image brought back your fantasy to your mind, as it's a wonderful picture. Thanks for the lovely comment, Christina.

    The thought of having a direct line into one of your dreams is amazing, +Hugo Burnham – and it is a lovely dream, too. (Not to say that the others are less interesting….the thought of the chat at the Bull is enticing, as you know). My own mind is going through a bit of a blank page and blunt quill moment, so I love to read what you write about this, it's already spread a fair share of love and happiness just in the comment. Thanks.

    +Susan Gabriel thanks so very much!

    Thank you very much +Cathy Custer Donohoue 🙂 I'm glad you like it.

    +Çağlar Kubilay thanks for the visit. It is a Magnolia flower.

    It is a special flower, thanks a lot +Christine Bichler – the seeds are something else, too. I took a photo of them a few years ago as it reminded me of a dragon head!

    Thanks so much +Diana Boyd – I'm glad you do.

    +Eve Aebi thanks a lot, Eve. It's great to hear from you.

  10. You've got a direct line into one of my dreams +Ellie Kennard!
    Not the one when I open the batting for England or even the one where we're in an Irish pub drinking Guinness and discussing TA with Prue.
    It's the one when I float above the earth, on an angel's wings and spread love and happiness to all the living beings on the planet. Fantastic photo!!

  11. When I was a little girl, I had a fantasy of being invisible for a day. With that super power, I wanted to go into stores and gather all the sheer scarves to bring home with me. From there I thought I would pin them all to the clothes line and watch them blow in the wind.
    This beautiful photo evokes that same feeling in me +Ellie Kennard!

  12. great job Ellie I love the delicate silky look the you have captured. The wave effect and transparent effect.

  13. Ellie this is stunning, the gossamer – like texture is almost tangible, like a little girl's party dress or spun sugar. Magnolias are so special, and you have to wait for several years before they begin to flower. I've never been in the right location for one so your post is a lovely reminder, and thank you 🙂

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