New year’s resolution numero whatever: post images more regularly on our blog in 2020. Not really that difficult to achieve given our woeful posting record in 2019. Hey-ho. But to show we mean business at the start of another photographing year how about a quick flip through some unseasonal spring flower pix?  We have cake to tempt you with if you’re not yet convinced…

The pictures are from a short trip we squeezed in between hosting photo safaris in the burgeoning South African spring last year. We intended to post them much earlier, but they’re only six months late seeing the light of day and we’re hoping the riot of clashing colour – and our decision to take the words ‘flower tripping’ fairly literally by opting for some more ‘out there’ techniques at point of capture – might just prove the perfect antidote to those post-festive blues. And then there’s that cake. Because isn’t cake the whole point of any trip through South Africa’s spring floral regions…

Rolling out the orange carpet

It’s traditional to feature one or two shots for context showing the flower-filled vistas of the Northern and Western Cape provinces in springtime, stretching to infinity and beyond, so we’ll start off old-school with a couple of simple scene setters. It’s hard to resist getting snap happy with a few straight scenics because the sheer number of blooms, and the way their colour floods the landscape, just stops you in your tracks, even if you’ve witnessed the annual spectacle before.

Last spring wasn’t the best flower show we’ve seen by far in either province, but we still found enough eye-popping colour to keep us busy. Usual landscape photography rules apply when documenting the flower carpets, but ignore the one about getting up really early to catch the best light. South Africa’s spring flowers don’t open until warmed up by the sun, mid to late morning, and close again in the mid afternoon. Leaving lots of time for welcome lie-ins (we were between busy photo safaris after all) and for a spot of cake with our afternoon tea.

Down with the daisies

It’s paralysing sometimes working out where to start your photography proper when faced with so much natural beauty and when the colour palette’s been turned up to 11. We’ve found the simplest route to unlocking the photographic potential of South Africa’s spring flowers is to narrow things right down and focus in closely on the smaller details. Make like a flower yourself and get down low.

Opt for a very narrow depth of field and isolate one or two flower spikes against a wash of contrasting flowers that will be thrown right out of focus in your shot. This is a great way to get your creative eye in and orange and yellow pollen over everything you’re wearing. Don’t overthink things, just enjoy moving your camera around a bit until you see something through the viewfinder that appeals. Look forward to a slice of lemon meringue pie as your reward for being in a cramped, uncomfortable position most of the day.

Be bloomin’ artistic

Few subjects lend themselves to creative interpretation as readily as a bit of flora and hardly anything’s as emotive as a spread of wild spring flowers. It’s a pity not to let rip a bit and photograph like no-one’s watching. We tried to, rejecting a conventional approach and embracing experimentation with multiple exposures and defocusing some images to produce an ethereal, impressionistic mood in our shots.

We also went a bit retro and psychedelic with a few zoom bursts and zoom bursts coupled with in-camera movement just to see what happened. You can get some quite interesting and crazy effects which did sort of sum up how the sheer mass of acid colours blowing in the wind can be hallucinogenic.  But do take motion sickness pills or don your shades as a safety precaution before reviewing your results if you opt to go this route.

Champion local flower power

South Africa’s floral hotspots are usually to be found in remote, rustic and pretty rural places. For most of the year these areas are quiet backwaters, many literally off-grid; the proverbial ‘middles of nowhere’.  For a few weeks each year they receive flower season tourists who bring in a small splash of extra cash as welcome as the winter rains that wake up the dormant flowers underground.

Sleepy little hick-towns go overboard embracing a flower theme and trim the place up as if it’s Christmas. The locals go on overdrive hosting flower tours on farms, making crafts to sell, collecting specimens for their annual spring flower shows, providing accommodation, setting up seasonal farm restaurants and pop-up pancake and cake stalls to sustain hungry flower hunters.

Supporting them’s as easy as pie given all the tasty treats on offer, but from a photography point of view it’s also the ticket to your next great capture. Only the locals have the most up to date, insider knowledge about where the changing flower displays are currently at their photogenic best or where a rare or unusual species has just popped up. Tapping into their generously-offered help and info is a no-brainer.

It was only a brief flit through the flowers for us this time but several slices of milk tart later we ended up refreshed and recharged; relaxed and ready for some very different photographic adventures with  our next group of safari guests on the other side of the country.

Piece of cake really…