Every photographer has that particular place he loves to go, that place where he’s most at peace: the place where his favourite subjects are. This place can be a park to get pictures of flora and fauna or his own home to take pictures of his family, friends or even his children.
In my case, my place of choice, by pure circumstance, was my grandmother’s garden.

Her yard, to me, since I was a little girl, was always a vast, ever-changing, “jungle” in which any child would want to have an adventure. As I grew to love photography, it became a source of inspiration.

   When I got my first camera, nature shots had always appealed to me. Therefore, for 3 summers in a row, when the time came for me to spend some time with her, her garden, and everything within and around it would be my subjects. It could be one of her beautiful plants or one of those interesting weeds that grew up when no one was looking, or lizards basking in the sun, or even the kitten who discovered that hanging baskets swaying in the afternoon breeze are the perfect substitute of our hammocks. As my photography grew, so did my focus in her garden.

   On the afternoon of August 16th, things were a bit different. I would usually go out into the garden at around 4:30 when the light was softer and the afternoon cooler so I won’t get scorched by the sun. Thanks to Dr. House, I got there late, more or less 5:00. It was still a fairly good time, but it meant I may not be able to stay out as long as I wanted as my mother would be coming for me at any moment.
    I walked around the garden taking all the “usual” shots and distressing the cats by lumbering around with this giant, metallic, 3 footed contraption (my tripod) by my side. But then something caught my eye…

   After taking a picture of a rather photogenic lizard, I looked above the waterhole to see a peculiar plant that I wish I knew the name of now. It wasn’t a vine, but it was slowly rocking in the breeze in the hanging basket in which it was placed. For some reason the stems of this plant formed arches, curling to point in different direction while its leaves grew on one side of the stem only. The vegetation around this particular created a dark background and a “hinge” in which the sun shone though on that plant alone. Using my tripod for stability, I took a few pictures of the entire stem with 7 leaves in the shot, but decided to get a bit closer. After some more frustration and frightening a kitten, I managed to get a coloured version of the picture I now call “Sepiatoned Afternoon”.

   I could have left it in colour. After all, it looked rather nice just the way it was, but the memory of a picture I saw while on vacation in New York of a sepia toned dried flower in a section of the mall (it slipped me to take a picture of it) lead me to just try putting it in sepia and black and white to see what the results would be.

   And thus my masterpiece was born.

   I looked at that picture when I was finished and I was moved and I experienced an emotion that I still cannot describe, even as I look back at the photo. Maybe it’s a mix of pride and joy at me taking such an interesting photo, I don’t know. But it moved me greatly seeing that. I’m not a professional, I have never taken official classes in photography, but that photo was a representation of what could happen when someone picks up something by accident and it becomes such a great passion. That picture, to me, was a representation of how far my passion had come and how far it can go.
After I took that picture and several more, I packed up my things, things that matter most to me and I went home, but doing so wasn’t a sign of giving up…it was a sign of something to be continued.

Nikita has been a photographer for 4 years now. In her own words: “I’m not a professional; this just one of those hobbies that took its own course. I’m striving to improve myself, and become better as I grow older, and hopefully, I will succeed. My name is Nikita Blair, but some know me as Alphanza, and I am an artist.”