The Fleeting Spring

Spring; so beautiful, yet so fleeting. Trees blossom with dainty soft flowers, only to shed their petals and quickly make way for leaves and berries that house and feed the birds of summer. I wanted to capture this fleeting moment, specifically, the moment in which the petals take flight from the trees. It's really a moment better communicated by video, since the motion of the petals is what's most beautiful, but as a still photographer, I wanted to push myself to explore communicating that sense of flight through still imagery. What follows is my process of exploration and discovery, which is how I approach almost anything I photograph...

I started with a basic observation of the petals leaving the trees, and I observed that the petals in the air are very difficult to see when set against the background of the tree.


Then I turned my attention to documenting the aftermath, the destination point of the petals and how the wind seems to gather them into clusters near curbs and walls, yet this still did not demonstrate the motion and the fleeting moment.


Still unsatisfied, I thought, perhaps using a shallow depth of field would sufficiently separate the tree and its fleeting petals from the background, but was unsatisfied with the minimal petals that I was able to capture. In person, I felt surrounded by petals floating in the air.


Perhaps a darker background, to offset the light color of the petals, set against the texture of the rippling canal, could do this petal shower justice?


Or maybe the sidewalks, all lined with gathered petals, would be better?


Ultimately, I settled on capturing only the petals in manual focus, with a telephoto lens, with an aperture just large enough to capture several petals while still keeping the background out of focus, and framed to create a feeling that they were free floating with seemingly no attachment to their former host.


After feeling as though I did my best to capture a still photograph of a fleeting moment, I passed a spider, troubled that all of the petals were revealing its invisible trap. Not everyone appreciates this beautiful wonder of spring.


Even after I left the scene, I continued to think about how I could capture that moment, that feeling, in a still photograph, and one more idea came to mind... I could have tried to move with the petals, at a tight aperture and a slow shutter, with a background with just enough contrast and shape to show the background in motion while keeping the petals in focus.

I'd love to hear from you! How would you approach a moment like this?