THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509220068
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARCIA MANGUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
When fall skies cast a crisp light on the great outdoors, many gardeners look at their landscapes through fresh eyes. But garden editor L.A. Jackson views plants in a different light throughout the year.
Inspired by the French Impressionist painters and their use of light to create mood, Jackson developed a technique that breaks up the image of a photograph to create garden pictures that shimmer like light on a lake.
In fact it was from Lake Glimmerglass, described by 19th century novelist James Fenimore Cooper, that Jackson took the name for his technique.
Jackson, editor of Carolina Gardener Magazine, will discuss his photographic technique in a talk titled ``Through the Glimmerglass'' from 8:45 to 10:15 a.m. Tuesday as part of the Garden Club of America Zone VII Flower Show at the Ramada Plaza Resort, 57th Street and Oceanfront in Virginia Beach.
The show, which also includes exhibits, horticulture and flower arrangement classes and a lecture on ``Backyard Habitat Programs'' by Craig Tufts, chief naturalist for the National Wildlife Federation, is free and open to the public.
Jackson, a gardening columnist for 13 years and editor of the magazine since 1989, said he is mostly a self-taught photographer, who started out using the Instamatic-type cameras before graduating to a 35mm Minolta.
To look at his photographs of flowers is to see magic - the magic of light and mood - but the technique is really quite simple, Jackson says. He places a piece of pebbly textured glass or acrylic plastic about 2 to 3 inches in front of a plant, and then takes photographs through glass.
As with the French Impressionists, the source of light is important, and different types and degrees of light will create different moods.
``You put this glass in front of it, and it breaks the picture up,'' Jackson says. ``Then you start to study it, and you start to see things you wouldn't see if it were a straight photograph.''
In his lecture, Jackson says he will show pictures shot using traditional photography and ones of the same plants using the Glimmerglass technique. Part of the beauty of his method is its simplicity.
``That's what's so infectious. You don't have to do any darkroom craziness or shove it through a computer or anything,'' Jackson says. ``You get you a sheet of Plexiglas, and you go out there and shoot.''
Hammered-finish acrylic plastic, known in the industry as DP-32 and sold under brand names such as Plexiglas, Acrylite and Lucite, is available through plastic and/or glass distributors. Howard Everton, owner of Norva Plastics Inc. in Norfolk, sells a 4-by-8-foot sheet of textured acrylic plastic for $72.50. Sometimes companies will sell remnants at reduced prices.
Jackson, who has a combination degree in history and horticulture from North Carolina State University, says he hopes to help gardeners appreciate the beauty surrounding them.
``Here's a technique that's steeped in French Impressionism, and if you know the philosophy behind that, you just won't see your garden the same again,'' he says. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Garden editor L.A. Jackson uses textured glass or plastic to create
floral photographs in the style of the French Impressionist
painters.
by CNB