I consider myself to be a pretty decent amateur photographer. Through trial and error and a lesson with a local pro, I've come a long way over the past four to five years. You would think there would be nothing but positives with this development, but you would be wrong.
Allow me to explain.
Most of my "stellar" photography originates within the walls of my property. While I am starting to branch out a bit with my nieces and nephews as the subjects and there is talk (started and ended by me) that I could photograph a wedding and not embarrass myself, let's face it, it's all about those green things that stick out of the ground and do not move around so much.
My friends and family have had to suffer through years of blog posts, endless plant photos, confusing Latin references and bizarre rants just so they can say they've "read the blog" when we get together. It is bordering on comical to watch the dance when a friend will say "How's the ONG blog thing doing?" or "I read your blog, like all the time" or "You really blog a lot, huh, that is umm, cool." I can imagine the pre-game plan of action before people arrive at our house:
"Quick, bring up a recent post of his on your phone."
"OK, here's one on butterfly weed or something like that."
"Great, remember a specific photo and remember to use the word 'native' in some way."
"Got it."
But here's the deal, I have zero expectations when it comes to any friends or family reading the blog. If you are not an avid gardener, why would you ever want to read this nonsense? I can assure you if someone I knew wrote a blog about cars, or polish pottery or even soccer (wink wink Alex) I wouldn't indulge for one minute. In this day and age, we ain't got time to read what we don't care about.
But a gardening blog presents a challenge I never considered before I started this venture. The photos, if executed well of course, create a belief that the garden is always in a state of blooming bliss and there couldn't possibly be a weed to be found. So even non-readers who simply breeze through the photos get a sense that this garden must be mighty impressive:
And even more misleading are the "macro" pics (extreme close-ups of the flowers), which lead the uninformed reader to believe that the blooms are much more prolific and larger than they truly are:
So your peeps scan the blog, see the pretty pics and start to assume that when they finally make their way to your homestead, it is going to be a garden wonderland. Upon arrival, with big expectations in tow, they are almost immediately let down:
Not exactly awe inspiring is it? My photography tricks/strategic angles are exposed and the sum is definitely not the total of the macro parts. Call me paranoid, or neurotic, but I can see the let down in all of my visitors faces. To themselves they mutter "This dude spends countless hours gardening and writing about it and this is the end result? Color me not so impressed."
Just this past Friday, my garden was featured on the Fine Gardening "Garden Photo of the Day" blog (shameless plug alert) and while I was thrilled and fortunate to be included - you can view it here - I immediately felt the pressure to justify the photos. While the praise rolled in from family members and friends, I wondered if they asked themselves "Is that really his garden?". How easily I turned a positive into a negative.
Now having said all this, I think there are four potential solutions to my "over promise/under deliver" problem:
1 - Cut back on the photograpy quality - maybe time for a camera downgrade? Could I get it to a point where the real thing is better than the pics?
2 - Stop inviting people over - this is an easy one. We may end up alone, but I'll be in a better place.
3 - Quit my job and spend day and night fine tuning the garden - think my wife will take a second job and maybe a third?
4 - Pay a professional handsomely and have it done right - worthwile investment for peace of mind, right?
What do you think? Which option is best? Any other suggestions?
Until I figure this all out, I'll continue to suffer through the ups and downs of a gardener. I'll also need to start a campaign to let the non-gardener folk know how difficult this really is. But that is an entirely different topic for another day ...
