Finding Heaven in the Garden: The Angel Wing Series

 There are moments in the garden when the light and the bloom align so perfectly that you stop seeing a flower and start seeing something much deeper.

This series was born from a quiet morning at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. While wandering through the rows of spring blooms, I found myself captivated by a single Parrot Tulip. Most people love tulips for their bold, cup-shaped symmetry, but I have always been drawn to the "rebels" of the tulip world—the ones with the fringed, ruffled, and unpredictable edges.

The Vision

As I got closer, the world around me blurred away. Through the viewfinder, the serrated edges of the tulip petals didn't look like flora anymore; they looked like the delicate, silken feathers of an angel’s wing.

I wanted to capture that feeling of weightlessness and grace. By intentionally choosing a high-key, soft-focus style, I aimed to strip away the "dirt and stems" of the garden to focus purely on the ethereal texture.

The Technique

To achieve this signature "glow," I relied on my Fujifilm 90mm lens paired with a Fuji extension tube (likely the 11mm). This combination is my go-to for intimate flower studies because it allows me to move beyond the standard minimum focus distance and dive deep into the petal’s architecture.

Finding a garden bench allowed me to sit and truly observe the bloom. This stillness was essential for managing the razor-thin depth of field at f/3.6, which turned those tiny ridges into sweeping, "painterly" landscapes of blush and cream.

Bringing the Garden Home

I created this series—Angel Wing I and II—to bring a sense of celestial peace into the home. Whether it’s the vertical "portrait" of grace or the horizontal "motion" of flight, my hope is that these pieces offer a quiet moment of reflection for anyone who sees them.

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Painted Reflections: April in The Asian Garden

Painted Reflections:   April in The Asian Garden 

There is a specific kind of magic that happens in the Asian Garden at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden during the month of April. While I have visited these grounds many times over the years, I find myself continually drawn back to this one view.

In this particular capture from 2023, it was the conversation between the trees that caught my eye. The deep, fiery crimson of the Japanese maples stands in such bold contrast to the fresh, hopeful greens of early spring. But more than the colors themselves, I am always captivated by the reflections in the pond—the way the water mirrors those vibrant hues, blurring the lines between the shore and the surface.

To capture the feeling of that moment, I decided to move away from a traditional edit. Using a painterly technique, I wanted to emphasize the impressionist quality of the scene, turning the branches and reflections into soft, textured brushstrokes. It transforms a familiar local scene into something that feels like a quiet, hidden sanctuary.

Prints available at: https://ava-reaves.pixels.com/  in Gardens of The River City Gallery

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Finding Beauty in the Fade: The Story of "Tulip in Transition"

There is a specific kind of magic that happens in the garden when the vibrant bloom of spring begins to quiet down. While most people look for the first blush of a new petal, I find myself drawn to the "spent" stage—the moment a flower begins to curl, fade, and take on a sculptural, almost parchment-like quality.

The Vision

This particular Angelique tulip had lived its full life in my garden, but as the petals began to dry, they twisted into these incredible, chaotic loops. I wanted to capture it in a way that felt like an old-world painting—soft, muted, and timeless. I was aiming for an antique pastel look that felt more like a memory than a literal photograph.

The "Studio" Secret

You might imagine a complex studio setup for an image like this, but the truth is much simpler! To get that clean, high-key foundation, I simply placed a piece of white foam board behind the tulip while it was still on the stem.

By isolating the flower against that neutral white, I was able to:

Focus on the Form: The foam board eliminated garden distractions, letting the viewer see every delicate curve of the drying petals.

Control the Light: The white surface acted as a natural reflector, softening the shadows and helping me achieve that ethereal, "glowy" base.

Create a Canvas: Having that clean background gave me the perfect "canvas" to later apply textures and soft, painterly edits in post-processing.

Final Thoughts

"Tulip in Transition" is now part of my Dry Flowers gallery. It’s a reminder that beauty isn't just found in the peak of a bloom, but also in the quiet, graceful transition that follows.

Below is the original image, prior to editing.

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