May 13 – May 24, 2020.
Wildflowers are becoming the bane of my existence. Perhaps you think this is a surprising thing for me to say. But there are new ones everywhere we go. Some days I spot most of the flowers but on other days, Greg has the eagle eye. And I feel compelled to photograph them all.
With this post, we have documented 140 wildflowers and blooms on bushes, trees, and cactus so far. You’d think photographing wildflowers would be so much easier than photographing birds. Birds are constantly flitting around. Flowers tend to stay in one place – that is, when the wind isn’t blowing. We see so many new flowers that sometimes it seems like I am bending over every five minutes to capture their image. Sometimes I have to crouch down in an unsteady position to get the best angle on a specimen. But sometimes I just give up and plant my rear in the dusty dirt. If the light isn’t right I try to position my body in such a way that I throw a shadow on the bloom while further contorting myself so I can get the perfect arrangement of leaves and blooms from the best angle. Sometimes I spot a flower down a ravine or up a hill. I almost always go after it because I never know if I’ll spot the same flower again. But of course, once I get back on the trail I see an even better specimen right next to the path. But not always. Sometimes I only see one specimen, never to see another example again. And after I have hopefully gotten the perfect shot with the perfect light and perfect composition and I finally stand back up, I find myself taking a big breath, realizing I had been holding it the whole time while trying to keep the camera steady.
And sometimes I think about just walking on by, not looking, not bending down, not taking a picture of the next flower we have never seen before. But that never happens. They are too pretty, too unique, too interesting, and you love them, right?
I imagine my wildflower quest will eventually end with hot weather. But here it is in June and I’m still seeing new ones – every – single – day.
* All these pics of blooms were taken in the Coconino National Forest surrounding the city of Sedona, AZ.
** And, of course, they are all click to enlarge.
*** See the first post in this series, Just Wildflowers here.
Do you have a favorite bloom or wildflower name in this bunch? Mine are, flower: Showy Milkwort and name: Bastard Toadflax!
You can create your own wildflower guide with these photos! Stunning. And, I didn’t see your fingers (holding the flower) anywhere. 🙂 My favorite photo of this series – for reasons unknown to me – is the one of the Annual Fleabanes. Enjoy nature’s playground!
I can believe how many wildflowers I found in Sedona. I hardly ever hold them unless the wind is blowing hard and then sometimes I just give up if I can’t get in a position where my fingers are out of the pic.
I like the Annual Fleabane too. It is different from the usual Fleabane you see everywhere and that photo was of the only one I’ve seen like that.
These are gorgeous. My daughter and I were exploring the San Andreas Fault, out by San Bernardino CA. I couldn’t believe how many gorgeous flowers grow in the wild. Like these–lovely.
Wildflowers are everywhere! We are in Idaho now and although we aren’t seeing as many as we saw in Sedona we are seeing some really interesting new ones.
I bet the Fault was interesting. I never thought of going there but will have to put it on my list now.
Absolutely gorgeous!!! I certainly know what you mean about the wind and the light. I have laughed about even thinking about much hiking. I have said that if I decided to do the Appalachian Trail and had the body of an Olympic runner that was fresh every day upon waking, that it would still take me 15 years to do the AT. I cannot walk a few feet without seeing something that I want to look at or photograph, or step off the trail to check out, etc. Your pictures are wonderful and you should consider putting them into some type of accessible order – a book, by location, etc. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Debbie!
Yeah, it’s crazy – it must have been so much easier before we started noticing everything but I don’t even remember anymore – it just feels natural to be hunting for flowers and stalking birds everyday.
I wish I had thought to do something like hike the AT in my much younger days.
I think I’d like to do a show with selected flowers sometime after life gets a little bit back to normal. A book sounds like a pretty hefty project but you never know.
Greg and Duwan,
As part of my studies of consciousness I saw a book review about “The Genius of Birds”. It looked interesting so I bought two, one for me and one for you!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Genius_of_Birds
Send me an email with an address where you can pick it up and I’ll send it to you.
Enjoy,
John
Wow! Thanks so much! I will send you an address tomorrow. We are both looking forward to reading it.
Any of these would make a great name for a band or album.
Yes, I think you are right. It’s kind of fun to think what kind of bands they would be. Bastard Toadflax would definitely be a metal band but I think Texas Bindweed would be a folky bluegrass band. The Cream Cups – a 70s psychedelic revival band. Western Wallflower – definitely some kind of Indy band.