I admit it - I'm a botany nerd - but there will be no Latin names here, thanks. For nature I have a deep and abiding love, but I shall take care not to write a poem. Not in this forum anyhow, because it is after-all a photography blog. But what does that mean? Well, I'm glad you asked...
Photography for me is a way of engaging with the world as a way of knowing it better. It's my love for the subjects themselves that makes me want to take pictures. I'm not terribly interested in equipment or other technical issues. I like to make beautiful images, to the extent that I am able, to celebrate the subject. In sharing my photographs, I'm trying to say "look at this - isn't it beautiful? Isn't it interesting?" Now that's out of the way, let me wax lyrical about the Jacaranda tree...
Where I live in Brisbane the jacaranda, a native of South America, is a popular ornamental tree. They bloom in late Spring with magnificent displays of mauve flowers that cover the trees. The hillsides of Brisbane are splashed with mauve. Carpets of blooms cover the footpaths beneath the trees, that are soft and even slippery underfoot. University students associate the blooming of the jacaranda with exam time, and so are not as delighted by their presence as others.
Jacarandas are deciduous, losing their leaves in Winter. The bare trees are also visually appealing, with their gnarled trunks and witchy branches. At night they might conjure fairytale images of children lost in the deep dark woods.
I gotta say though, this year is the first year I have appreciated the beauty of the trees as the leaves yellow before they drop. Possibly I associate yellow foliage with nutrient-deficient soils. Also, I've never really bonded with the colour yellow, for some reason.This year however, I saw the beauty of it - the yellow leaves contrasting with the crisp blue skies of Winter - the tiny golden leaves shimmering with the breezes.
If I were not a photo-nut, maybe I would never have come to appreciate this. There is beauty everywhere.
