Nieuwoudtville Morning, a photo from Northern Cape, West

Photographer's Note

Since I was a small child, I have loved wild flowers. Childhood memories of walks along country lanes and woodland usually include picking, pressing and identifying spring flowers. I had an illustrated book of flowers which I loved looking at and was one of the best gifts I ever received.
Taking a road trip to see the spring flowers in South Africa was rooted in those early memories, I would not see primroses, snowdrops, celandines or buttercups but I would see flowers vibrant with colour and beauty.

This shot was taken in Nieuwoutville, a small village on the Bokkeveld Plateau, where the Cape Fynbos meets the Hantam Karoo, Boesmanland and the Knersvlakte. A biodiversity ‘hot-spot’ the area straddlies both the northernmost extent of the Cape Floral Kingdom and the Succulent Karoo biomes. It has one of the highest concentrations of bulbs and cormous plants) in the world – of the 1 350 flower species on the Bokkeveld Plateau, more than 300 are geophytes found in the vicinity of Nieuwoudtville.

The winter rains had been good, without them the flowers amount to nothing. Fields were carpeted with colour and diversity. A walk through the village in the early morning illustrated a point about taking photographs of the spring landscapes. The flowers are late risers, only opening their faces to the sun at about eleven in the morning and closing them again around four. If the sun doesn’t shine or the temperature is below 17C they remain firmly closed. This is all to do with optimum conditions for pollination.

Here you can see the familiar orange Namaqualand daisies and you will notice that the flower heads are closed.

See WS for alternate views

This photograph is copyright of Rosemary Walden - © Rosemary Walden 2012. All rights reserved.
Any redistribution or reproduction of the image in any form is prohibited.
You may not, except with my express written permission, copy, reproduce, download, distribute or exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system

kathryn_weir, Highmountains, lousat, Suppiluliuma, jjcordier, tyro, Royaldevon, delpeoples, mjdundee, marabu61, annjackman, annjackman has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

mauro61 (52527) 2012-09-24 8:08

ciao Rosemary,
particolare l'effetto della luce sui campi con la prospettiva della strada sterrata che va verso gli alberi.
Bello l'effetto rossastro del FG,
saluti
maurizio

Nicou (97679) 2012-09-24 8:44

Hello

Mervielleus eiamge et cpatage superbe tons doux quelle couleur sur ces fleurs rouge avec un jeu d'éclairage sueprbe captage et compo.

Bravo et amitié

Nicou

kathryn_weir (1742) 2012-09-24 10:28

Hello dear Rosemary,
A very beautiful shot with amazing golden light. Your notes are wonderfully informative- lucky and clever flowers getting to sleep late :)
I especially like the sun-kissed effect of the golden light touching the peaks . Your use of the road and powerlines converging on the sunlit horizon is also particularly well interpreted
Thanks for sharing
Kathryn

Highmountains (1834) 2012-09-24 11:07

Attractive photograph - for the play of light and shade over deeply saturated and vibrant colours. The light in the background pierces through the tall trees and lights up a part of the brown road. The electric wires on either side accentuates the long shafts of light. The fencing - across the right of the photograph is bordered with flowers which again receives a wide line of light with sharp and dark shadows on both sides.
Thanks for sharing.

papagolf21 (76561) 2012-09-24 11:50

Bonsoir, chère Rosemary,
J'aime beaucoup l'ambiance qui se dégage de cette composition.
Le sujet est fort bien traité. Le jeu des lumières et des couleurs est excellent.
Une bien belle réussite. Une image emplie de poésie.
Amitiés.
Philippe

madhumita_roy86 (2150) 2012-09-24 12:04

Hello Rosemary,
very beautiful scene...
lovely vivid colours...
like the moment, atmosphere...
great play with light & shadow...
excellent presentation...
Tfs! regards,
Madhumita.

brianmcc (5536) 2012-09-24 14:42

hi rosemary,
the light here is beautiful, and the resulting colours are wonderful. your viewpoint is perfect looking along the line of the track and parallel to the flowers and fence. you have captured a very atmospheric moment here.
regards,
brian

lousat (57626) 2012-09-24 15:25

Hi Rosemary,the choice of the moment make the difference,spectacular game of lights and shadows and high saturation to create a magnificent effect,i like the ws too and you comment.Have a nice day and thanks,Luciano

jjcordier (62328) 2012-09-24 23:31

Rosemary
La lumière rasante qui illumine ce champ de fleurs crée un effet original et allonge démesurément les ombres. Original!
Amicalement
JJ

wolf38 (28180) 2012-09-25 0:33

Hello Rosemary. Early morning. The sun is hiding behind the trees yet. But the sun's rays fall like fingers into the landscape. And right of the picture begin to glow red flowers. Really a great photo. My compliments. Best rgds, Wolfgang.

Gerrit (43743) 2012-09-25 0:58

Hi Rosemary,
what a beautiful warm colours in the low light.
The lines make the photo very dynamic.
regard, gerrit

tyro (13073) 2012-09-25 3:03

Hello Rosemary,

Your early morning wanderings have brought you the most delicious and warm low-angle light to illuminate this scene and, even although the flowers remain closed, the effect is spectacular.

The long dappled shadows which the far trees have cast on the roadway and the flowers are beautiful and I love the bright shiny overhead wires which also lead us into the distance along the roadside.

Despite the strong contrasts, there is still detail fully visible in the darkest and brightest parts. The colours are strong and vibrant and the details and sharpness are exquisite. Perfect exposure too in what must have been exceedingly difficult conditions.

And a fine interesting note to top off a lovely presentation.

Beautiful!

Kind Regards,

John.

Royaldevon (17791) 2012-09-25 3:42

Hello Rosemary,

I loved reading your accompanying notes which taught me some new words and made me strongly aware of the Dutch influences.
You have used the tree well in your contre jour and it makes a good starting point. I really found myself following the road from the b/g to the f/g rather than the other way round. The colours are deep and warm and create good contrast with the long shadows.

I really can see see a parallel with this and tiptoeing into a nursery, switching on energy saving lights (which are slow to reach full power) and watching them slowly reveal the sleeping infants. (Am I a romantic!!)

Have a lovely day and thanks for sharing this,
Bev :-)

dkmurphys (36801) 2012-09-25 4:17

Hi Rosemary,
Lovely shadows of the street. The presence of the red flowers are making the scene more attractive. Great catch!

Daniel

fabbs99 (5441) 2012-09-25 4:44

Hello Rosemary,

The depth of field is very effective in this photograph and the colors are so warm.The flowers blooming in the garden give a nice effect to the whole scene.The lighting is also amazing as well as perfect POV too.TFS.

Best Regards
Farhat

delpeoples (44904) 2012-09-25 5:14

Hi dear Rosemary

I can easily see why you love wildflowers and it's easy to see that you love taking their photo. The carpet of natural flora is a wonderful spectacle, made even more exquisite by the golden morning light. I like the lines of the road and fence that make an impressive perspective. Superb shot, made under difficult circumstances, and very successfully so.

Have a beautiful day
Lisa

timecapturer (30324) 2012-09-25 6:02

Hi Rosemary
exemplary light management here. The effect is superb and the composition so enticing and beautiful. No loss of detail and colour and the shadows are just amazing. Excellent imagery!

Regards - Brian.

mjdundee (4657) 2012-09-25 6:31

Hello Rosemary,
Very attractive front light compo and great note.
What are the 7 spider web like wires on the left?
They look a little disturbing and the power poles are on the right already.
Nevertheless - a great shot. TFS
Thomas

marabu61 (3914) 2012-09-25 13:58

Hello Rosemary
Although both your alternative pictures are beautiful, I for myself prefer this one to the others.
Wonderful brown and golden colors in a gorgeous warm light, the illuminated powerline and the path giving depth to the scene, all together add up to a very alluring picture.
have a good week
Daniel

annjackman (13195) 2012-09-30 10:19

Hello Rosemary,
The low light is glorious and I imagine that this would look very different at midday. I am drawn to the line of lit red flowers and the light on the dirt road. It makes for interesting perspective helped by the overhead wires. How clever to have the sun behind the tree so no problems with burn out. Great timing and great technique - beautiful!
Kind Regards, Ann