Magnolia blossom

click photo to enlarge
Magnolia blossom has the power to delight or disappoint. It appears to be one of those plants that is on the edge of its range in the UK because a cold, wet spring results in short-lived blossom that is marked with brown stains. The sight of the large blooms disfigured in this way is particularly woeful because they are potentially one of the most showy early blossoms, and all we see in these circumstances is a hint of what might have been.

The spring of this year in my part of the world seems to have been better suited to magnolias than most because our tree seems to have been in flower for a couple of weeks and has some time yet to go. There have been a few frosts during the time it has been in bloom but they haven't been particularly sharp, and the rain hasn't been especially heavy or persistent. Consequently the blooms have looked magnificent, and though they have acquired some brown staining it isn't as prevalent or strong as it can be.

When I came to photograph the blossom I took some shots against the blue sky because it goes well with the white tinged with pink of the petals. However, as I worked my way around the tree I found that I could frame some low blooms with the darkness of the shadows of a conifer hedge. I much preferred that as a backdrop for the petals. I also liked how it emphasised the branches better than did the sky blue.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Magnolia blossom
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 120mm (240mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec
ISO:250
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Magnolia

click photo to enlarge

For about thirty years the houses that we have lived in have had painted walls. Sometimes the paint has been laid on to the plaster; at other times it has been put on lightly textured paper. And for all of that time the principal colour that those walls have been painted is - magnolia. Occasionally we'd have a contrasting wall in green or some other muted, calm colour. But our colour of choice for most locations was magnolia, that shade of cream with an almost imperceptible hint of pink. Why that boring, over-used colour you might ask? Well, it's widely available in all the main finishes and relatively inexpensive. It also goes nicely with white painted woodwork, coving and ceilings. But more than that, it provides a light, neutral background against which stronger colours and patterns - in curtains, pictures, furniture, rugs etc. - show very well. And, being people who like strongly figured furnishings e.g. William Morris print curtains, my wife and I have valued the versatility of the colour.

Of course, it has become a standing joke with friends and family. If we mention that we are going to paint a room the question is invariably asked, "Magnolia?" However, when it came to our most recent house we broke with tradition. Magnolia was rejected. Even "Warm magnolia", a colour spotted by some friends, was deemed unsuitable. No, instead we chose "Caramel Cream". To the untutored, casual eye, this might look like magnolia. But to someone who has the precise hue of magnolia imprinted on their brain, caramel cream is the chalk to magnolia's cheese. It lacks the hint of pink, and instead veers towards cream proper with a touch of yellow/brown. Completely different I would maintain!

I thought about our long-standing infatuation with this paint yesterday when I was photographing our magnolia tree. The relatively mild spring has brought flowers and blossom throughout the garden in profusion. This tree in particular has never had as many blooms or looked so good. Moreover the virtual absence of frost during the time the flowers have been out has resulted in fewer than usual brown-stained petals. As I photographed it against a blue sky dotted with white clouds using the macro lens, I looked at the hint of pink at the base of each white bloom and then reflected on my house that is now, unlike my garden, magnolia free.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 100mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/800
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Crab apples and forbidden fruit

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"Forbidden fruit always tastes the sweetest", or so they say, but that certainly wasn't my experience as a child. In the small market town where I grew up there were abandoned and neglected apple trees, probably the property of someone somewhere, but which seemed fair game for young boys. On more than one occasion I gave myself stomach ache by eating the sour cooking apples and crab apples that hung heavily from the drooping boughs. Elsewhere there were tempting gooseberry bushes, and, even though we knew they were tart to the point of being inedible, still we ate them, and always we regretted it. Then there was the rhubarb. In a few places this grew on the grass verge by a roadside garden: in other words off private property, but probably deliberately planted there by the householder. A stick of this was palatable if eaten raw after each mouthful had been dipped in sugar, but the after-effects were uncomfortable to say the least. So no, I never found that forbidden fruit was the sweetest.

At the front of my house is a crab apple tree. It has become more than a little wayward over the years, and in the time since I have lived with it, I've started to bring it under some sort of control, cutting crossing branches, revealing more of the lower trunk, etc. Each spring it produces fine blossom, and each autumn a copious amount of fruit. Thus far the latter has been left for the blackbirds or has been composted. Perhaps my reluctance to do anything useful with the crab apples stems back to my childhood experiences with the fruit. However, this year, as I photographed the delicate blossom, I thought that perhaps we should look into using it for making jam, jelly, wine or something of that nature.

Today's image shows the end of one of the lower branches of the tree. I chose this one for a shot using the macro lens because it allowed me to have a large petal as the focal point towards the bottom right of the frame, the rest of the nearby leaves and blossom framing it and filling the upper left (the latter out of focus and therefore emphasising the foreground). And it gave me the opportunity to include some dark areas to give a little more contrast across the image.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/320
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On