Flower Pictures in Tuscany
It's springtime in Tuscany, early May. Arriving at Pisa airport
the air smells different, dryer, lighter, brighter with the
alluring waft of some flower scent, even amid the concrete
hustle and bustle common to airports everywhere. I'm travelling
light, or as light as you can get when your camera bag is your
hand luggage and you couldn't quite leave the tripod behind. Not
when the mission is a whistle-stop orchid extravaganza, to try
and photograph as many different sorts of orchid as we can find,
in under a week.
Heading off in a hire car, we leave Pisa behind and take to the
hills, a winding, twisting, and convoluted back road towards
Siena. The air is fresher and the hint of flowers strengthens
until we are overwhelmed by the honeyed scent of broom, pouring
in through the car windows. Every which way you look there is a
picture postcard scene, comprising the essential props of a
Tuscan photo - cypress trees, warm brick farmhouse and stone
church, with gently curving green hills behind. Is it possible
to take a bad photograph in Tuscany? Well yes it is. If I give
in to temptation and snap every tempting vista, I'm going to
find the bright midday light turns everything to dull
monochrome, flattens the colours and wastes all my film before
I've even started on the orchids. I'll have to note the best
views and try to come back in early morning or evening light,
when it all magically turns golden and lucid.
We know where we are heading - south of Siena some friends have
been walking through veritable meadows filled with orchids. The
challenge will be to find those places by car, along the strada
bianca (dirt roads) that crisscross the countryside. The other
challenge is reaching our destination, when every few yards we
spot a flower spike on the roadside and have to screech to a
halt to identify it. Fresh from England any orchid at all is a
rarity, but after an hour we are already blas