These are some of the photos I’ve produced over the last year. Some are surreal, some are more realistic, and some evoke specific imagery to me.

• Hear Me Roar (partially dried dutch iris) (1.25 inches)

  http://photo.chjonesconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/1-hear-me-roar-dutch-iris-20x16-1p25-inch.jpg

  I had this iris on my kitchen table for several days watching it progress through its wilting phase. In general, I find the colors and textures of this to be awesome. But I also see some type of creature or alien with a long mane sitting on an outcrop. The name is taken from the position of the head and mouth within this imagery. I feel like this is an example of my Dr. Seuss influence. Using the formal names of Iris anatomy: the yellow portion is the signal; the falls are curled up underneath the signal; the alien on top is the curled up crest and standard. The width is about 1.25 inches. 91 stacked photos.

  

• Poet's Daffodil Full Monty (0.65 inch)

  http://photo.chjonesconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2-poets-daffodil-full-monty-16x20-0p65-inch.jpg

  I regularly buy daffodil bulbs (perhaps most often from Brecks.com) and they adorn my kitchen table for months. I grew up thinking of daffodils as having a large trumpet. But the hybrids that have been developed have a lot of variety and this Poet’s Daffodil has a very small trumpet. This isn’t the type of surreal image I shoot for, but I kept looking at it on my kitchen table and decided it was too gorgeous not to take a picture of. The width is about 0.67 inches. 133 stacked photos.

  

• Coral with Antennae ala Begonia (0.6 inch tall)

  http://photo.chjonesconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/3-coral-antennae-ala-begonia-16x20-0p6-inch-tall.jpg

  This is the same plant (three years later) as Spiral Begonia. Interestingly, the reproductive organs seemed to be disfigured this year. There wasn’t anything that really looked like Spiral Begonia. But the stamens formed some interesting shapes. This is the same flower, but not the same picture as Seahorse and Coral. The width is about 0.5 inches. 110 stacked photos.

  

• Tornado ala Showy Milkweed (0.14 inch)

  http://photo.chjonesconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/4-tornado-ala-milkweed-showy-milkweed-16x-20-0p14-inch.jpg

  Barbara and I obtained a plot at the community garden. I found this Showy Milkweed outside the garden. I wasn’t able to immediately identify it, so Barbara put it out to her internet “hive mind” for identification. Molly identified it. The effect of the “tornado” coming out of the milk white sky was a totally serendipitous – and totally awesome – artifact from not including the whole flower in the stacking photos. Unfortunately, this is a very small crop so it won’t enlarge very much. This is part of Floating Robe and Gem Setting. The width is about 0.14 inches. 74 stacked photos.

  

• Stingray ala Tulip (1.24 inches)

  http://photo.chjonesconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/5-stingray-ala-tulip-20x16-1p24-inches.jpg

  Sitting at my kitchen table I noticed this one petal that had a small tear in it that made it look like the center vein had pierced through the petal. I originally called in “pierced” but didn’t really like the name. And, when I processed it, the beauty of the curves of the petal really struck me. It also looked like some type of ray. I call it “stingray” as a remnant of the pierced image. The width is about 1.25 inches. 114 stacked photos.

  

• Crumpled Iris (partially dried dutch iris) (1.25 inches)

  http://photo.chjonesconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/6-crumpled-iris-dutch-iris-20x16-.jpg

  I cut some medium sized blue irises from Barbara’s garden and set them on my kitchen table. These irises have the standard 3 bulb flower but also include 3 distinct petals in between the main bulbs. The flowers dried from the tip out. This is one of the secondary petals (purposely presented upside down.) The faint dotted line along the edge of the petal is an out-of-focus bug as it moves through multiple frames used by the focus stacking method. The width is about 1.25 inches. 118 stacked photos.

  

• Battered X Wing (dried borage) (flower is 0.38 inches)

  http://photo.chjonesconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/7-battered-x-wing-dried-borage-20x16-flower-is-0p38-inches.jpg

  Barbara and I won the lottery for a plot in the community garden. This pretty blue flower is a prolific volunteer. A web search indicates it is a common flower to plant in gardens and that it can be used as an herb. I couldn’t help thinking about Star Wars when I saw the dried flower. There are actually five petals, but I’ve hidden one behind the nose of the x wing. I glued the flower to a piece of wire to position it for the shot. The width of the dried flower is about 3/8 inches. 181 stacked photos.

  

• Festival Dress (mostly dried peony tulip) (flower is 2p5x by 3 inches)

  http://photo.chjonesconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/8-festival-dress-16x20-flower-is-2p5x-by-3-inches.jpg

  This tulip slowly dried on my kitchen table and it really started looking like a dress with most of the petals (unusually) lowering down. I think the not quite dried middle helps to give the allusion of a bodice. There is at least some personal connection in that, not only did Barbara grow this flower, but when I decided I wanted to start wearing skirts during the summer Barbara made me a silk tie skirt that has some resemblance to this. This is a single shot and not focus stacked. The flower is about 2.5 x 3 inches.

  

• White Folds (dutch iris) (0.3 inch)

  http://photo.chjonesconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/9-white-folds-20x16-0p3-inch.jpg

  I had this iris on my kitchen table for several days watching it progress through its wilting phase. In general, I find the textures of this to be awesome. This is a close crop of the mane of Hear Me Roar. This is the curled up standard of the iris. The width is about 0.3 inches. 91 stacked photos.

  

• Full Iris Beard (dutch iris) (0.68 inch)

  http://photo.chjonesconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/10-full-beard-dutch-iris-20x16-0p68-inch.jpg

  I had this iris on my kitchen table for several days. I was hesitant to take pictures because the only picture I could see was a rather common approach to looking at the beard or overall flower. But the beard was just so gorgeous I decided to take some basic shots. The width is about 0.68 inches. 114 stacked photos.