A thistle in transition: at the bottom a fresh purple crown, above it the soft seed fluff. Spring and late summer in the same breath. In this picture, time coincides in 1 detail. The spines, the fibres, the colour, everything plays along.
This is the story I often look for: a thistle is considered a weed and a mean plant, prickly and self-seeding very easily. But the thistle is beautiful. Besides the prickles, there is the soft fluff that makes you want to hug it. And the purple has such a beautiful, sheer saturation that it attracts not only insects, but me too.
I found this in the Hageland on a windy day and chose a wide aperture to put the rest of the plant in dreamy blur. The purple pops out of the photo. The other purple flowers echo its presence. Yet the whole thing does not become garish, the warm white-pink of the thistleflower and the greens and beiges all over the photo, softening it up.
This image reminds me that change doesn't have to be abrupt. Sometimes it happens in one square centimetre, almost unnoticed.
Technically, I kept the shutter speed just high enough to freeze movement in the fluff, while the background continues to glow. In an interior, it works warm and organic, ideal next to natural fabrics or ceramics.
Whispering Fields captures the timeless beauty of the Hageland: the golden glow over hills, but also the silent wonder of a flower, a fluff or weed in the sun. Each detail is given a poetic charge and shows the timeless beauty of the everyday, translated into fine.. Read more…