Dark Katy Rides Again!

If you've been following me at all, you know I have a dark side. I tend to be overly cynical, suspicious and sometimes, I'd even admit to being a bit mischievous and plotting. Who knows...maybe it's my OCD, maybe it's my life experiences, or maybe I'm just inherently evil. Ha! In any event, here are two of my great loves. Black and white photography and dead flowers.

Yup, dead flowers. (Or other dead stuff. More to come on that later...it's a secret!) There is something about what a flower looks like all shriveled up, petals creased and edges brittle. I'm the person that visits the rose garden and skips the bright colors and beautiful blooms and hunts down the dead plant. Cheerful, huh?

Honestly, it's all part of the inspiration I find in the beauty of the mundane. Looking at something that is usually overlooked and seeing something completely different. I look at these dead flowers and it's almost like I can watch the process in my mind, like those slow-moving features on National Geographic that show the seed growing into a tree. Somehow, by seeing the flowers in death, I am awed by the intricacy of creation. Which probably means, I'm in awe at life. So...maybe I'm not that dark after all.

(Ironically, as I'm writing this blog, The Execution by Paul Cantelon from The Other Boleyn Girl is playing on my Pandora station. This is a great piece. I have a thing for the Boleyns, that whole time period of Queens and Kings. I know, more pieces to my weird puzzle. I love asparagus too.)

Black and white photography to me freezes time. It marks a moment. It is photojournalistic by nature, foundational, historical, classic. Earthy. Grainy. Get your hands dirty good. There's no hiding in a black and white photograph. It is what it is. Bare. Honest. Brutal. I love it.





This was the first in what I hope will become the many, play times I have awarded myself. I have promised myself that I will carve time for play. Time to simply get quiet, explore and see what I find. And while I am sure shooting dead flowers is not high on a lot of other people's to do list, I found it truly cathartic. Wait until you see my next project.

Oh, and I didn't go all black and white this go around. There were some rain droplets that caught my fancy and then some dead stuff that held it's own. So I left them be.