Petal To The Metal

Tracing Kinship Between Nature And Technology

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

About eighteen months ago, I shot a sequence of images of a a single bud as it began to unfurl on a climbing rose bush on our property. It was a very interesting project, because one of the photographs I shot is the one I have published above.

At the time, the positioning of the petals as they were about to unfurl reminded me vividly of a sight I have often seen on tarmacs at airports around the world. But I had to wait a while to shoot the image that corresponded with what the rose reminded me of.

It is the white swirl painted on the giant turbines of the jets that we see at every airport. Is it just me or do you see the graceful resemblance too?


Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

Flower Power

For He's A Jolly Good Yellow

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

There is no better floral tribute to the memory of a cherished family member than flowers from your own garden. Our home this weekend was full of the scent of roses, in honour of someone who enjoyed walking through our garden at this time of year and always commented on how the scent of our many rose bushes along the entire perimeter of our property simply filled the warm spring air.

The roses are just coming into bloom now. I cut them back in early August, much later than other gardeners, for a simple reason. I don't believe in pruning while we still have winter frost. So I cut back when the nights are (fractionally) warmer and the roses seem to reward my thought process.

Each plant is thriving despite the dry weather, the arid September and the fact that because of water restrictions, we cannot water our lawns. Our garden is now an array of colours and scents and so from this point onwards, while the rest of the world readies for winter, our vases at home are full of a profusion of the beat that Nature has to offer.

These roses are from a climbing Freesia variety. I never used to be a fan of climbing roses until I bought one by mistake a few years ago. It now occupies about seven or eight metres (roughly 24 feet) across part of our back fence and I guess that convinced me that there is always room in a garden for more of the climbing variety.

These yellow roses were chosen to complement the colour of our bricks. Interestingly enough, I often get asked why I don't have a traditional wooden trellis supporting them. That's when I take people closer, to notice the subtle wire mesh across the brickwork, strong enough to support a heavy rose as it arches across an expanse, but slim enough not to be noticed.

By the way, you did notice the reflection in this last shot, didn't you? Sometimes even a six-footer has to stand on a chair to get that sort of angle.

Visit Luiz Santilli Jr for the home of Today's Flowers.

Open Challenge

Going Petal To The Mettle

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I've been waiting weeks for the right time to capture this sequence. What I wanted to do was take a photograph at the same time, every day, of the same rose as it unfurled. I experimented with different colours, different varieties and different angles. The first shot in this sequence (above) was taken on Friday afternoon.


This is the second shot (above) in the sequence, taken on Saturday afternoon. Have a look at the centre of the rose. It is pure symmetrical perfection, as each individual petal forms an elegant pattern in synch with all the others. You'll see that the real change from the day before is in the mid-section of the bloom, with a little movement in the centre as well.


But the third shot, taken on Sunday afternoon, shows the clear result of the hotter weather. The rapid progression is quite dramatic. The rose has suddenly reacted to the sunlight and the heat, revealing itself in all its buttery splendour. For the record, it was a climbing Freesia and yes, they are as fragrant as they are beautiful. I hope you like this pictorial experiment. Do let me know ....