Spring seems to be on hold in my part of the country. The nights are still below 0C although the daytime temperature is slowly rising. Until I see some spring flowers, I thought I’d feature some late season sunflowers. I appreciate their endurance and less than perfect beauty as the weather turns colder.
This wonderful wildflower was taken last spring. It’ll be a while before they pop through the soil this year. The ground is still pretty frozen but there are a few signs of spring – the sparrows chirping and rumours of the first crocus…
Following a trail down to the lake one year, I spotted an Iris growing right off the water. I was standing close to the water’s edge, looking for ducks and almost missed the flower tucked to the side. Every June, I follow the same trail down to the lake and continue to see the Iris return each year.
When I was a kid at summer camp we used to call hawkweed (above) the devil’s paintbrush. Both are common names for this attractive flower although the latter appealed more to the imagination of ten year olds! I don’t think I really took notice of the yellow salsify before I picked up a camera. It was while composing in camera and in the editing that I began to appreciate the flower’s detail and form.
Not getting out with my camera in the current -18C temperatures and craving a bit of colour I decided to highlight these fleabane daisies. They say summer, warmth and colour. When it warms up a bit I’ll venture out with my camera but until then I’ll relive sunnier times with photos like these.
White water lilies are more common on our waterways but I do like to see yellow pond lilies. Their colour is so striking and where they appear you usually see pickerel weeds as well. A frog would have added an extra touch of green, more to come…
Queen Anne’s Lace has a long flowering season, from late spring until mid fall; beautiful anytime of year. They’re covered in snow now but will return next May in their spring green.
I set up my Fuji XT-1 to take five bracketed shots at different exposures. For processing I used Photoshop HDR Pro. It combined the shots for a nicely exposed image. I finished with a few of my usual adjustments in Photoshop.
