F8 - My Final Photo News

F8 - My Final Photo News

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F8 - My Final Photo News
F8 - My Final Photo News
The Most Blessed Photographer
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The Most Blessed Photographer

Gary Gardiner
May 05, 2024
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F8 - My Final Photo News
F8 - My Final Photo News
The Most Blessed Photographer
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Could Not Have Possibly Imagined

I knew when I went to the Inniswood Plant Sale this afternoon that I would miss most of the crowd and probably all of the plants. I went anyway thinking that I could make a photo of the nearly empty sales tables. Surely there would be a misshapen Hosta or dried-out daisy I could put in the foreground of a denuded plant sale.

My conjecture about the status of the plants and people was correct. There were few of either.

After being greeted by a volunteer offering a wagon for the volume of plants I might buy and a color-coded pricing sheet I stepped into the sales arena prepared to have to work hard to make a photo of something that wasn’t there.

Turning down the first row of nearly empty tables to begin my feature hunt I stopped, blinking twice to ensure I wasn't hallucinating. In front of me, a woman's left arm was covered in vibrant flower tattoos, from a sunflower on her elbow to a peony on her hand. Amidst the barren tables, she was a living bouquet, the most colorful arrangement at the sale.

After explaining my need for a colorful plant sale photo and that her arm was a perfect subject, I told her I was going to be following her until she finished shopping because her left arm was now my obsession. And I did just that as she smelled chocolate mint, pinched a leaf of stevia, delighted over small-leafed basil, and accidentally pulled a desired plant from another woman’s selections.

I talked with the park ranger as I was leaving. He wanted to know if I’d made a good photo at the sale, especially because I was late.

My answer was short and simple.

“Yes. I am blessed.”


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