Ten Tips for Photographing your Own Garden

Each time I settle down to write a post here, I realise how important it is to get into the habit of photographing your own garden. I  built up quite an archive of plant portraits as I made my way through the Garden Photo Challenge I set myself. I also have quite a collection of photos recording the landscaping projects as we were doing them. Keeping a photographic record of your Garden can be an invaluable resource.

With the advent of Mobile phones with built-in cameras the average person probably takes more photos than ever before. We live in an increasingly ‘visual’ world. So we really should make more effort to record our own gardens and not just those we visit! It can be an invaluable tool of reference. Remember we don’t have to have professional skills to record our gardens!

This is NOT a technical post about equipment or Photography techniques. (There are plenty of tutorials and courses available online for improving your photographic technique). My aim is to encourage gardeners to record their gardens for reference purposes. Create a photographic journal of their garden year is a valuable tool.

Ten Ideas for Photographing your own Garden

1. Try to make a point of walking around your garden Camera/Phone in hand at least once a week/fortnight/month. Note it in your Diary or on the Calendar when you’ve done it and mark the next ‘due’ date.
2. Decide which points of the garden give you the clearest views. Try to always take your photos from those set positions. (It may be that you get your best shot of the garden from looking out of a window). By the end of the year you will have a month by month record of your garden
3. Take photos of what was a success: Container planting, Colour combinations, Bedding scheme or Hanging baskets etc. Photograph your disappointments too e.g. planting combinations, colour schemes that didn’t work as you had hoped
4. How about photos as a ‘location reference’ for when you need to dig up dormant plants to move or divide them?
   

   Record the planting

5. If you save the photos to your computer do ‘name’ the folder for quick access. If you print your photos take the time to make notes on the reverse of them. Try to use a photo album that has a space for notes beside each pocket.
6. Mount your photos into Journals that have space for any relevant notes beside them. If you keep a separate Garden Journal make a note of when you were taking photos so that you can cross reference
   

   Winter contrast

7. Sometimes looking through the lens of a camera will give you a whole new view of your garden. If you only have the Camera on your phone try using a piece of card with a square window cut out of it as a viewfinder. What you see, may surprise you!
8. Take some shots from unusual angles eg looking up through tree canopy, or whilst lying on the ground. This may give you some ideas about installing lighting in the garden
9. Light levels change through the day and the seasons. Making a visual record helps you to understand how the light levels in your garden. How important it is for plant growth, and why some of your plants may be struggling. Perhaps even prompt the planting of lighter-leaved or variegated plants in the shadier areas to bring a sense of light to them.
10. Don’t forget to photograph the Garden through the quieter months of the year too. Looking at the structure or ‘bones’ of the garden will help you to make adjustments to the design and planting of your garden.  Perhaps giving you some ideas about where you could increase the interest for an all-year-round garden

On a Winter’s Evening……

When’s the best time to sit and sort through all your photo’s? When it’s blowing a hooly outside and the rain is lashing down! It is also the best time to make notes about what you want to change, as well as what can be improved.

Photographing your own garden is probably one of the best tools you can have outside of your garden shed. It helps for planning, as well as writing your Plant Shopping List when the catalogues arrive. And it is the best time to be reminded how well the garden grew, how much pleasure you got from working in it. You will be reminded of how much friends and family enjoyed it too.

No two gardens are the same. No two days are the same in one garden. ~Hugh Johnson

I hope these 10 tips for Photographing your own garden will have given you the encouragement to have a go over the coming year. I know photographing the plants for the Garden Photo Challenge made a difference to the way I look at the garden. Now I look more closely at plants, as individuals. Taking pictures of the different areas of the garden has helped me to view the garden as a whole and in yet another way.

You can start it any time, you don’t have to wait for the beginning of January. Do let me know how you get on, I would love to hear!