It is one of Murphy’s Laws of Flower Photography that the perfect blossom, the perfect light, the perfect composition is located twelve to eighteen inches above ground level. So you naturally get on your knees and pay homage to the gods of photography for that perfect shot. It doesn’t matter if the ground is wet, muddy, rocky, thorny—you drop to your knees. By the time you get the composition you want, the light cooperates, you get your meter reading, you get the focus just perfect and the wind stops blowing for that fraction of a second you need to get the shot, your knees are screaming bloody murder and you’re praying that you can ignore the pain just long enough to get the shot. If you’re like me, that’s when you just absolutely have to shift your weight a little bit because that sand grain is beginning to feel like a Clovis point intent on dismembering your knee—and you bump the tripod!
The wilderness has cringed at the sound of many a colorful expletive at that point.
To alleviate some of that distracting pain, head for your local garden shop and pick up some gardener’s knee pads. They’re inexpensive, usually under ten dollars. I recommend the kind that strap to your leg with Velcro. The knee pads can keep you dry, clean, and mostly pain free while you’re shooting at the level of a three-year-old. A nice benefit is that you can even get up and walk around looking for another shot without taking them off.
The ones I have are in a nice forest green color so I don’t startle the little flowers as I sneak up on them.
Good shooting.
Frank