On my last post about my project “Folhas Secas”, I mentioned that I wanted to select a subsample of my leaf photographs to upload to my website. Twelve photos are now on display there, in a gallery entitled ”Dry leaf series”. The title of each photograph is the generic name of the plant, followed by the year the photo was taken. Even though the series of posts about the making of “Folhas Secas” is now complete, the project itself is ongoing, and I will continue to work on it whenever I find an exciting new leaf to add, or to replace one that is on display. Regardless of what I chose to do from now on, the maximum number of dry leaves on my portfolio, at any time, will be 24.
Although I cannot say that I mostly used objective criteria to choose my photos, I tried to select only those that (in my view) go well together, look good in print and which, collectively, offer a variety of shapes, forms, and textures. Some of the excluded photos are not necessarily worse than the ones I have chosen, but if added to the collection, they might appear (in my judgement) either too deviant (from the whole), or redundant.
One good example of deviant pictures is the little “monsters” that amused me while I tried to “shoot” them (see Folhas Secast, part four, for one example). Although they are cute and evoking, I felt that they are not consistent with my initial vision, which I clearly elaborated on a previous post, Folhas Secas, part two.
Thanks for following me through this project, and I hope that this series of posts has helped at least some of you to consider engaging in a photography project in the future. Digital Photography School has an article summarizing the benefits of and giving tips about working in projects, if you are interested: How to start and finish a photography project. If you have not read the previous posts on the making of “Folhas Secas”, you can easily find them by clicking on the category above “Working in projects”, underneath the title.
The featured photograph is a subsample of my heroes. Some ended up in the collection, most of them did not, but they all deserve a round of applause!
It is all about the light 
An excellent assembly of images Alessandra.
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Thank you!
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I love how the white lines of the leaves stand out in the pictures. A really artful collection. I have a thing with autumn leaves myself. Usually it’s the color that grabs me, but in these pictures I could really appreciate the interesting shapes they take on. The full collection of leaves in color above is also an amazing photo by the way!
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Thank you. I am glad you liked it!
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As there are infinitely many ways to arrange the 25 leaves in today’s photograph, how did you settle on the arrangement we see? Were there times when you thought you had a good arrangement but then changed your mind?
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I really didn’t give it much thought since my goal was to give a quick idea of how some of the leaves portrayed in the project look like in color and from a distance.
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The variety of colors and shapes is impressive. A few of the leaves I think I know, but others seem unfamiliar. I did smile at one little detail. On the left side, the brown leaf seems to be touching the green leaf. I don’t know why that amused me, but it did. Such a forward little leaf!
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You and one other photographer who I think may have commented earlier, Mark, inspired me to consider leaves for their shapes and resemblances to other things.It’s something I too will consider in the future although in a different manner.
I enjoyed your little grotesques but understand why you might not consider them part of the initial vision. Project well done, Alesandra.
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I’m looking forward to your exploration of leaves. Thanks for stopping by.
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As I read your last paragraph, the image took on the vision of a group of actors or players taking to the stage one last time as the audience roars, encore. Lovely display.
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Thanks you 😊
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A wonderful project with fantastic images!!
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Thanks.
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Great series of leaves, I love the way they have been processed. I still have a dead leaf I collected about two years ago to photograph but have never got around to it. I also checked out your brilliant Monterey tree series. The one that struck me most was “GHOST TREE, 2019”, not for the tree standing, but the one in the bottom right corner growing over the boulder – What a survivor!
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Thanks for stopping by and for your kind comments. It’s interesting that your leaf collected two years ago still is! Two years is a long time for a dry leaf.
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It’s been downstairs where the temperature is pretty stable, with some feathers and other stuff I’ve found interesting to photograph. I have way too many ideas and to busy enjoying life to act on them. About to go mountain biking 🙂 cheers!
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