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“Hanging heavy with morning dew, a peony blossom among the leaves beams joyfully from the supporting foliage.” – Ed LehmingI couldn’t have asked for a nicer composition, already framed by the bright green leaves of my spiraea bush, these peony blossoms were a joy to behold. It had just rained and the already large and heavy blossoms would have been on the ground had it not been for the spiraea’s support.Those who… Read More
“Everyday can be extraordinary And ripe, Like a flower burst, If the will is there.” ― Scott Hastie As a follow up to yesterday’s post, I revisited the bud I photographed the day before, titled “Opening Soon“. Well. it did open and I’m still amazed at how all this pomp and frill can fit inside such a small bud. The peony season is beginning to wind down and we had a torrential… Read More
“Ants always eat sweet food … but none of them haven’t diabetes ?” ― Ali Ghasaby Among the residents of peonies are, of course, ants. Ants of all sizes and shapes thrive on the sweet nectars the peonies offer from bud to blossom. It would be a rare occasion when I bring a peony blossom indoors that an ant does not emerge at some point. It’s a given. As I photographed my… Read More
“Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly.” ― Pablo Neruda As I came outside yesterday, I was filled with the sweet aroma of Peony. Our walkway is bordered by two enormous peony plant. They stand nearly five feet (just under two meters) tall and are now so big that an extra large peony ring will not hold them. I’ve taken to using rope… Read More
May you understand my love–because it is the only thing I have that is really mine, the only thing that I will be able to take with me into the next life. Please allow it to be courageous and pure; please make it capable of surviving the snares of the world.” ― Paulo Coelho A simple title that describes my first impressions of this single, rain speckled, white peony blossom. Yesterday rained… Read More
“It’s so curious: one can resist tears and ‘behave’ very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer… and everything collapses. ” ― Colette Here’s an assemblage of several of the peonies I’ve shared over the past few days, placed… Read More
A heavy sort of beauty, yet delicate to the eye. The peony welcomes the late spring sunshine, and bears the burden of its rains. Nourished, yet strained, she bows to the beginning of summer. – Ed Lehming The peonies keep coming, and despite the rains, they are holding up quite well. As I’ve said before, how they hold up their heavy flowers is a real marvel. As I clip blossoms to photograph… Read More
“Now a soft kiss – Aye, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss.” ― John Keats What more can I say, I am enveloped in pink. It is the colour theme of the season, the transition from whites to pinks and purples. Our peonies, are redolent in pinks and magentas. The gardens, filled with pink ruffles, brilliant white ecstasy, and magenta glory. Nikon D800 Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro… Read More
“Everything passes. Joy. Pain. The moment of triumph; the sigh of despair. Nothing lasts forever – not even this.” ― Paul Stewart The ‘fancy’ pink peonies are blooming at last. The flowers this year are massive and I frankly have no idea how the weight of the blossoms is supported by some of the stalks. Were it not for surrounding vegetation and a fence, they would surely collapse under their own weight…. Read More
“The long roots of the peony strike deep into the past.” – Alice Coats Today I’m sharing a peony that I have many of and I don’t believe this is the first blossom either. Several blossoms opened a few days ago, so it’s hard to know. The plant itself came from abandoned (expropriated) farm near my home. The family who used to live there (Spangs) were close friends with my wife’s family… Read More
“Spiders are anti-social, keep pests under control, and mostly mind their own business, but they somehow summon fear in humans who are far more dangerous, deceitful and have hurt more people. Of the two I’m more suspicious about the latter.” ― Donna Lynn Hope Finding a ‘visitor’ should not have come as a surprise. As I was making photos of one of my peonies, a spider, variety unknown to me (I’m not… Read More
“She was pure, it was true, as he had never dreamed of purity; but cherries stained her lips.” ― Jack London In this year’s theme of ‘firsts’, here’s yet another. The first white peony made its appearance in my gardens this morning. These white peonies hold a special place in our family, having been passed do from my wife’s grandmother. It’s an interesting blossom, being a beautiful pure white, with a tiny… Read More
“If today is not your day, then be happy for this day shall never return. And if today is your day, then be happy now for this day shall never return.” ― Kamand Kojouri I wanted to revisit this first peony blossom today. The image is made from a slightly different angle. When I shoot in the studio, I almost always set the subject up intuitively and stick with that shot. A… Read More
“When nothing else subsists from the past, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered…the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls…bearing resiliently, on tiny and almost impalpable drops of their essence, the immense edifice of memory” ― Marcel Proust Peony, for me the queen of fragrance and memory. As I stepped outside today, following a brief rain shower, the perfume of this… Read More
“Someone was playing piano nearby and the music drifted slowly in and out of my mind like the ebb and flow of ocean surf. I almost recognized the melody, but I could not be sure, it slipped like a cool and silken wind from my grasp.” ― Chaim Potok Today’s image is another foray into the world of macro photography and I’m loving the effects and subtle details the naked eye misses…. Read More
“The little boy nodded at the peony and the peony seemed to nod back. The little boy was neat, clean and pretty. The peony was unchaste, dishevelled, as peonies must be, and at the height of its beauty. Every hour is filled with such moments, big with significance for someone.” – Robertson Davies I’m not sure what the formal designation for this variety of peony is, but in my home it’s know as… Read More
Ed Lehming Photography 
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