Brenda Landrum

Every morning I walk through my garden, watering pots and checking on plants as I go. This time of year the garden changes fairly quickly. Plants growing and new flowers opening up daily it seems. The peonies have finally started to open up and as I was checking on how many there were, this bloom caught my eye. So I clipped it and brought it inside to take directly to my studio to photograph it.

It’s been awhile since I’ve photographed a single floral stem on its own. Looking through my catalog of images, I haven’t done this since 2023. Last year I did one shoot with all the blooms from my garden but that was it. I felt a little rusty this morning to get started and into a zone. Clearing off my desk, finding my foam boards, adjusting the blinds, setting my camera. It took me a minute but then it started to feel normal as soon as I took my first shot.

Unexplainable joy. That is how doing this type of work makes me feel. It’s a joy in my entire body that fills my creative cup. I can spend hours, even days photographing one flower. Capturing its beauty and details. Turning, changing perspective, light shifts, close and far, changing backgrounds, and of course the bloom changes … it can be hard to get me to stop. And when I have images I’m really excited about, I can’t help but want to share them with others. I want you to see the beauty, too.