In my childhood I already enjoyed to be in nature, where my mother showed me various flowers and named them. But the true beginning of my deeper interest in wild plants was at the end of my universitary education, when I searched a living contrast to physics. So my wife Jutta and I started to seek flowers during our nature hikes.

A few years later we found the long desired spring pasqueflower (Pulsatilla vernalis) at the Ritten near Bozen for the first time. The grass was still pale and how great was the pleasure, the admiring amazement and simultaneously the regret, that we couldn´t retain the moment. Therefore I began to take pictures of wild flowers with a reflex camera in the following year. In the course of time my equipment changed for the better. Going out of our Bavarian homeland we expanded our botanical excursions. Since 2009 Jutta takes photos too.

Technical equipment

Since may 2021 I use a Sony Alpha 7R III and for the most time the Sigma Art 1:2,8 DG DN Macro 105 mm to take photos of the habitus and of close-ups. Sometimes I too use a ring flash. Since june 2024 Jutta uses a Sony Alpha 7R IIIA with the Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS for taking biotope to habitus pictures.

We use the RAW format for the photos. Afterwards we import them in Lightroom and work on them. We have provided the present Internet site with the help of HTML5 and CSS3.

Manfred Blondke, Bayreuth

Contact by e-mail: m.blondke@wildblumen-europa.de