ABOUT US

Christine and I both enjoy photography, roses and technology. It was therefore inevitable that these interests would merge and one day 10 years ago, we woke up and we had this website.

We both find roses irresistable. Christine has an ongoing love affair with growing them, and has more than 400 bushes in her Reno, Nevada gardens, Yes, gardens! I grew roses also until a few years back when I became concerned with the amount of spraying roses require for disease control in the humidity of Auckland, New Zealand. I switched my focus to growing NZ natives. Roses weren't forgotten though - the website and the photography became my regular rose fix.

Both of us spend a lot of time wandering rose gardens, public and private with cameras in hand. Many of our shots have been taken in the USA and New Zealand, with additions from short trips to England, France and Australia. I may not grow roses any more but I feel I know them as old buddies, met over and over in different conditions along the way. Pouring over rose photographs for hours on end also adds a certain familiariy.

Our emphasis, is on seeking out good shooting conditions, and searching for material to give us that elusive exceptional shot. We don't pose our shots, prefering to shoot roses in natural growing conditions. Its a lot about recognizing great light and having an eye for a pleasing composition. Of the thousands of rose pictures we take, very few meet our standards, and of those even fewer make our personal hall of fame. There's always a better shot out there.

Although Christine had studied photography and worked as a photographer before this rose mission began, I learned on the job. It was therefore amazing and amusing to me, to have people recognize our commitment to quality and actually want to buy our rose images. There they are, on covers and calendars in the US and on toilet paper in Turkey.

We keep upgrading our cameras, supposedly to give us better resolution, better options etc. Yet each camera has its strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the day, the camera is just a tool. We've seen some marvellous shots taken with early digital cameras, and some ordinary shots taken with the most up to date of digital SLRs.

With over 30,000 types of roses out there, there are many still to be tracked down, both for our database, and by request. If we don't have what you're looking for on site, we still might have it in the thousands not yet uploaded, or if not, we'll do our darndest to track it down. In other words we ain't giving up any time soon.

Feel free to contact us

Susan and Christine. September 2008

ADDENDUM 2010. Of recent times I'm finding more interest in shooting a wide variety of plants and flowers. Also we've both been travelling and revelling in the various photo opportunities that offers. ~ Susan.

Find these here.
flowers
Travel pictures