Image Chaser is a website by Nikon USA that features the work of photographers told from behind the lens. I’m thrilled to announce that this week my garden photography work along with some new images of the garden are featured on the site!

I’ve been a Nikon user for well over a decade, going back to a point and shoot film model that my partner Davin gifted me when we met as young art school students over 20 years ago! Nearly all of the images on this site and in my books, save a handful of film cameras, were shot with a succession of Nikon digitals and digital slrs going back to the early 2000s. So when Nikon contacted me about being featured on their website with the chance to try out some new gear… well, needless to say, I was more than thrilled.

The article they have published features new photos taken in my garden in the last week of July 2015. It also includes lots of behind-the-scenes anecdotes about how I use photography in my work as well as tips and tricks that I’ve employed over the years to capture images of gardens, botanicals, and insects. Rather than rehash the article — you can read it over here — I thought I’d post a few of the images that I shot that week that did not make the cut.

A not often seen corner of the garden. We wired the reed screen to the fence to provide privacy from the neighbours. I convinced Davin to help me drag the giant “ER” letters home from a walk with the dog a couple of years ago. Last year I had then arranged to say “RE.”

This shot was taken from the southern tip of what I often refer to as the Dry Bed (it could use a flashier name) just moments before an Apocalyptic rain fell down, hence the reason why the sky is so dark and the California poppies are all closed up. When I can I grab the camera to take advantage of the light on overcast days or just before intense weather systems. This bed sits in the middle of the garden where the sun is brightest. I decided not to amend the soil in this bed so I employ xeriscaping here with plants that can withstand the dry, sandy soil and lack of fertility. The purple-leaved plant in the foreground is Purple Plantain that I grew from seed many years ago and brought over to this garden when I moved. It has flourished here.

This is one shot in a series that I photographed of edible flowers in my garden. I love doing setup shots like this because they are fun to style and it allows me to make use of the contents of my ever-expanding “tickle trunk” I.E. all of the junk I have collected over the years, which in turn provides justification for gathering more. This series used my collections of old bottles and small vases. The table was another curb side find dragged home from a walk with the dog.

Bees getting day drunk on squash blossom pollen.

I took this shot of a daylily in the morning, just as the sun had shifted and cast a spotlight of sorts onto this single flower. This is a tip that wasn’t published in the article. Follow the light and look for places where the sun illuminates a small area. I posted a closer shot to Instagram taken on the same morning and someone commented to ask what I had used as the background. The answer is nothing. The sun cast a spotlight onto the flower, but the space around it was still in shade, creating what appears to be a grey or dark background.

A view of the garden taken from one of the few patches of partial shade in the garden. This is where I keep my collection of Japanese maples all clustered together in their pots.

Thanks so much to Nikon USA for featuring my work and providing the camera and lenses used to take these photos!