Last night I finished an editing project, so I let myself go have some fun with some garden photos before diving into the next big project.  :)  Enjoy...

- Kelsey

Discovering beauty... 

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer

Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook

Extravagance

Welcome to another overdue blog post -- the tulips have long since finished blooming, but they were so stunning, they definitely deserve some air time!

To my mind, tulips are sheer luxury.  They don't really come back (except for a few varieties) and they cost a lot more per flower than a couple packets of seeds.  They don't last very long in cut-flower arrangements and even in the garden the blooms are rather delicate.  But they are such stunning flowers that we can't help but plant them every year...I'm quite happy eating oatmeal a little more often so I can save a few more dollars for tulip bulbs.  ;)  Spring isn't spring without the riot of extravagant color that tulips bring to the garden!

Enjoy...

 

Such delicate, intricate striations on these petals...I'm sure there are no two alike in the world.

(Well, what can I say, the forget-me-nots were blooming nearby...and they asked very politely...so of course this sucker happily photographed them too...)

Ahhhh so pretty.  That just makes my heart happy.  Beauty is such an amazing thing for the soul!

Next up: senior session with the lovely Heather!  :)

- Kelsey

Discovering beauty... 

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer
Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook

Another little "personal project"...

Continuing on the "personal project" theme...

Not to be outdone, my flowers demanded they get their own blog post, after they saw the one about my mom's garden (scroll down, February 10th).  Of course, never one to refuse a flower anything, I was happy to oblige.  Can't deny it, I'm proud of them. They deserve their fifteen minutes of fame too.  ;)

So without further ado: my garden.

 

 

I'm a sucker for pansies. (As you can tell.)  And planting things in whimsical containers.

 

Tiny hollyhock seedlings...

 

Baby cauliflower! Harvested the first full-grown one last week. Yum.

 

If you know me, you know I get very excited when the hydrangea bush starts budding out...

 

And a trip indoors to photograph the gorgeous amaryllis in bloom...

 

Lavendar -- can't live without it.  I already have four big plants. Hehe.

 

Sometimes gardeners get this itch to grow something challenging. I'm not immune to that. Lupines are tough to grow here, but I'm trying...we'll see what happens.

 

First tulips started blooming this Sunday!

 

This row of cabbage keeps getting bigger and bigger...and bigger...

  

  

I have two little "Colonnade" apple trees -- grown in containers on the patio.

 

"Monet's Garden" mesclun mix

 

One can never have too many pansies and violas, right??

 

There.  Hopefully these silly flowers will give me some peace now.  ;)

- Kelsey

Discovering beauty... 

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer
Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook

Raindrops

I love flowers.  Anybody who knows me knows that.  But when it's raining...I really love flowers.  The colors come out more vibrantly than in the sunshine, and the rain scatters lovely jewels all over.

This morning it was sprinkling gently outside, and I couldn't resist heading out with my camera.  Who cares if in the process I ended up getting as wet as all these little bejeweled beauties...being out in the rain does a body good.  ;)

Crocus (I think this variety is named "Mr. Pickwick"!)

Rose leaves (yes, they ARE this purple right now)

An elegant calla lily about to unfurl...

Calla leaves

Tiny Forget-me-nots

Snowdrops...look at these little green dots on the petals.  So fanciful!

Blueberry flowers

And my favorite image of the day...delicate pea tendrils:

May you rejoice in the little things God sends your way today.  :)  Keep an eye out for His sense of whimsy too!

- Kelsey

Discovering beauty...

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer
Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook

A little spring happiness at f/2.8

The garden is waking up...and today in the midst of email and editing and preparing for students and wedding album designing, there came a moment when the call became too strong to resist.  A rainstorm was whipping itself up, and the breeze was rushing past my window, and the daffodils and pansies were saying, "Come out and play!"

So I armed myself with a suitably wide-apertured lens (is that a word??) and spent the next fifteen minutes happily wandering among fresh sprouts poking up from brown earth and tiny flowers unfurling.

Nothing says "spring!!" like a brilliant yellow crocus.

 And around here, this yellow means spring, too.  ;)  And lemon bars and custard and other yumminesses.

 Forget-me-nots...

 

These humble sprouts will be incredibly ostentatious tulips in a month or two.  Small beginnings...

I think kale is awfully artsy stuff.  I guess maybe I can identify with its curly-ness.  ;)

Calendulas

This incredible beauty is helleborus, commonly named "Lenten Rose".  They're very modest little flowers, blooming with their heads bowed downward.

To me, this says "hope": an old rosebush, pruned in early winter, putting out sprouts.  In May the bush will be covered with apricot-pink roses.

I love shallow depth of field.  All of these photos were taken at f2.8.  A wee bit of sharp focus, with blurriness before and behind...truly entrancing.  I think it's the blurriness that I love so much.  It's soft, smooth...and mysterious.  You can make guesses about what it is.  But usually you don't really know.  Just something that looks good, blurry.

Isn't that life?  Sometimes the blurry things make other things stand out in sharp focus.  When you're sick, you appreciate the gift of health so much more. When someone is unkind to you, you're all the more grateful for those who ARE kind.  When you see how much you need God's mercy...you see what a merciful, faithful, infinitely patient God he is.

Till next time, friends!  Happy spring!



- Kelsey

Discovering beauty...

Kelsey Schweickert  |  San Francisco Bay Area wedding photographer
Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook