The deflowering of Tulip White - contains naked lady shot (I think)

[rob marshall]

Ungrateful he, who pluck'd thee from thy stalk,
Poor faded flow'ret! on his careless way;
Inhal'd awhile thy odours on his walk,
Then onward pass'd and left thee to decay.

Extract from The Faded Flower by Coleridge.

As my good friend Katy knows, I am currently reading a biography of Coleridge, and these shots were inspired by his poem The Faded Flower.

Rob (in the garden): Can I pick one?
Head gardener (wife): NO!
Rob: Why not?
HG: That will leave four.
Rob: And...
HG: It should be an odd number. You should know that as a photographer.
Rob: Sorry, forgot.
HG: You're going senile.
Rob: Can I pick two, leaving three?
HG: What do you want it for anyway?
Rob (with beaming smile): To deflower it!
HG: You're sicker than I thought, boy...

All shot with Canon 5d Mk2, Sigma 105mm macro. Processed in CS5 and converted to BW with Silver Efex Pro2. I used a sepia filter preset. All shots are multiple images stacked in CS5.





It may just be my over-fertile imagination (or my advancing senility) but I think this one looks like the rear of a naked lady - the spine, the back, the waist etc. Is it just me? Do I need to get a life before I die?

[Sahil]

Lovely Series, Rob.
& Good yea good shots too..
I am loving your double meaning talks series...

[Sahil]

the spine, the back, the waist etc. Is it just me?

yes, it absolutely does.

[MiniChris]

Oh sure, and now you expect the rest of us old toots to get a decent night's slumber without these images swirling about in our peabrains...sighhhhhhhhhh....but they are marvelous. They very much remind me of a late 19th century etcher whose name escapes me (but I will find him) who was exceptionally facinated with certain feminine parts and obviously had a fetish for ballet dancers, but they were so exquisitely drawn few viewers ever made the connection. Quite good on the last image...I will have naughty dreams tonight...

[ilovelucydog]

They are all beautiful, Rob. I love #1... what color of tulip was it? Now, if you hadn't said that you thought it looked like the backside of a nekkid lady... my mind would have never picked that up. I would simply see the petal of a tulip. But, since you mentioned it, yes it does. The things you guys come up with. I see a beautiful tulip. You see a naked lady. I think I would like your wife.

...I will have naughty dreams tonight...

Chris, Chris, Chris.

[Katy Noelle]

As my good friend Katy knows, I am currently reading a biography of Coleridge, and these shots were inspired by his poem The Faded Flower

Ungrateful he, who pluck'd thee from thy stalk,
Poor faded flow'ret! on his careless way;
Inhal'd awhile thy odours on his walk,
Then onward pass'd and left thee to decay.

Extract from The Faded Flower by Coleridge.
.

you're going to depress me, next. I mean, that poor flower!

This reminds me of one of my sister's favorite paintings which she saw in the National Gallery in DC (I think it's on loan.)

Symphony in White, No.1 - The White Girl

The photos - they're gorgeous! The first and third one, it's obvious why. I like the second one, too. Didn't you do some of these "half flower" shots a couple of months ago? I think that this one is really beautiful.

Yes, a lovely "tabula rasa" is what we all come with (I mean, when we come to your threads) - although, we should just know by now....

[jeeperman]

very nice work Rob.

[smcconsulting]

I usually go to bed later then the girlfriend, but after looking at your amazing images ,I have hard lines and soft curves on my mind. I think i will toddle off to bed early tonight......Thanks.......

[JK6065]

You see beauty isn't all that different in nature, it's all about perception.

I've always liked the black and white play of tones, curves and textures. It suits photography of the human body also very well (I believe they call it bodyscapes). I think photographers like Robert Maplethorpe approach (/approached) it that way.

You execute it brilliantly Rob. I'm quite a fan of this type of photography.

[Skitalez]

Rob, it is a lot of dust around.... So it is conceived?

[mythlady]

Completely, absolutely gorgeous. But yes, do get a life.

[Wirefox]

In the words of the great Sam Taylor himself - "these really are the dogs danglies" or was that Hazlitt? I am not too struck on No2 but one and three are beautiful studies of form and texture. And I will tell you something else for nowt - this is where focus stacking comes into its own - black and white. for me the colour focus stacking is too educational, too perfect. It reminds me of a Victorian lady's etchings (Marianne North to be precise). Very precise but a bit starched under the bloomers. By converting to b/w you have replaced the dolly blued whalebone corset with the floaty chemise. Far more movement and tantalising form.

Coleridge - the child of another mans revolution. The intellectual who would jump into John-Jaques Rousseau's Y-fronts if he had half the chance. And who could blame him, but like so many other intellectuals whose ideals lie with the revolutionary, in the end, patriotism sings through the dusty halls of Jesus College Cambridge

O native Britain! O Mother Isle!
How shouldst thou prove aught else but dear and holy
To me, who from thy lakes and mountain-hills,
Thy clouds, thy rocks and seas,
Have drunk in all my intellectual life,
All sweet sensations, all ennobling thoughts....
....O divine
And beauteous island! thou hast been my sole
And most magnificent temple...

That could have been written to accompany one of your landscape photographs. So, good choice of poet

I think it says a lot of the young Coleridge that he got himself discharged from the 15th Dragoons on the charge of insanity. Great minds should not be bound and intellectually strangled by the military uniform.

It is fortunate that three of the greats shared a pint or two together. Although I can always imagine that Wordsworth and Coleridge were for ever drawing male organs and the words "thou loser" on Hazlitts work book. And yet, Hazlitt is probably one of the greatest essayists in the British language (apart from Jeremy Clarkson). The 'Pleasures of Hating' is an astounding piece in which I suspect Wordie and Ridgy detected some of Hazlitts thoughts toward his two sniggering companion nibs.

Anyway I am going to spoil the plot for you....just wait to see what happens when Willy finds Bill and Sam together in Nether Stowey

[rob marshall]

They are all beautiful, Rob. I love #1... what color of tulip was it?

Er... white...

I see a beautiful tulip. You see a naked lady.

I always see naked ladies. In fish tanks, in tomato soup swirls, winter puddles, whipped cream and strawberries, dustbins, used car lots, and Marks and Spencers changing rooms (the ladies one)

I think I would like your wife.

Well you score more points than I do on that one!

[rob marshall]

I usually go to bed later then the girlfriend, but after looking at your amazing images ,I have hard lines and soft curves on my mind. I think i will toddle off to bed early tonight......Thanks.......

Send me a PM with your address and I will send the standard help pack in a brown paper envelope....

[rob marshall]

Rob, it is a lot of dust around....

Typical! I give you a nude shot to look at and you pick up on the dust

[rob marshall]

I think it says a lot of the young Coleridge that he got himself discharged from the 15th Dragoons on the charge of insanity. Great minds should not be bound and intellectually strangled by the military uniform.

He only joined the Dragoons in the first place because he was so broke after all the whoring (am I allowed to say that) in Cambridge. I lived in Cambridge for 11 years, and the nearest I got to sexual satisfaction was a twice monthly visit to the barbers in Kings parade, wher a delicious blonde (girl) would trim my curly bits.

Good reply, Steve.