Lee Rentz Photography

"The earth laughs in flowers."
Emerson
Among millions of brilliant California poppies, how could I possibly choose what to photograph? I began with big landscapes--the obvious choice. Gradually I perceived new aspects of the scene, photographing everything that caught my eye. Finally I turned to my preferred view: the intimate landscape. This picture is more complex than my earlier work, in which I might have isolated a single poppy against a simple background. Here I used a juxtaposition of bright poppies against the gray skeleton of an old plant, implying the cycle of life.