Pastels of March

Yesterday, amidst the growing turmoil caused by the outbreak of Coronavirus, it was wonderful to escape to the nature, if only for a couple of hours. I found a much needed respite in the beautiful Golden Acre Park, just a short drive from my house. I am so grateful that the spring is happening around us at the moment; it is something that's giving me strength and emotional vigour to respond positively to the unsettling circumstances.
I took photos with my Nikon DSLR, and was out with it for the first time since I bought my iPhone in January last year and have used it as my sole camera medium since. On this occasion I only used my iPhone for the purpose of comparing its image quality with that of the image taken with the DSLR. Ok, I must admit that the iPhone produces better colour as well as more accurate exposure, but that is not of vital importance as I edit all my photos anyway. On the other hand, there are a few advantages of the DSLR: it offers a better scope for creative as you can choose different camera settings according to what you want to achieve; the long zoom lens I use with my DSLR enables me to take photos that I could not take with the iPhone due to the fact it doesn't have an optical zoom; the DSLR image size is larger than that of the iPhone, which is important when it comes to enlarging images; since I plan to sell prints of my work, the larger the image size the bigger print of it I can sell. And lastly, I like composing my images through the DSLR viewfinder - I can concentrate better on the composition and I can see a lot better than I can looking at live view, especially in very bright conditions.
So my Nikon DSLR does win, but of course, I shall always have my iPhone on me too, and I know that I will still use it quite often.

As I wandered around the park enjoying the nature and taking pics I felt inspired by a particular photographer whose latest book "London In Bloom" I had received in the post the other day. The photographer is beautiful Georgianna Lane, who I have known and whose work I have admired through online interaction for over ten years. Georgianna is a wonderful and very successful professional floral and architectural photographer. Her exquisite pastel, high key, ethereal images never fail to awe and uplift me. "London in Bloom" had made me want to rush back to the capital to capture some of its springtime beauty that Georgianna did. And she kindly included a list of places in the city where you can find such delightful sights. Quite frankly, there is no other book than "London in Bloom", the final book in the "Cities in Bloom" trilogy, that I can recommend more in this time of uncertainty and worry. It is sure to uplift you and fill you with new energy.