Photographing the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve at St. Vincent College
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’ve always enjoyed photographing people in more natural locations. I look forward to the changing seasons, photographing bright lime greens with pops of pink in April then switching to foliage with deep red and golds in the fall. I find that the seasons are a rainbow of possibilities. About ten years ago I discovered the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve at Saint Vincent College. I quickly realized that this would be the most amazing location for my outdoor portraiture and decided to begin shooting some clients there. I hold a yearly photography pass to this day and shoot there about once a week from Spring until Fall with my clients. Since I’ve photographed sessions at the reserve on almost a weekly basis spring through fall, for about a decade - I’ve witnessed the amazing transformation it goes through monthly. And I’ve compared it year to year, documenting those changes with dated photographs. Although I’m not an expert by any means on plants, I do love to witness their growth and changes. It’s a beautiful dance of nature and quite amazing to watch the kaleidoscope of plant life that comes and goes. I plan my photo sessions according to the wildflowers blooming, color changes in the fields, and sunset times. It can sometimes feel like a racing game to catch certain blooms before they fade, especially when dodging stormy days and juggling availability of both myself and client schedules. But year after year, I continue to do so because I just have fallen deeply in love with this reserve.
by Autumn Stankay, Owner and Photographer of SkySight Photography
article. She is extremely knowledgeable on every plant that sprouts there from weeds to flowers. Here are some of the photographs I have taken there in different seasons. You wouldn’t know it, but some of these shots were actually taken in the same areas but look like completely different places when photographed several months apart.
In late spring
, Golden Alexanders come up all over the fields. They are a great backdrop that create a sea of bright yellow among the vibrant greens. One of my favorite parts of photographing in spring is that the green in the grass and trees has an almost lime tint to it. I usually suggest white, and any shades of blues, and pinks for clothing colors in photo sessions this time of year at the reserve. Weddings are also a popular client that we take here in spring, summer and fall!
I talked to Jennifer Eppolito, Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve’s Education Horticulturist, to confirm wildflower names in the photographs of this 32 GOALMagazine: A Publication of Go2Goal | Summer/Fall 2021
By July
, the fields shift a little more. Some more wildflowers begin to bloom. The Grey-headed Coneflower is a beautiful bright yellow that blooms all over during this month. Queen Anne’s Lace – a weed, non-native, and maybe some Joe-Pye Weed at that time as well. Who ever knew weeds could be so pretty? I suggest to clients that they wear blues and purples in the yellow fields, or neutral colors like white work great in July as well. I also like yellow if they want to do a monochromatic look.
The reserve also has some Pollinator Gardens full of natives. The flowers here are plentiful and have a lot of variety. The bees are in heaven here, feeding consistently and working hard in the apiary nearby. These gardens have Liatris, Sneezeweed, Joe-Pye Weed, Scarlett Bee-Balm, Brown Eyed Susans, Mountain Mint, Asters, Butterfly Weed, Turtlehead, Swamp Milkweed, Gallardia, Flowering Raspberry, Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus, and False Blue Indigo.
