Tom Ellingham's photostream

My hometown on Wallington, UK was synonymous with Lavender production until the early 20th century. Fields covered the area, giving on the unmistakable lavender smell and many road in the area are named after the purple flower, such as Lavender Vale and Lavender Road. A windmill stood tall in the fields, now the Windmill pub, and production and harvesting would have been on a global scale.

Around 2008 Mayfield Lavender (www.mayfieldlavender.com) opened a comparatively small farm to bring back the old and give the locals a small taster of what the area would have been like over a century ago. They sell a wide range of products, all based on the organic lavender that is home grown on their farm.

Lavender has many uses, but one is just to add a few stems in to a drawer to freshen up clothing. I decided to buy a bunch and placed it in a drawer that would have been from around the time that the production rates would have been steadily decreasing, hopefully giving the impression of the times gone by.

I wanted the key light to give the feel of a oil lamp or candlelight from the time. Other than that, it was a tiny bit of fill to give some detail to the straw.

Strobist Info: Key light, SB-900 @ 1/8th in a Lumiquest Softbox III, feathered in at camera left. Fill from SB-80 DX @ 1/16th in DIY Photography ringlight. SB-80 triggered wirelessly with the SB-900 slaved.