Phuket Journal Entries

1 creative work found

• *“The Making of the Banana Flower Series”*
  by Keith Richardson

  _If you are interested in making a series yourself, here...

  If you are interested in making a series yourself, here is a journal article on that. / On a recent month’s holiday in Phuket (it’s great to be retired!) I was besotted by beautiful colours of flowers and fruit of a tropical banana plant, growing close to the entrance of our Movenpick apartment. The pinks, greens and yellows combined in a startling yet subtle way, with streaming sunlight glowing through each translucent part, backgrounded by dark contrasting shadows. / First I investigated a few trees, photographing their flowers, then settled on one to study for the remaining ten days, hoping to observe interesting changes over time. Each day, standing in more or less the same spot, I photographed the developing ‘inflorescence’ (the scientific name used for a collection of flowers in a group on a single plant). This is the tree I was to follow for part of its life: / / There are ten photographs in the series, and these will be published one every few days until the complete series is up on RedBubble. / #1 – This is interesting because the opened purple bract that protects the unopened flowers has remained in position on four of the developing hands. Usually these drop off quickly. Beneath each of the yellow female flowers can be seen the young, green banana fruit. / #2 – The translucence of the green leaves, pink bracts and yellow flowers glows from the tropical sunlight shining directly through, contrasting with the natural shade surrounding the plant. This view was to remain a dim memory 11 days later, as it changed almost beyond recognition. / #3 – Taken five days after the previous photo, one can see five developing hands of young green bananas. / #4 – This macro photo, taken two days after the previous photo, reveals three mature and fertile yellow female flowers, with male pollen still attached from visiting tropical insects, attracted by sweet banana nectar. / #5 – Taken one day after the previous photo, we have a record: 10 flowers in the one hand! Wow! / #6 – The brave banana plant produced twelve more flowers, many of which are hidden away from the viewing side. The pink bracts of the inflorescence contrast dramatically with the dark green of background leaves. / #7 – I tried for a night shot, to see what the inflorescence looked like away from sunlight, capturing the next set – four flowers this time. Insect damage is evident on the yellow flowers – probably happening earlier inside the protective pink bracts, prior to opening. / #8 – Early morning tropical sunshine streams down, brilliantly illuminating the banana inflorescence. To date we have lost ten complete hands of bananas – perhaps these are all that we will see, the flowers morphing to smaller sacrificial male flowers, providing pollen for young female flowers elsewhere. / #9 – A macro photo of a visiting insect squeezing into a narrow space between the white bulbous female stigma and the yellow floral petal tube / #10 – The banana plant that gave life to all of the floral photographs in this series. I look forward to reading your impression of the series. Keith.