Abstract | Russ Bishop Photography | Nature Photo Blog

Tulips in Claude Monet’s garden, Giverny, France

Spring has arrived and with it our favorite blooms from around the world are emerging from hillsides, in meadows, farms and gardens. From dogwood in the Sierra Nevada to cherry blossoms in Washington and Tokyo, the sweet scent of the season fills our senses, while the profusion of color fills our memory cards with a visual feast.

Perhaps one of the most famous displays in the world is in the small quiet village of Giverny France, not far from the bustling sidewalks of Paris. It was here that Claude Monet spent the final years of his life and designed the magical garden that inspired many of his most famous paintings.

Today, thanks to the Claude Monet Foundation, the gardens adjacent to his home are much as they were a hundred years ago with an amazing variety of plants and flowers. It’s easy to get lost in the endless sea of color while imagining Monet, who was also an excellent gardener, lovingly tending to his muse.

I found the tulips particularly captivating with their vibrant form and patterns. In my own interpretation here, I couldn’t resist applying a bit of impressionism as I felt the master’s presence guiding my lens.

Windblown rocket contrails at dusk, Ventura, California

Chaos is a term often used these days to describe our lives or our economy, but it’s also a natural concept that describes the non-linear ways in which nature moves. Chaos theory has its origins in the 1960’s when meteorologists first studied weather patterns and determined that the smallest factors could dramatically change the outcome. Edward Lorenz discovered that something as subtle as a butterfly’s wings could create an extreme variation in weather simulations, which became known as “the butterfly effect”, and explains why it’s impossible to predict the weather with 100% accuracy.

Examples of chaos theory in nature include the movement of the ocean and wind, the escape pattern of an animal, water flowing down a river, and climate changes. They all have unpredictable but logical results, which means that we won’t know exactly what’s going to happen next but it will make sense when it does. From a photographic standpoint chaos often creates a wonderful palette of form and color that leaves us with a sense of awe at the natural world around us.

Tag: Abstract

Monet’s Garden

Chaos Theory