My photography studio in the barn

 

tendril spiral with dew drop on green background
My first tendril spiral photo.

This is the first tendril spiral photo I took, back in 2018. I remember the day well. I was walking Spencer in the morning and spotted this tendril spiral with a dew drop. I didn’t have a camera with me and when the walk was done, I returned to take this picture. I was in a rush because it was a Saturday and we were going to the farmer’s market. I hoped the dew drop would still be there and it was. That was the moment my passion for tendril photography was born.

After that day, I walked the property searching for these delightful creations and found many. I learned to identify a few different vining plants that made these swirls. I was excited to get out the morning after a rain to see if I could find any with dew drops. I was also fascinated with light beans and how they could add to the scene.

A green vining tendril plant growing in a garden in Costa Rica
A tendril plant growing on the edge of the barn.

Finding the perfect specimen in perfect light was rare. It was so rare that I began thinking about cultivating these vines in the garden. As it turned out I didn’t need to plant any of them, I just needed to not pull them out when weeding. Now I have three plants producing tendril spirals in the garden and a fourth one that grows on the chicken palace.

A metal table in a barn used for photography in Puriscal, Costa Rica
My photography studio in the barn.

The vining plants grow very well and I need to control them or they will take over the entire space. Keeping the vine tamed means I need to prune and control the direction they grow. The tendrils I prune are used in my make-shift photography studio in the barn. It’s very make-shift… really just a table and various things I use to spice up the background. I only use natural light. The blue lamp in this photo is used to attach tendrils to with clothes pins. I like taking these table top pictures, but I enjoy even more taking photos directly from the plant. I like the game of seeking the light and looking for dew or something else to jazz up the background.

Here's a link to my tendril photography on Flickr.