Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

April 2026 - Aging

Original

About the Image(s)

â€Agingâ€ is sort of a time lapse project with tulips. The idea was to take a picture of the same flower once a day for a week, with the camera on tripod, the same lighting and settings, and then combine them into a meaningful image with deep symbolic undertones. (Due to various accidents, I had to replace the original flower during the process.) I cut out the flowers (Orig. 1-5) and treated Orig.1 with the Classical Soft Focus filter in NIK Color Efex to give it a more dream-like look to represent the inner spirit a tulip carries regardless of how many petals get dried and lost on the way. I pasted them all on a Fill layer with the color picked from a petal, and finally added a layer of an enlarged a detail from a petal of Orig.1 with Gaussian Blur on top of the stack in 89% opacity in Multiply blend mode. - I don?t know if the idea gets carried through at all: is there something I could do with the eternally young tulip in the background to help, and what about the composition? I also think that the image might benefit of some shadows but just could not get them right?

7 comments posted

Brad Becker

Kirsti, My first reaction was, "Beautiful?" I didn't get the idea about aging at all from the final image as there are many bouquets that have flowers that can age differently. I love how you've created such a supportive background. Given the size of the younger tulip my mind constructed a different story where the larger tulip was the mother and it was more of a family portrait. I don't feel strongly about you needing to add shadows to this image but could imagine adding a subtle shadow of the left most flower projected onto the larger flower behind it might suggest depth. I really like this image as it is. Posted: 04/03/2026 18:32:40

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thank you, Brad! Family portrait is a lovely interpretation. - I'll try the shadow and see how it works. Posted: 04/06/2026 11:28:17

Peggy Nugent

I love the layers on this image, Kirsti. The background is soft and so complementary , and the large flower is a strong, dominant element which really anchors the composition for me. The flowers on the sides really feel balanced to me. The colors are rich and I think there's a very good tonal range.

I didn't personally get the story of aging from this. The wonderful gesture of the flower on the left and its disheveled appearance made me think of a child who's been in some sort of scrape that it's explaining to its mother. The flowers on the right reminded me of siblings, with the far right one adding its comments.

I think you could tell an additional story with the flowers in your original if you wanted to. All their leaves look like gestures to me: hand to mouth (far left), the next two telling the gossip, the 4th one throwing hands up in disgust, and the last one walking away or maybe appealing to someone out of frame. Posted: 04/03/2026 21:13:06

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thank you, Peggy! The lovely comments about the background and tones mean very much to me, coming from master blenders like you and Brad. I love the way you see the interplay of the flowers, and I'll already see the new story evolving! Posted: 04/06/2026 11:35:02

Alan Kaplan

It's April 6 and I'm already too late to add anything meaningful to Brad's and Peggy's comments. Their comments are quite thorough. I agree with Peggy's comment about tonal range. I also like Brad's "Family Portrait" title. It fits what you've done here so well. Nice work. Posted: 04/06/2026 23:00:10

Kirsti Näntö-Salonen

Thank you, Alan! - I didn´t realize the expressive power of a tulip, but I think that there are so many stories they can tell! Posted: 04/07/2026 05:14:15

Maria Mazo

Hi Kirsti,
I really like your idea of photographing the same flower over a week to capture the evolution of its life, I think it could lead to some very interesting images.

I agree with the comments about the tonality of the background; it's lovely and complements the flowers perfectly. However, I'm not quite getting the ageing idea, perhaps because of the vivid colours across all the flowers. You might consider gradually desaturating them to better convey the sense of ageing.

I also like the interpretation of a family portrait and the personification suggested in Peggy's idea. Posted: 04/14/2026 19:44:09

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