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| Kirengeshoma koreana & Rosa 'Complicata' 18 September 2022 |
I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed.
Garry Winogrand -14 January 1928 – 19 March 1984
This man is often in my mind particularly these days that I scan my plants with what I know is an obsession. I have a friend, Ian McGuffie whom I have known for many years. He is a photographer who is constantly taking photographs and tells me how he enjoys taking them. In all those 35 plus years I have known him I have only seen at the most 10 of his photographs.
When Winogrand died, hundreds of undeveloped rolls of films were found in his home. I like to think (with a smile) that McGuffie is our very own Garry Winogrand.
I also see some resemblance with my obsession in scanning my garden plants (over 3000 since I started in 2001). I am sure that after seeing about 20 of them most people would become bored.
In my scans I note the constant change in the beauty of my plants particularly when I scan roses that have been in my garden since the late 80s. You can observe how maturity affects them.
Like Winogrand, I scan them to see what they will look like scanned, but even though by now I can predict how they will look I find satisfaction in observing their beauty even if it is purely personal.
I am sure that when I shortly (I am 80) make my quick exit from my existence, the scans, if seen or discovered by anybody, will be a strange occurrence to which, thankfully, I will not be privy to.
It is enough that my plants live with me and when I am gone they will be recorded in the memory of a couple of exterior hard drives.
That nobody will care does not affect me in the least. It
is so much fun to make my scanographs. Does anybody else call themselves a scanographer?
Note the imperfections in today's scan. The lovely Kirengeshoma, while shade tolerant, is under too much shade from my very big Rosa 'Complicata' In late fall I will prune the rose and see if I can get more light on the Kirengeshoma.
These plants parallel the pristine beauty of my Rosemary when I met her in 1967. Now they show how time changes that beauty to one that I not only I came to appreciate in my Rosemary as she aged but one that is there when I see myself in the mirror when I shave.