April 2021 - Tulips in love

This time last year – April 2020 – we were all settling into a relatively well-defined lockdown. I don’t know about you, but I never imagined that a year later we might still be in a very similar boat. As I write this, in mid-February, the messages we are getting seem to imply that we may be coming out of Lockdown 3 by then. But will all those normal things be available – popping out to the barbers for a haircut, meeting friends in a pub, going on holiday somewhere – I really hope so!

But the lockdown forced me to stay indoors – I was, and still am, shielding – so the ‘keeping indoors’ bit was stronger than for many people. I couldn’t go out to take photographs, couldn’t go to an art gallery or a National Trust place, couldn’t go away for a few days down to our caravan in Lancing. Pretty tough restrictions for someone who really likes being outside with his camera.

As a result, I decided to try my hand at some indoor photography. I built a small studio to take photos in … when I say ‘studio’, I mean a dining table with a large white board supported by a couple of jigsaw boxes and some heavy books, and a tripod for my camera. Lighting consisted of daylight from the window and the room light above the table. Really, really nothing sophisticated!

Anyway, many of my photos through lockdown were of cut flowers – and this picture shows a couple of tulips who have fallen in love with each other. They are cuddled up close and look like they’re about to have a big comfortable hug! 

As you can tell, my studio and object selection were not the most difficult to do – definitely something that anyone can do if they want to. Yes, it could be better if you had studio lighting of some sort, or if you had more imaginative props to include in the photo – but I don’t have the greatest imagination in thinking of creating a scene from scratch (as opposed to seeing it and taking a photo) – but you can get really satisfying pictures with the simplest of tools and some time. 

This is definitely a subject that I am learning about: hopefully I will get better over time!