TULIPS – TWO LIPS

Sometimes when my writing self seems to be on a hiatus of sorts, I find that I turn to my camera for creative expression. It’s as if in order to generate “output” with words, I have to BE in my world for a while absorbing “input.” When words fail me, paying attention to what I’m SEEing has a way of “feeding” my creativity.

Lately I’ve been fascinated by flowers. Tulips in particular. I remember as a child being befuddled by the name of this flower because I thought the adults were saying “two lips” and I could not for the life of me understand why a flower would have such a name.

Here are some of the images of late.

This black & white (mono) photograph was generated by accident. I love it when that happens! I was playing with the Portrait setting on my iPhone 11’s camera. This was taken in the “Stage Light Mono” option in the Portrait function of the camera:

This photo was taken with my DSLR Olympus OM-D E10, using a macro lens. I loved the dark purple veins on the edges of the petals, and the bokeh of the bouquet in the background:

This was another iPhone “gift.” Again, in the Portrait mode on the “Stage Light” setting. I like the hint of flowers in the background, and the way the foreground flowers seem to be reaching towards the camera. Plus, the color scheme of these tulips – the variegated bright yellow to orange petals, with the green centers, the black stamens and baby pink pistil. There’s just so much going on with this flower:

If I could, I would have different tulips in a vase in my home every week. Visually, they are some of my favorites. Scent-wise they don’t have much to offer (for that I prefer gardenias, lilacs, night blooming jasmine, even roses), but for understated beauty, tulips, please.

[CAVEAT: The title photo of the two blue lips is not mine. Sadly, I do not know who to credit.]